The way people search for information is constantly changing, with AI Overviews (AIO) and AI-driven Search Engines, like ChatGPT Search, providing new ways for users to find answers.
ChatGPT is projected to surpass 1% of the search market share in 2025, while paid advertising trends suggest Google’s share in search advertising may dip below 50%, according to eMarketer.
While some headlines predict the decline of SEO, history has shown that in the face of disruptive innovation, SEO will evolve — not disappear. Businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve should adjust their current strategies to adapt.
What Is AIO, and Why Does It Matter?
AIO (AI Overviews) and AI Search Engines represent the integration of artificial intelligence into search.
AI Overviews (AIOs)
AI Overviews (AIOs) are AI-generated summaries that appear directly in traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google or Bing. These overviews aim to provide users with a concise, accurate response to their query without requiring them to click through to a website.
- Key Purpose: To deliver quick, relevant answers, improving user experience and reducing search friction.
- How They Work: AIOs are most commonly triggered by long-tail, informational queries —questions or phrases that are highly specific and often require detailed answers.
- Example: If a user searches for “how to install solar panels on a flat roof,” an AIO may display a step-by-step guide or key considerations directly in the SERP.
AI Search Engines
AI-powered search engines, such as ChatGPT Search and other conversational AI tools, leverage advanced algorithms to understand and respond to user queries in a more personalized and conversational manner. As of recently, users can access extensions that allow users to search from traditional browsers and view results inside of GPT platforms.
- Key Purpose: Unlike traditional search engines, AI search engines aim to provide complete, context-aware answers rather than a list of links.
- How They Work: Users interact with these engines through natural language queries. The AI generates responses based on vast datasets, offering more nuanced and in-depth answers than typical SERPs.
Both AIOs and AI search engines prioritize informational content and user-centric experiences. These features cater to evolving user expectations for instant answers. By understanding how AIOs and AI search engines work, businesses can adjust their strategies to remain visible and relevant in an increasingly AI-driven digital ecosystem.
Level’s Perspective on AI-Driven Search
At Level, we see the advancement of AI-driven search as a call to refine strategies and focus on creating highly relevant, user-first content. .
By understanding the dynamics of AIO-triggering keywords, businesses can position themselves to remain competitive and capture visibility.
Our Two Biggest Observations
- Search Intent Dominance: AIOs predominately show up for informational queries (99.2%) and rarely appear for commercial or transactional keywords. This highlights the importance of content that educates, informs, and directly addresses user questions.
- SERP Features Alignment: AIOs often coexist with Featured Snippets and Discussions, emphasizing the need for concise, structured content. However, traditional features like Videos, Knowledge Panels, or Sitelinks are less common, meaning visual and branded elements may have less impact in these cases.
How SEO Strategies Will Be Affected
- Content Creation Prioritization:
- Businesses will need to double down on informational content that thoroughly addresses user questions in a clear and digestible format.
- Incorporating long-tail keywords with a focus on context-specific queries is critical. These queries are often easier to rank for and align directly with AIO-triggering patterns.
- Optimizing for Structured Data:
- Structured data (schema markup) becomes increasingly important for helping search engines understand and extract relevant information from your pages.
- Implementing schema for FAQs, How-Tos, and Knowledge Graphs can increase the likelihood of appearing in AIOs or related features like Featured Snippets.
- Shifting Focus to Niche Audiences:
- AIOs create an opportunity to connect with smaller, niche audiences that are often overlooked in broader SEO campaigns. These users are actively searching for detailed, specific answers, making them valuable leads.
- Greater Emphasis on Topic Authority:
- Building topical authority will be more critical than ever. Businesses should create content clusters around relevant topics to signal expertise and improve visibility across related queries.
- Updating and maintaining evergreen content to ensure relevance and accuracy will also play a vital role.
- Reduced Reliance on Traditional SERP Features:
- While traditional features like Videos or Sitelinks are less prevalent in AIO-triggering queries, strategies should shift toward capturing Featured Snippets and leveraging Discussions as these dominate AIO-aligned SERPs.
- Adapting Technical SEO Practices:
- Fast-loading, mobile-optimized pages will continue to be a baseline requirement for ranking, especially as AIO-triggering queries focus on user-first experiences.
- Ensuring crawlability and addressing technical issues will remain critical to help AI systems extract and display your content.
- Monitoring and Adapting to AI Trends:
- SEO teams must stay vigilant in monitoring the evolving behavior of AIOs and AI search engines. Regular audits to assess rankings, traffic, and AIO performance are essential.
- Leveraging tools that provide insights into AI-driven search behavior can help refine and future-proof strategies.
- Adapting to a Zero-Click Search Environment:
- Businesses should optimize for Featured Snippets and use schema markup to help search engines display quick answers. Targeting more complex keywords can encourage clicks, as these are less likely to be fully addressed in zero-click results.
- Local SEO remains critical, as local searches are less impacted by zero-click trends. Additionally, emphasizing brand authority through link-building and reputation management can help build trust and visibility.
