If you have landed here then you must be one of the many people who are pondering over whether SEO is Dead in 2025 and cursing AI Overviews for it. The answer isn't a simple Yes or No, rather it's a bit of both. Traditional SEO is going through a purge, and while Google is being painted as the Thanos, the truth is, the ability of LLMs like ChatGPT Search or Perplexity have fundamentally shifted the way people interact on the Wild World Wide Web. 

There is a huge shift in the way people now search, having gone from short 2 or 3 word searches to longer more conversational queries. Clients at Method had been worried about SEO not working and whether their business should consider focusing on other channels considering SEO as a lost channel for traction or growth. After multiple sessions in the month of May assuring clients about what AIO has done for SEO, we thought it would be better to share some information to dissect through the clutter and understand the status quo. All information stated is based either on Method's interpretation and usage of tactics for SEO and results achieved by different businesses under specific conditions. 

Traditional SEO Is Changing But Not En Route Extinction

The focus of traditional SEO has been to rank on search results. With the full-scale deployment of LLM search and AI Overview, the goalpost has now shifted to making your content the best answer source and not just the best search results. Basically this is now being termed as answer optimisation. 

What it means for SEO is that your content should be factual statements but concise enough to be easily quoted. 

Structuring content to mirror how people ask questions either in FAQ format, how-tos, comparisons and Q&As. Google suggests adding schema for the pages which have content in the above prescribed format in order to increase the chances of your content to be shown as an answer through AI Overview or through other LLMs answering search queries. Adding varied but clear phrasing helps be in sync with how LLMs parse data. 

Since LLMs don't just go for keyword matching and deploy a semantic mechanism of finding an appropriate answer, this basically means a goldmine for people who have the content formatted. 

Sometime around the pandemic, TripAdvisor team went all-in for FAQ style content going heavily. Although they've obviously reaped the results so far, but with LLM search and AI Overview they stand a chance of blowing up all along any travel queries they have covered for. 

Is AIO stealing my clicks? Understanding the Zero Click Problem For SEO

A common issue we've seen at Method and around is the instant fall in clicks i.e. traffic. From our experience it's an adjustment that makes up for it by giving you more qualified leads. With AI going for even reframing your content to give instant answers, you are bound to see a drop in raw organic traffic. But the traffic you do get is a subset of more targeted people who are really interested in your business. Your goal now should be to optimise content for conversion and not just clicks.

More and more users are finding answers without clicking so optimising for featured snippets, structured data and questions-based content is the key to ranking in top answers be it AIO or Gemini or Perplexity 

Agreed. Search is changing fast but the rules underneath are still familiar even for best answer i.e. Be Useful, Clear, Authoritative, Anticipate real questions and solve problems completely to show up where it matters. 

How to Optimise My Site For AIO

As mentioned above the basics don't change and to the extent that PageSpeed and other Core Web Vitals remain an important signal for Google to rank you or in simple words, is a measure of how good or bad your site quality is and scores on Google's parameters. 

But once you have the basics in place and are interested in taking your SEO to AIO level then do the following : 

1. Start treating each main page like a mini knowledge base. At Method, we've seen our work for clients get featured due to our Q&A and FAQ method. Thinking about what people really want to know helps in framing the page content structure and answer those questions clearly without fluffy. Use images or screenshots(if it's a product or feature explanation) because this kind of honest human explanation trends to get picked up by AI because it sounds like something a real person would write. 

2. Deploy schemas for structured snippets across FAQ, Q&A and How to content for improving your chance of being featured in AI Overviews. This is one of the google algorithm friendly ways to get featured even with a new site up with 0 SEO. This is where Method felt our clients could have a headstart because we had started working on FAQ schemas from the time AI Overview started showing up in 2024 in US.  

3. Core Web Vitals remain crucial is what Method has observed this month because even for featuring the best answers the site speed, LCP, mobile UX are signals which affect the status of being featured on answers 

4. Zero-Click Searches are on the rise causing a decrease in clicks so optimising for featured snippets, FAQ and schema markups have helped Method keep the SEO afloat for our clients despite decrease in clicks due to more intentful interactions even though limited right now due to decrease in clicks

5. Link building still remains a crucial aspect only now it's become more relationship driven with guest posting extending beyond the website blog post and going for podcast features and collaborations. Apart from that a HARO kind of arrangement works between content creators for collaborating through guest posts and covering more fanbases

6. AI Overviews and LLMs with search are giving personalised response by reframing your content using AI so we suggest framing the content properly as discussed above in order to be featured as the best answer

AI Overviews appear in over 68% local search queries and while the way users are searching is changing rapidly, the most common hybrid still remains looking for both info and local service if applicable. 

Some industries like AI Law advice related queries get AI Overviews 70% of the time. Nobody is denying the change which AI have brought about in the way people search but the core fundamental of people being the ones searching remains the same. 

Focusing on people first useful content optimised for AIO is the way forward and while Zero Click scare maybe temporary, intent based leads are going to obliviate everyone in the long run.