AI search action plan: Keep your traffic up this summer
written by
Călin Alungulesă
date
27 June 2025
Why is your current search approach failing in the AI era
While your marketing team focuses on traditional SEO metrics, a fundamental shift is happening beneath the surface. AI tools are reshaping how your potential customers discover solutions, and most B2B tech companies are completely unprepared.
Your current SEO strategy assumes Google, Bing, and others work the same way they did two years ago. It doesn't.
Traffic patterns are shifting toward AI-powered search experiences, and companies that don't adapt will see their organic visibility erode throughout 2025.
A new report by TrustRadius reveals that 72% of B2B buyers encounter AI Overviews during their research. What’s more interesting is that 90% of the respondents double-check the information by clicking the cited sources.
To navigate this shift effectively, you need to understand three distinct optimization approaches that work together to capture AI-driven search behavior. Each targets different aspects of how AI systems discover, process, and reference your content.
What are the three AI optimization approaches you need to know?
AIO – AI Optimization
Definition: Focuses on creating and optimizing content using AI, as well as making content and site architecture more understandable and reusable by Large Language Models (LLMs). It involves token-efficient structuring, semantic clarity, and embedding-friendly formatting.
GEO – Generative Engine Optimization
Definition: Optimizing content for generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. The goal is to maximize the chances of being referenced in generative responses.
AEO – Answer Engine Optimization
Definition: Aims to get your content featured in direct-answer formats, like Google’s Featured Snippets, AI overviews, and voice search. This includes structured Q&A content, schema markup, and authoritative sourcing.
How to optimize your content for AI visibility
Based on our own experiments and our work with clients, these content optimizations deliver the highest impact for AI visibility. We've organized them by implementation difficulty and time investment, so you can prioritize quick wins while building toward more strategic changes.
How to build your technical SEO foundation for AI visibility
The technical foundation determines whether AI systems can effectively parse and reference your content. These optimizations focus on the structural elements that make your expertise accessible to both search algorithms and language models.
What trends do you need to leverage for your AI search strategy?
1. Why does brand authority matter more than keywords now?
AI systems prioritize recognized industry authorities when generating responses. Develop proprietary frameworks and publish original research to become the reference AI systems cite, not just another indexed result.
Real example: Instead of targeting "customer retention software," develop comprehensive frameworks around retention strategy that AI systems recognize as authoritative guidance.
2. Focus on industry thought leadership, not just keywords
AI search rewards expertise depth over keyword density. Instead of targeting "customer retention software," develop comprehensive frameworks around retention strategy that AI systems recognize as authoritative guidance.
3. How are mobile users changing AI search behavior?
Mobile users engage 54% more deeply with AI Overviews compared to desktop users (29%). Mobile represents the primary growth opportunity for AI-driven traffic, with users scrolling further and validating information more frequently than desktop users.
4. How do users validate AI answers?
After reading an AIO or Blue Link, 18% of users still opened a Reddit thread, YouTube video, or second organic result "just to double-check." This validation behavior is strongest among users aged 25-34. Build authentic presence on community channels, focusing on genuine value over promotion.
Ready to transform your search strategy before your competitors catch up?
If you're looking to build systematic AI visibility that drives qualified traffic and protects your organic growth, we'd love to discuss how to turn your deep technical knowledge into AI-discoverable authority.
