How AI is Shaping the Future of SEO

Last updated on October 10, 2025.

The SEO team at Socium Media is always being proactive and engaging with the AI trends that are reshaping the digital marketing industry. Here is how we’re helping our clients stay ahead of the AI curve.

What We’ve Found

• We continue to see blog posts, products and FAQs cited most often in the AI Overview or LLMs.
  • Originally mostly blogs and FAQs when the LLMs were more informational.
  • Products are increasingly surfacing in results, especially with the rollout of integrated ‘buy now’ buttons in LLMs.
  • Local listings with map integrations are now appearing in ChatGPT results, with rankings influenced by homepage relevancy and Google Business profiles
• AI results definitely tend to favor pages that directly answer a question or fulfill a specific intent; however more recently homepages are seeing the majority of traffic from LLMs due to recent updates.

What We’ve Been Prioritizing

• Human-written content that answers common questions clearly and directly.
• FAQ sections with concise answers after each question.
• Longer-form blog content targeting long-tail, informational keywords.
• Structured data to help LLMs and search engines understand the content layout.
  • We’ve been implementing more specific schemas than the traditional product, organization, breadcrumbList, blogPosting/article schemas that are commonly added to sites.
    • See: https://schema.org/

What We’re Testing

• For an outdoor brand we work with, we’ve started building out Travel Guides with travel tips, places to eat, drink, stay, and hike/climb/bike. The idea is to meet informational intent while subtly promoting products and targeting potential buyers in the research phase.
  • Early indicators show strong alignment with AI visibility goals, though we’re continuing to collect data.
  • We’ve found directories like these also work really well in traditional SEO.
• We are also adding FAQ content to all pages including collections/category pages, product pages and blogs to align with the short concise answers the LLMs are utilizing for prompt responses.

What We Recommend

• Build informational pages that answer questions. 
• Use clear question-based subheadings and answer the question in the first sentence.
• Add FAQ sections to blog and landing pages to further target questions and link to full blog posts answering questions in detail.
• Include tips, quotes or proprietary data to make content more unique.
  • Proprietary data, quotes, or unique insights continue to act as ranking signals for LLMs, reinforcing findings from industry studies.
• Keep pages updated with current info, awards, and seasonal content.
  • Recency of content is also a ranking factor for LLMs.
• Use schema markup across the board for everything applicable.
  • This is not only stated in Google Developer Docs but seems to be what LLMs are currently using to understand content better.
  • We expect MCP (Model Context Protocol) to become a standard which is essentially the 5.0 version of structured data but specifically for LLMs. (See below).
• Make sure pages are crawlable, fast, and easy to parse.

What’s Next

• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  • What It Is
    • MCP is a new standard that helps AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity understand and interact with your website
    • It acts like a sitemap plus an API by showing what is on your site and allowing AI to take actions such as pulling products, booking services, or completing checkout
  • The Opportunity
    • Make sure AI tools explain your products, services, and expertise the right way instead of leaving it to chance
    • Increase the chance your site is included with direct links inside AI-powered search results
    • Allow customers to take real actions through AI like browsing products, booking appointments, or buying directly
    • Get ahead of competitors by adopting early, similar to how schema markup gave an advantage years ago
    • Prepare for the shift as AI assistants become a major way people search and shop
  • More Info:
    • https://docs.claude.com/en/home
    • https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction
• IndexNow
  • Already setup via Shopify Plus or Yoast Premium
  • Notifies Search Engines and LLMs about updates to products/new pages.
  • Recommendation: If this is not enabled, we recommend enabling this!
  • More Info: https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/May-2025/IndexNow-Enables-Faster-and-More-Reliable-Updates-for-Shopping-and-Ads