How AI is Reshaping SEO: Trends, Predictions, and Opportunities for Marketers

HOW AI IS RESHAPING SEO
Challenges, Opportunities, and Brand Strategies for 2025
BY KELSEY LIBERT, COFOUNDER @ FRACTL

A Bit About Me & Fractl
1. Recruited into SEO 18 yrs ago
● Earned my first .gov link interviewing tourism departments
for my Dad’s domains
2. Co-Founded Fractl 13 years ago
● 5,000+ Earned Media campaigns for Fortune 500s,
Startups, and SMBs
● #1 on Clutch "Content Marketing: Industry Leaders
Matrix" 30k firms
● “Top 5% Most Effective Accounts” for Digital PR by
BuzzStream
● Moz Recommended List
3. Launched 30+ Fractl Agents in 2025
● Scaling Agentic workflows for SEO, SMM, and Digital PR
based on proven workflows
My Industry Research Is Featured In:
● “Fractl transformed our shadow brand
into a leading voice.”
● “Fractl’s content outperforms ours in
engagement and conversions.”
● “Fractl hit all their KPIs, we’ve even been
featured on TV as a result of their work!”
● “Fractl is the Michael Jordan
of link building.”
Fractl’s Client Testimonials:
Financial
Client

Don’t Believe All Of The Doom
& Gloom You Read

66% of Consumers Expect AI to Replace Traditional Search in 5 Years

We’re 14 Years Into This Recurring, Sensationalized Industry News Cycle
Yet “SEO” Searches Were Up 56% This Past Quarter

You Can’t Kill SEO. Search is a Function, Not a Platform.
Both Google and LLMs surface content based on similar value systems
that SEOs, Content Marketers, and Digital PR teams are already inﬂuencing.

LLM Sources of Inﬂuence Pulse Survey:
Have You Heard of GEO?

Effective SEO has always been about creating valuable brand content
that drives brand engagement, earns brand coverage, builds brand authority,
and increases cross-channel brand visibility & conversions
https://bit.ly/Sparktoro-Audience-Research

Part I: Decoding the
AI-Search Experience
Consumer Usage, Trust & Adoption

What You Need to Understand About The Technology Adoption Curve
Everett Rogers - Diffusion of Innovations 1962

The Future of Search is AI
74% feel conﬁdent using AI Tools
64% feel positive about AI

1. 60% say AI makes them
more creative
1. 55% say AI makes them
more productive
1. 59% believe AI will
improve quality of life
Only 33% of Consumers Believe “AI is Overhyped”

82% ﬁnd AI-powered search more helpful than
traditional SERPs
Google Search (77%), LLMs (49%) and AIOs (38%)
top the charts in consumer search tools
It’s no longer about if AI will change consumer search behavior — you should
already be prioritizing GEO and cross-channel brand visibility

If This Is You Right Now, Know You’re Not Alone
Yet Only ~ 22% of Marketers Track LLM Brand Visibility or Traffic
LLM Brand Visibility Tools

Yet Only ~ 22% of Marketers Track LLM Brand Visibility or Traffic
LLM Brand Visibility Tools

Marketers Need to Double Down On:
a. Proprietary Source of Truth
b. Source Transparency
c. Bias and Fact-Checking
d. Credible Author Review on E-E-A-T topics
e. Robust Author Bios
78% of marketers and 68% of consumers are concerned about AI-driven
misinformation — more than fear job loss

E-E-A-T Content Requires Trusted Expert Bios, Multiple Layers of Fact Checking,
and Human-In-The-Loop Editorial Review

1. AI-Generated Content Isn’t a
Dealbreaker
a. If it’s accurate, informative, and
trustworthy
1. Gender Matters More Than
You Think
b. Men are more likely to trust
AI-generated content (54%) than
women (45%)
c. When targeting female-dominant
audiences, lead with human touch
80% of consumers have a neutral or positive attitude toward trusting brands
that use AI-generated content, only 20% don’t

Know Your Audience And Your Newsworthy Hooks
https://www.dove.com/us/en/campaigns/purpose/keep-beauty-real.html 281 Backlinks

Learn How To Reﬁne Your Prompt Engineering To Keep AI On Track & Accurate
● “Please continue systematically. Do not go outside the scope
of what I’m asking for.”
● “Please proceed carefully and diligently, stay in scope and on
task.”
● “Do not make sweeping changes beyond what I’ve directed.”
● “Please proceed systematically with the ﬁrst task on our
checklist. Check your own work and prove you did it
correctly and completely with a checklist. Update our
checklist as you go.”
https://bit.ly/kelsey-sel

49% still check traditional links on AIOs,
41% rely on AIOs alone
Consumers Trust GenAI Brand Content, but Nearly Half are Concerned About
AIOs Disrupting Organic Search
How AIOs Impact Consumer Click Paths

36% of marketers say AIOs are “mixed,” citing
ongoing accuracy concerns — a sign that
hallucination risk still undermines trust.
Marketers are Equally Skeptical About AIOs, But As Models Improve, Hopefully,
So Will AIOs (and Proper Sourcing)

The Share of Queries Triggering AI Overviews is Rising and Diversifying, but
Informational Queries (87.59%) Still Reign Supreme as of May 2025

Part II: AI in SEO
Marketer Insights on the Future Of Search
PART II: AI IN SEO

Yet Half Feel High Pressure to Adopt AI to Stay Competitive
Only 11% of Marketers Feel “Over-Reliant on AI”

More Marketers Fear Falling Behind on AI skills Than Losing Their Jobs to AI
1. “Cultural Inertia” can make or break
your company’s innovation in the age of AI.
1. Launch quarterly AI upskilling sprints
to keep teams ahead of the curve.
1. Custom GPTs, prompt libraries, and
internal champions set the stage for
innovation, training, and a companywide
growth mindset.

