AI Search: Where Are We & What Can We Do About It?

How can we move forward in an AI search world? Let’s answer key 
AI search questions with data!

* How LLMs & AI search are really affecting Google traffic?
* What are the opportunities for SEOs within AI search?
* How can we make the most out of these opportunities?

Transcript

1. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH
 Where Are We & What Can We Do About It?
2. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Welcome to the most pivotal time in search since Google’s release https://x.com/AndellDam/status/1921115001298772089
3. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ais-threat-to-google-just-got-real-8280b4ee For the first time in 20 years, Apple says Google searches in Safari have fallen due to the shift to generative AI services for search purposes
4. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://blog.google/products/search/statement-press-reports-about-search-traffic/ Google has denied it, of course, but ouch
5. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR It’s not only that, in SEO we’re also seeing a traffic decrease due to AI Overviews and increasing SERP Features too https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks/
6. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://searchengineland.com/google-links-ai-overviews-to-own-search-results-454239, https://zyppy.com/list/ai-overviews-to-google-ads/ Google’s latest inclusion of links going to more SERPs from AI Overviews is likely a reaction to this
7. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://momenticmarketing.com/blog/google-reach-chatgpt-click-throughs This seems to be working for them! There has been an important increase of pages per visit in the last few months
8. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://searchengineland.com/ai-killing-web-business-model-455157 Unfortunately, although this might work well for Google, it doesn’t for Websites traffic. This is a broader Web issue, not only a Google or SEO one.
9. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR But we’re ultimately in the SEO biz: How are all of the AI shifts going to end up affecting SEO in the long run?
10. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://hub.seofomo.co/surveys/the-seofomo-seo-consulting-survey/ This uncertainty, has caused a lack of buy-in, resources issues, and is why it has never been harder 
 to achieve goals and sell SEO
11. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR How can we move forward? Let’s answer key 
 AI search questions with data! How LLMs & AI search are really affecting Google traffic? What are the opportunities for SEOs within AI search? How can we make the most out of these opportunities?
12. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb First things first: AI traffic is still tiny for most 
 sites in comparison with traditional organic search
13. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb AI traffic is growing, yes, but is still 
 1-2% of referral traffic for most sites
14. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR The revenue potential is still trivial now vs traditional search, but people love shiny new things
15. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR That’s why is fundamental to monitor your own 
 site AI traffic in case you haven’t done it yet https://kpplaybook.com/resources/how-to-report-on-traffic-from-ai-tools-in-ga4/
16. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb Also, how many are really “switching” from Google to ChatGPT? 98.1% of ChatGPT desktop visitors are shared with Google, only 1.9% is exclusive!
17. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb 98.2% of Perplexity visitors are also shared with Google too, only 1.8% is exclusive
18. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb ChatGPT traffic is still minimal compared with Google, with 5.14B vs 81.31B visits in April 2025
19. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb And yes, Google has gone through a slight -1.56% YOY decrease vs a big ChatGPT growth*
20. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb Nonetheless, the search player that has actually dropped -21.76% in the last year is Bing!
21. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Let’s summarize! LLMs Traffic and Referral Traffic from LLM’s to sites are growing but still tiny in comparison to traditional search (1-2% referral) People are not ditching Google for ChatGPT or Perplexity but using them as additional platforms Google had just a -0.89% yearly traffic decrease while Bing had a -21.76% one
22. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Let’s be real, Google won’t let ChatGPT win the AI search race without leveraging its user and product data advantage https://blog.google/products/search/ai-mode-updates-may-2025/
23. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7326221653770653696/ Somehow we tend to underestimate the advantage Google has with product, biz & users data & loyalty
24. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Google is catching up with OpenAI/ChatGPT 
 “first mover” advantage, accelerating releases
25. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.geekwire.com/2025/openai-ceo-sam-altman-says-chatgpt-will-probably-not-replace-google-as-main-search-engine/ Even Sam Altman from OpenAI doesn’t think ChatGPT will replace Google
26. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5369404/google-doj-opening-statements-remedies-trial But I also thought we actually wanted to have a more diverse search landscape too and disliked Google Monopoly right?!
27. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR We’re difficult to understand, 
 I know
28. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Let’s imagine we’re 
 already in 2030…
29. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Note: This is a speculation Google has +50% of search marketshare, 
 ChatGPT 20%, Bing 15%, Perplexity 10%, Others 5%
30. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR In 2030 all search platforms have moved 
 to an AI Agent First Experience Here are your today’s suggestions News Tasks Shopping Entertainment
31. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR The AI First Search Experience is Predictive, Conversational, Personalized and Multimodal, prominently linking to sources, much better than initial AIO’s
32. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/google-ai-overviews-have-major-spam-problem-lily-ray-go74f/ (Yes, it took longer than what it should but Google eventually solved their AIO’s spam & citation issues)
33. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Younger users still prefer to use social platforms like TikTok for discovery now with powerful search features powered by AI
34. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Most still use search engines like Google or Perplexity with AI enhancements that personalize their interface mode based on the query nature
35. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Others prefer to use LLMs like ChatGPT or Gemini as their first search and assistant platforms for complex informational tasks
36. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb SEOs have first party access to LLMs queries and performance data, and understand their impact & behavior to establish differentiated strategies for each
37. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR We’ve now moved to primarily track brand visibility, citations & revenue across LLMs & search platforms https://airank.dejan.ai/
38. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR SEOs have realized they’re findability specialists able to work with whatever platform used by the target audience to connect the biz with them & are happy that not all eggs are in a single bag anymore
39. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Perfect! Nothing to worry about. But let’s go back to 2025 to understand how to get prepared and make the most out of the new AI search reality
40. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://blog.google/products/search/ai-mode-search/ Let’s start with AI Overviews which Google have spent the last year releasing across markets, and testing now with an expanded AI Mode
41. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles Most AIO’s research shows how they harm CTR & traffic even when the site is included in them
42. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.semrush.com/blog/semrush-ai-overviews-study/ The thing is, AIO’s are mostly shown for Informational queries, rather than commercial or transactional ones for which a summary is not so helpful
43. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AIOs inclusion change wildly per industry too, for Health inclusion is high, for ecommerce is minimal https://www.advancedwebranking.com/free-seo-tools/google-ai-overview
44. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR And is true there’s also a clear increase 
 of AIO’s for commercial queries too https://www.advancedwebranking.com/free-seo-tools/google-ai-overview
45. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles But 80% of users searching for commercial/ transactional queries will click on non-AIO results
46. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Ahrefs So unless you’re a publication, monetizing via ads or affiliates, most of the impacted queries are not money making ones, but broad informational & navigational terms
47. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Ahrefs And those more relevant queries that will actually tend to bring traffic will be branded and/or navigational ones
48. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glen-allsopp-63084025_nerdwallet-ceo-tim-chen-just-confirmed-ai-activity-7325903341027241985-dgQS Publications affected by AIO’s are also looking forward to leverage increasing AI traffic further & give the best experience
49. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR As you can see, context plays a major role but for most their own AIO’s impact is still unclear since assessment is not straight-forward without a GSC filter
50. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR But AIOs traffic assessment is doable and critical. 
 I share how, when included and not, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7qfCzlQjxY
51. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR I highly recommend to monitor AIOs and other SERP Features traffic via GA4 too https://kpplaybook.com/resources/how-to-track-traffic-from-aio-featured-snippets-paa-results-ga4/
52. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR As well as to start tracking pixel visibility 
 in SERPs, rather than just positions Advanced Web Ranking
53. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR This will allow you decide which are the AIO’s worth pursuing for inclusion & what to target instead How relevant & popular are these queries for your customers buying journey? What’s the impact on your brand visibility and authority recognition toward a relevant audience? What’s the impact on potential sales? Revenue? What’s the impact on customers support? Operational Cost?
54. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR You should use these not only for AIO’s potential assessment but any LLMs and search platforms! How relevant & popular are these queries for your customers buying journey? What’s the impact on your brand visibility and authority recognition toward a relevant audience? What’s the impact on potential sales? Revenue? What’s the impact on customers support? Operational Cost?
55. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Remember that it’s also about brand recognition, authority and trust building too https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles
56. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR So what if you decide to target them and optimize for AIOs and other LLMs?
57. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/ai-insights-google-search-central-live/ Unlike traditional LLMs that generate responses based on the data they were trained on, AIO’s are designed to be grounded in information from the web
58. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AIOs are meant to answer complex questions, and powered by Gemini 2.0 integrating with Google's web ranking systems and knowledge graph to support information https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/ai-insights-google-search-central-live/
59. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://ipullrank.com/how-retrieval-augmented-generation-is-redefining-seo If you want to dig deeper, here’s a comprehensive must-read resource by iPullRank
60. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Of course, AIO’s have obviously still a lot of room for improvement vs
61. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-overviews However, Google says no additional optimization is needed for AIOs beyond general search guidelines
62. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Not really that helpful uh?
63. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-overviews-dont-cite-who-you-think-do-philip-petrescu-sf7zf/ It’s important to understand the differences since 52% of AIOs citations are not even in top 50 results and 29% link to more Google Properties
64. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.tryprofound.com/guides/the-surprising-gap-between-chatgpt-and-google There’s also only 12% of overlap between Google’s traditional results and ChatGPT answer sources
65. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-vs-geo-optimizing-for-traditional-vs-ai-search/ How optimizing for search integrated LLMs really differs from doing it so for traditional search? Let’s compare the optimization process phases
66. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-vs-geo-optimizing-for-traditional-vs-ai-search/ The main differences in areas of optimization come with some LLMs lacking JS rendering capabilities, and page experience not being a direct ranking factor
67. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-vs-geo-optimizing-for-traditional-vs-ai-search/ As well as the bigger role of citations for LLMs
68. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler ChatGPT & Claude crawlers don’t execute JS unlike Gemini, so it’s critical to use SSR for important content if you want to be shown in these LLMs answers
69. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.iloveseo.net/a-guide-to-semantics-or-how-to-be-visible-both-in-search-and-llms/ Optimizing content semantic relevance & entity recognition is even more important than before
70. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Identify topic gaps, enhance topical authority, 
 your content structure & relationships waikay.io
71. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Establish your brand visibility and recognition. Check this deck for actionable tips! https://speakerdeck.com/aleyda/seo-for-brand-visibility-and-recognition
72. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR What about LLMs.txt? They’re not really used. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-says-llms-txt-comparable-to-keywords-meta-tag/544804/
73. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-vs-geo-optimizing-for-traditional-vs-ai-search/ The biggest changes can be found in user behavior: query nature, topics, & interaction style
74. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Similarweb This is why is critical to start monitoring LLMs prompts & triggered content besides AIO’s
75. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/seo-vs-geo-optimizing-for-traditional-vs-ai-search/ KPIs to measure success also change: No traditional rankings in LLMs, instead, brand citations in sources or brand mentions & links in answers
76. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR waikay.io Start tracking your brand inclusions, links & citations vs competitors in each target LLM
77. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Sistrix As well as monitoring the relevant players and popular prompts per topics in each LLM platform
78. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Profound This is important because different models cite different sources for the same questions
79. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Profound Eg. There’s a major difference in AIO’s & ChatGPT sources: Only 21% domains & 9.9% URLs overlap
80. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://searchengineland.com/how-to-get-cited-by-ai-seo-insights-from-8000-ai-citations-455284 Each LLM shows different preference patterns when sourcing information! Check out this study
81. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://searchengineland.com/how-to-get-cited-by-ai-seo-insights-from-8000-ai-citations-455284 The clearest optimization pattern across all LLMs? Our SEO skills are transferable, and there’s a bigger pool of platforms to connect with our audience now
82. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/ai-insights-google-search-central-live/ Even Google agrees with this
83. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/googles-ai-adventure-year-one But, are we still doing SEO or something else? Are those who optimize for YouTube or TikTok search not doing SEO? If we also do it for LLMs or AI search features, should we brand ourselves differently?
84. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Let’s imagine we’re 
 already in 2030… 
 and start by optimizing 
 accordingly!
85. AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR Thanks! Questions? I’m Aleyda Solis * SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti * SEO Speaker at +200 Events in +30 countries * SEOFOMO, AI Marketers & MarketingFOMO Newsletters Maker * Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.” * Crawling Mondays Video & Podcast Series Host * Maker LearningSEO.io * European Search Personality of the Year in 2018 AI SEARCH BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI AT #HIVEMCR