If you want to start SEO in the age of AI, you need to start with the right mindset. Many people still believe that SEO is about optimizing the content for search engines.
This blog will help you with the right mindset and context.
Right Mindset for SEO in the age of AI – 2025
It all comes down to user experience. People trust search engines for information.
So, it is imperative for search engines to provide their users with good content and valuable information.
Search engines will have repositories. They preserve a lot of information from world wide web.
On the other side, content writers, webmasters, SME’s from their respective niches contribute content to the websites and blogs. All this information is saved in search engine’s repository called index.
When a user types a query, search engine pulls the most relevant information from the index and display it in search results.
Search engines reward the content that is relevant, valuable and trustworthy because they care about user experience.
What is considered as a User Experience in 2025 SEO?
User experience is the core of SEO – a holistic approach that involves various factors starting from ‘site structure and page speed’ to ‘quality content and inclusive language’.
Web masters must check these boxes to provide a good user experience. Violating any of them is a red flag for search engines as far as user experience is concerned. It prevents your content from ranking in search results.
Here are some important factors that directly impacts user experience.
Site structure:
The structure of the website gives a clear roadmap for users. It helps them understand the hierarchy and navigate from one page to another without difficulty.
Page loading speed:
Let’s say a user landed on the page for a purpose. But the page is taking too much time to load. User will leave the page. It is a bad user experience and indicate search engines that the site is not optimized for a good speed.
Content structure:
It is about the structure of the content – headings, sub-headings, meta titles, meta descriptions and internal linking. They set the tone for users with context and readability. They are also helpful for search engine (bots) in discovering new pages.
Mobile first optimization:
Future is all about mobile friendly browsing. All in One SEO reveals that almost 73% of the internet users will only use their smart phones | 60% of website traffic comes from people who use mobile phones.
HTTPS:
It is a secured protocol for browser and server communication. User data is completely encrypted in https during the communication. User security is important for search engines.
Broken Links:
Let’s say some URL’s or links of your website are deleted for a purpose. But they are still served on some places like search results, social media platforms etc.
When people click these links, they are redirected to an error page (404 or 410). It means they are not available.
It is considered as a bad user experience. Therefore, it is important to define those pages and redirect them to alternate pages using (301 or 302) redirects.
Old SEO vs New SEO: AI Intervention
The main difference between old Seo and new Seo is AI intervention.
Generative AI is sitting on top of traditional search engines like Google and Bing. It is fetching the information from multiple webpages and summarizing it in ‘AI overview’.
and there are AI large language models (LLMs) which rely on both training data and web resources to fetch and summarize the information.
The common point in both is to reduce manual efforts to enhance user experience.
SEO before AI:
On-Page SEO
The efforts you keep on individual pages to make them – user friendly, engaging and rank better in search results.
Ex: meta titles, tags, meta descriptions, and inbound and outbound links.
Off-Page SEO
The efforts you keep on external factors to drive traffic to your website, and build authority in the niche.
Ex: social media marketing, back links, and guest posting etc.
Technical SEO
It is like everyday health check-up for maintaining site health. It helps you fix errors which prevents your page from indexing and ranking.
Ex: robots.txt for crawling and indexing.
Canonical tags to avoid duplicate content.
Redirects to fix broken links.
Mobile first optimization.
Page speed.
SEO after AI:
Along with on page, off-page and technical seo, here are a few key considerations for better SEO in the age of AI:
Original content
Web is being filled with AI-generated content. Most of it has no value because of AI hallucination. The fresh perspectives, well researched and informative articles make the content original.
Voice search optimization
Voice search queries are different from keyboard search queries. They often start with questioning – what, where, when, why, and how.
Hint: FAQs are golden nuggets for voice search.
Multi-modality
The new age SEO is more about visual experience and inclusiveness. It supports text, images, pdf’s and video etc.
Topical authority
It is about taking ownership about a particular topic and providing deep insights. It helps you in establishing credibility in your niche.
To sum it up, modern SEO is about delivering more value and enhancing user experience. That said, content remains king.
Read the full Beginner’s SEO Guide, curated to provide the essential knowledge you need in 2025.
Here are most Frequently Asked Questions:
How is AI changing SEO?
AI is focusing on more précised and direct answers to save user time.
What is topical authority in SEO?
Topical authority is showing the expertise in a particular domain and providing deeper insights.
Why is user experience important for SEO in 2025?
People trust and still rely on search engines. So, search engines make user experience a high priority.
Is Google’s SEO still relevant in 2025?
Yes because Google’s mission to democratize the world’s information hasn’t changed. SEO serves its purpose.
Will AI replace SEO experts?
AI might replace some mundane tasks in SEO but it cannot replace the experts. Because AI can generate content but it cannot originate ideas.
What is the most important ranking factor for SEO in the age of AI?
User experience remains the most important ranking factor for SEO in the age of AI.
What is the right approach for SEO in 2025?
In the age of AI, the right approach for SEO is about creating original content, adding value and enhancing user experience.
Note: Know the difference between SEO and AIO to avoid confusions in the future.