Invest in AI pilot projects championed by senior team members
74% of Marketers Use AI Tools in Some Part of their Workﬂow — By 2026 ~ 45%
of Execs and Senior Staff Expect “Most-All” of Their Workﬂow Will Involve AI
~ 74%

If You Haven’t Built Custom GPTs to Scale Your Most Effective Workflows,
Why Not?
1. Proprietary “Sources of Truth”
a. Internal Data & APIs
b. Training Guides
c. Sample Templates
2. Streamline for More Strategic Investments
a. Data Analysis
i. Subject Lines
ii. Media Lists
iii. Newsworthy Stat Identification
b. Time-Intensive Tasks
c. Repetitive Workflows

Address Mid-Level AI Adoption with Incentive Structures and Feedback Loops

1. Marketers rely on AI for high-volume copy
drafting and large-scale data analysis:
a. Copy Drafting
i. Writing social media content (44%)
ii. Crafting emails/newsletters (37%)
iii. Optimizing on-page SEO (meta tags) (37%)
b. Large Scale Data Analysis
i. Conducting keyword research/SEO analysis (43%)
ii. Creating data analysis/reports (40%)
1. Top AI Use Case By Company:
b. Agencies: Optimizing on-page SEO and creating data analysis
or reports (44%)
c. In-house: Writing social media content (45%)
d. Independent Consultant: Conducting SEO analysis (48%)
84% Said Their Organization is Using AI Tools for Content Creation

Evaluate How A Personalized Writer’s Genome Can Scale Brand Voice

1. Misinformation is the #1 Anxiety Anchor
a. Use proprietary “sources of truth”
b. Demand editorial fact-checking
1. Creativity Still Matters — A Lot
b. Use AI for research and outlines
c. Design writing prompts to combat generic tone
and prioritize divergent thinking
1. SEO Penalties? Barely on the Radar
b. Shift concern from “will AI hurt rankings?” to
“will AI content deserve rankings?”
c. Treat originality, depth, and clarity as your north
stars — Google certainly does.
Be The Human-In-The-Loop: AI Should Be Used to Augment vs Fully Automate
Marketing Workﬂows

Community Building Content and Digital PR That Drives Authoritative Brand
Mentions Reign Supreme for Brand Visibility Mechanisms

“Google’s AI Answers aren’t the same as
raw LLM outputs—they rely on
retrieval-augmented generation to interpret and
synthesize search results, which is why they
diverge from foundation-model responses.”
- Dan Tynski, Fractl/Agents, Co-Founder
Fractl Agents: Publisher LLM Brand Visibility by Vertical
Study: Queried 8,090 Keywords | Across LLMs and AIOs | For 25 Verticals | Revealing 22,410 Leading Domains
Cross-System Domain Recognition Is Rare

Fractl Agents: Publisher LLM Brand Visibility
1. AIOs Heavily Favor Mainstream Authorities
a. High-authority mainstream sites
i. Established mainstream news (BBC, US News,
Bloomberg)
ii. Government and institutional websites (.gov, .edu)
iii. Wikipedia and reference sources
2. LLM Models Favor Niche-Authorities
a. High-authority US news (e.g., NYT, CNBC) combine strict
editorial vetting for trustworthiness with RAG for
timeliness
b. Vertical-speciﬁc queries lean on specialist
publishers (e.g. Rolling Stones, CNET, Men’s Health,
NerdWallet)
c. Platforms and content optimized for learning
(Github, Coursera)

Fractl Agents: Publisher LLM Brand Visibility
1. Editorial Authority → trust & crawl frequency with RAG for timely queries (e.g. NPR/NYT)
2. Niche Domain Experts → topical focus & depth demonstrate expertise (e.g. Edmunds)
3. Structured Formats → models easily parse & replicate (e.g. Investopedia listicles)
4. Syndication → ampliﬁed footprint in training data (e.g. US News syndication networks)
1. U.S. Media Dominance → limits exposure to non-U.S. voices. (e.g. more .coms vs .uks)

1. Volume and speed are up, but without strategic redirect, teams risk burnout-by-efficiency.
2. Build guidelines for how saved time should be spent: more strategy, more upskilling, or actual time off.
1:4 Execs Report Saving 7+ Hours Per Week Using AI Tools

In 2023, Fractl’s Clients Were Cautiously Monitoring AI. By 2025, Those Who
Experimented Had Case Studies to Prove its Potential.

1. Start tracking your brand visibility in
AIOs and LLMs
1. Run a GEO (Generative Engine
Optimization) content refresh
strategy before EOY
1. Produce authoritative, engaging
content that drives brand
mentions and cross-channel
brand visibility
1. Adopt AI tools for efficiency gains
Start Preparing for The Next Evolution in Digital Marketing

How AI is Reshaping SEO: Trends, Predictions, and Opportunities for Marketers

How AI is Reshaping SEO: Trends, Predictions, and Opportunities for Marketers

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to How AI is Reshaping SEO: Trends, Predictions, and Opportunities for Marketers

More from Fractl - Earned Media Agency

Recently uploaded

How AI is Reshaping SEO: Trends, Predictions, and Opportunities for Marketers