“At Level, we see AIOs as a major opportunity for businesses to refine their strategies by focusing on hyper-focused, user-centered content that aligns with these evolving search features.” – Tanner Medina
“SEO traditionally excelled in bringing in ToF traffic at scale, but AIO and ChatGPT are eating up informational queries. Strategically, SEO will need to focus on driving ROI through maximizing BoF traffic and optimizing site conversion paths.” – Alex Swope
“With AIO changing search behavior, the traditional flow of site traffic is shifting, with fewer clicks reaching websites. This makes prioritizing user experience and conversion rate optimization even more important, since every visitor counts and smooth paths to conversion will be crucial in maximizing the impact of the traffic you do get.” – Alie Louie
Sites with a strong SEO foundation have a lot of content to leverage. Now’s the time to take that content and refresh, revise, and restructure it to be “AI-friendly”. — Stacey Heubeck
4 Takeaways to Stay Ahead
Here are four actionable ways organizations can tweak SEO strategies to speak more directly to user needs while leveraging the unique opportunities presented by AIOs.
1. Prioritize Informational Content
Search behavior is shifting toward conversational, long-tail queries. Gone are the days when users relied solely on short-tail, core keywords. To remain relevant and competitive, businesses must craft content that aligns with this change by addressing nuanced, intent-driven questions.
This requires creating content that feels natural and conversational while delivering clear, actionable answers. By focusing on hyper-specific queries and conducting in-depth keyword research, enterprises can ensure their content reflects these changes and meets evolving user expectations.
Getting into Google’s AI Results
Here is a proven process that can help your content rank in AI Overview search results:
- Review search intent by analyzing the content on websites currently featured in AIO results.
- Write content with a high readability score (such as a strong Flesch Reading Ease score) to ensure accessibility and clarity.
- Answer the user’s question clearly and concisely at the top of the content, then provide a detailed expansion of that answer in the blog post.
By following this approach, businesses can improve their chances of being included in AI Overview results, enhancing visibility and authority.
2. Optimize for AI-Aligned SERP Features
AI Overviews often appear alongside features like Featured Snippets and Discussions. Structuring your content with clear headings, concise answers, and schema markup can improve your chances of being highlighted in these features, capturing user attention directly within the search results.
3. Take Advantage of Lower Competition
AIO-triggering keywords typically have lower search volumes and keyword difficulty, creating an opportunity for businesses to compete effectively in less crowded spaces. Smaller or newer websites, in particular, can target these queries to build visibility and credibility.
4. Balance User Needs with AI Integration
While AI tools can accelerate content creation, businesses must ensure that the final product remains user-first. Over-reliance on AI without human oversight can lead to generic or inaccurate content, which may harm user trust and search performance.
Effective strategies now require moving beyond solely relying on tools like SEMrush for keyword volume data. Instead, businesses must conduct deeper research into the variety of ways people seek information—exploring forums, Reddit posts, and other peer-to-peer platforms to understand user intent and conversational language. The best approaches integrate AI’s efficiency with human creativity and in-depth research to align with real-world user behavior.
By focusing on these areas, businesses can not only optimize for AIO but also strengthen their overall search presence, ensuring they remain competitive.
Case Study: 34% Share of Voice Growth in AIO Rankings
In Q4, we focused on optimizing our client’s pages to target top-of-funnel (TOF), long-tail, and informational intent queries, specifically aiming to improve their presence in AI Overview results. By prioritizing these types of queries, we saw measurable improvements in AIO rankings from September to January.
Using data from SEMrush, we identified a significant increase in AIO-related rankings during this period, correlating directly to the page optimizations implemented. Targeted queries included:
- Document control software
- Risk assessment tools
- Audit management
- OPRP
- Eqms meaning
- What is eqms
We achieved these results by strategically optimizing on-page copy to align with the intent of the content ranking in AIO spots. We started by analyzing the type of content occupying the AIO positions at the time to understand what users were searching for and what kind of content Google was serving to make sure our content fulfilled those needs.
By incorporating common questions from our target audience and writing copy to match informational intent, we were able to create highly relevant and engaging pages. We also used relevant and descriptive schema markup types to enhance page discoverability and improve our chances of appearing in AI results to increase our share of voice.
These ranking improvements demonstrate the value of aligning SEO efforts with informational intent and creating content tailored to user needs. By targeting specific, high-value queries, businesses can increase their visibility within AI-driven features like AIO.
This chart illustrates growth in AIO rankings, showing the tangible results of these focused optimization efforts.
How to Move Forward with Confidence
AI Overviews and AI Search Engines are the newest evolution in organic search, and their aim is to more easily provide users with highly-relevant and informative content at all stages of the funnel. By strategically aligning efforts with the unique characteristics of AIO-triggering queries, businesses can increase their visibility and engagement in SERPs.
At Level, we’re committed to helping our clients successfully navigate organic search. Whether it’s through optimizing for AI-driven features or providing guidance on your overall SEO strategy, we’ll help your brand stay front of mind.
Need Help? Reach out to the Level SEO team to explore how AIO-focused strategies can improve your search performance in 2025 and beyond.
