TL;DR: How SEO Adapted to AI Search in 2025
In 2025, SEO pivoted to align with AI-driven search engines by incorporating Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and new standards like llms.txt for AI content crawling.
• AI Optimization: Create content tailored for AI discovery platforms like ChatGPT and Bing Copilot.
• Innovative Practices: Use semantic tagging, structured data, and GEO strategies to enhance visibility.
• Future Standards: Adopt protocols like llms.txt for efficient AI indexing and crawling.
Actionable Insight: Stay competitive by blending traditional SEO with AI-ready frameworks. Start implementing GEO strategies today to secure your place in the evolving search landscape!
Exploring the Top 10 SEO Expert Columns of 2025 on Search Engine Land
As the digital landscape changed dramatically throughout 2025, SEO experts were faced with the challenge of adapting to AI-driven search engines, new optimization frameworks, and innovative standards like llms.txt. On Search Engine Land, some of the most-read articles authored by industry leaders provided insights into this evolving domain, transforming how entrepreneurs and marketers approached their strategies. Let’s dive into these columns, their key takeaways, and how they impacted SEO professionals globally.
What were the standout themes in SEO for 2025?
The year 2025 marked an inflection point where traditional SEO methods started to integrate, and in some cases merge, with AI technologies. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) emerged as a concept that aimed to align SEO practices with AI models like Google Gemini and ChatGPT. Not just this, the introduction of llms.txt, an optimization protocol for AI content crawling, highlighted the seismic shifts in how search engines ingest and prioritize content.
- AI Optimization: Strategies for making content discoverable by new AI-driven platforms.
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Moving beyond SEO to anticipate AI decision-making.
- New Standards: Implementing practical tools like
llms.txtfor efficient crawling. - Traffic Analytics: Understanding the increase of AI-validated traffic by platforms such as Bing Copilot.
- Future-proof Strategies: Adapting your content protocols for AI as primary discovery channels.
Which expert columns dominated?
These articles not only resonated with SEO professionals but also provided actionable advice for entrepreneurs looking to stay competitive. Below is a summary of the leading columns that shaped Search Engine Land’s content.
- The End of the Web? Goodbye HTML, Hello AIDI! (Author: Mario Fischer)
- AI Optimization: How to Optimize Your Content for AI Search and Agents (Author: Jed White)
- AI Traffic is Up 527%. SEO is Being Rewritten (Author: David Bell)
- 11 Free Chrome Extensions You Need for SEO (Author: Stephanie Wallace)
- AI Search is Booming, but SEO is Still Not Dead (Author: Lily Ray)
- How to Get Cited by AI: SEO Insights from 8,000 AI Citations (Author: James Allen)
- How AI Mode and AI Overviews Work Based on Patents (Author: Michael King)
- SEO vs. GEO: What’s Different? What’s the Same? (Author: Dan Taylor)
- Meet llms.txt, A Proposed Standard for AI Website Content Crawling (Author: Rob Garner)
- Will GEO Replace SEO, or Become Part of It? (Author: Roslyn Ayers)
How can entrepreneurs leverage these insights?
For startup founders and solopreneurs, adapting to the shifts in discovery and visibility was far from straightforward yet imperative for anyone looking to build scalable, sustainable businesses. Here’s how these columns provided indispensable advice for making SEO work in tandem with AI-driven discovery platforms:
- Experiment with GEO: Blend traditional practices with AI techniques like semantic tagging, structured data, and robust content targeting.
- Optimize for AI Traffic: Use tools like those highlighted by Stephanie Wallace to track metrics and uncover weak spots in current visibility approaches.
- Adopt Early Standards: Stay ahead by implementing protocols like
llms.txt, ensuring your site is ready to be crawled effectively by AI bots. - Create AI-Focused Content: Recognize that alongside relevance, contextual data and freshness appeal to LLMs, facilitating higher search rankings.
- Invest in Long-Term SEO Tools: Focus on adaptable tools featured in popular guides to better forecast keyword shifts and user behavior.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Ignoring AI Discovery Channels: Traditional search optimization will no longer suffice as users increasingly rely on AI interfaces.
- Underestimating Protocols: Standards like
llms.txtensure your site is compatible with modern AI tools and should not be overlooked. - Skipping Semantic SEO: Structured data, entity-based optimization, and contextual linking are critical, neglecting them wastes your content potential.
- Failure to Adapt: SEO cannot be static anymore. The inability to pivot strategies as new data emerges will reduce long-term viability.
- Excessive Focus on Rankings: It’s not always about being first on Google. Brand staying power relies on holistic visibility across multiple platforms.
These pitfalls, while common, are entirely avoidable with the proper roadmap, patience, and awareness shared by these seasoned professionals.
The way forward in SEO isn’t about revolutionizing knowledge but adapting cleverly. The thinkers behind Search Engine Land’s top columns of 2025 deserve your attention, not just for theory, but for the practical approaches they’ve shared for transforming how discovery, relevance, and competition work in today’s AI-driven future.
FAQ on Top 10 SEO Expert Columns of 2025 on Search Engine Land
1. What major themes defined SEO in 2025?
The year 2025 saw the integration of SEO with AI systems, introducing concepts like Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI-driven search platforms, and standards like llms.txt for content crawling. Explore the trends in SEO
2. What is llms.txt and why is it important?llms.txt is a proposed standard designed for AI-based content crawling and optimization. It ensures your site is crawlable by large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Learn about llms.txt
3. What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO aligns SEO with AI decision-making. It includes strategies like semantic tagging, contextual optimization, and adapting to AI search behaviors. Discover the difference between SEO and GEO
4. How did AI reshape search traffic in 2025?
AI-driven platforms like Bing Copilot and Google Gemini contributed to a 527% rise in AI-driven traffic, which SEO professionals adapted to by focusing on AI-friendly optimization. Read about AI's impact on SEO traffic
5. Is SEO still effective in the age of AI?
Yes, traditional SEO remains relevant when paired with AI-focused practices. SEO basics like site structure and relevance still play a critical role. See why SEO isn’t dead
6. How can websites obtain more AI-based citations?
Sites can increase AI citations by creating fresh, research-driven, and contextually relevant content that appeals to LLMs. Learn how to get cited by AI
7. What tools were recommended for SEO in 2025?
Chrome extensions for tasks like SERP analysis and keyword research were indispensable, alongside tools tailored for the AI environment. Discover essential SEO tools
8. What does "The End of the Web" idea mean?
This concept explores a future where traditional websites are replaced by AI-driven data interfaces (AIDI), shifting how businesses optimize for visibility. Read about the "End of the Web"
9. How does AI Mode and AI Overviews affect SEO?
AI Mode and Overviews, as utilized by platforms like Google Gemini, change how search results are presented, making it vital to adapt SEO strategies. Understand AI Mode and AI Overviews
10. Will GEO replace SEO completely?
GEO is not a replacement but a complement to SEO. Together, they help companies maintain visibility on search engines and AI platforms alike. Explore the future of GEO and SEO
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the “gamepreneurship” methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the point of view of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.