How AI-powered search is changing SEO (and how it isn’t)

Google’s latest AI evolution is causing a big stir in the world of SEO – but when you get past all the fluff and fearmongering, is it as big a deal as some news outlets are reporting? At Sherbet Donkey, we believe in looking ahead when it comes to SEO. For us, AI search engines aren’t a shock. We’re ahead of the game, and we’re ready to take you along for the ride.

Let’s chat about why we’re not taking the doom-and-gloom approach to AI search engines, the facts you need to know, and why we’re confident that our SEO services are more important than ever before.

What’s all the drama?

AI is here to stay – a fact that was emphasised many times over at Google’s latest I/O conference, where the word was used so many times it practically lost all meaning. If anything could have AI tacked onto it, it did.

Out of all of the AI updates, one of the biggest talking points at this year’s event was AI Search, an evolution of the old faithful search engine box that has been a mainstay of Google searches for 25 years.

From July onwards, us UK internet users will be able to make use of agentic AI search built directly into Google. This is facilitated by Gemini 3.5 Flash, the shiny new model that supports AI Mode and allows you to use conversational search in the same way you’d use ChatGPT or Claude.

Effectively, Anthropic and OpenAI have been stealing a significant part of Google’s thunder for the last few years, and the previously uncontested search giant decided that it’s time to play them at their own game.

As with any other Big Google Update, the unveiling of AI Mode has sent half of the SEO industry into a tailspin, predicting the death of SEO, the destruction of the internet and quite possibly the end of the Earth itself, judging by some of the more dramatic headlines we spotted.

Before you throw in the towel, we’ve got a few facts to lay down to change your mind – and show you how AI Search is an opportunity for your business if you’ve got the right team behind you.

SEO is dead… isn’t it?

Short answer: no. Long answer: no, not if you’re already doing SEO the right way.

If your agency is still following principles that went out of fashion 15 years ago, churning out poor-quality writing and stuffing your content with every keyword under the sun, AI isn’t going to be kind to you. (But really, if that’s all they’re doing for you, it’s time for a change anyway).

If you’re working with an agency that does SEO the right way (like our team), you’ll see a few changes in the statistics that come in and the way people find your business, and that’s about it. Those rock-solid SEO foundations give you the advantage you need to keep forging ahead, bringing in the business with technical SEO and content that is a help to AI instead of a hindrance.

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty with the key facts you need to know about the latest in AI SEO.

Here are the facts (and why SEO is alive and kicking)

We’re not stupid enough to say AI isn’t changing anything in SEO. Of course it is, in the same way every major SEO update has been over the past decade. We’re well-versed in evolving alongside SEO, and by keeping ourselves on the sharp edge of new technology, we’re able to gain insight that helps businesses like yours to succeed. Here are the facts you need to know:

Fact 1: E-E-A-T is what feeds AI

Google’s E-E-A-T framework is more important than ever in the era of AI SEO strategy. This acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness and encompasses all the key signals that Google values for quality and credibility.

By prioritising E-E-A-T content, Google is aiming to provide a better experience for searchers and higher accuracy in search queries. If you’re seeking information, you want it to be from a credible source you can trust, not a random stranger.

The same concept carries over into Google AI search. Google wants its users to be satisfied with their interactions, and credible content is an easy way to achieve that goal. If you’re seen as a trustworthy authority on debt consolidation or cybersecurity, AI agents are going to stick your content right at the top of the list, which is exactly where you want to be.

Fact 2: AI needs content – and it should be yours

Why bother with content when AI does it all anyway? You’re not the first one to think that, and you won’t be the last. But AI isn’t a self-contained knowledge library – everything it does is pulled from a source, which is then referenced directly, with a handy little link included, in the answer it spits out.

That source is websites, and without content, there’s no chance that your business is going to achieve those primary citations (the equivalent of #1 rankings) on AI searches.

AI answers don’t appear from nowhere, and ensuring you are building a website with high-quality, E-E-A-T optimised content increases your visibility and raises your authority. If you aren’t doing it, your competitors just might be.

Fact 3: Intent matters massively

Search intent is a fundamental of SEO, allowing for the creation of targeted, effective webpages and content that aim to get qualified leads onto your site. When you’re selling a product or service, the inclusion of commercial intent keywords can direct them neatly to your website, ready to get in contact or make a purchase.

With an AI SEO strategy, the goal is to first achieve citations in AI results and then bring them onto your website. In essence, it’s the same as search has ever been, just in a different format – rather than ranking #1 for ‘IT companies in Birmingham’, you instead want to appear at the top of the response when you ask Google to ‘list 5 IT companies in Birmingham’ or ‘Find IT companies in Birmingham that do managed IT’.

Continuing to put the work in to create powerful commercial and local intent SEO can help make your business matter to AI, which gets you out in front of your competitors in the places where it matters most.

Fact 4: Behind the scenes still matters

While the face of search has changed, what’s under the hood is just as important as it ever was. This means that the technical elements of SEO are just as vital, and failing to set wrongs right can mean you’re invisible to searchers regardless of how incredible your content is.

AI relies on context and trust to decide which pages to feature in both standard and AI results. That means you need all of the foundations of SEO sorted, whether you want to appear as a citation or reach the top of conventional rankings.

Schema, UX, entry optimisation and brand signals remain important to classic search and modern AI search equally. At the end of the day, you’re still trying to talk to an algorithm, and you need to provide the right cues and context to make your brand visible in the right ways.

Fact 5: You’re a commercial business, not a publisher

A great deal of scaremongering surrounding Google’s introduction of AI search has been generated by publishers such as TechCrunch, where the implications of AI could very well mean real difficulties for their industry in the future. But when you read a headline like ‘Google Search as you know it is over’, it’s hard not to fear the worst.

Here’s the big difference between you and these companies: you’re not a digital publisher. For the vast majority of businesses, your ultimate goal is to get your brand visible to potential customers so they can do one of two things: buy from you directly or get in contact with you to start the sales process. High-quality SEO enables you to achieve this goal by improving your credibility, which in turn improves your visibility.

The main concern with AI, for publishers, is that AI search will scrape up all that tasty information, serve it on a platter, and the searcher will never have to visit their site. Your customers ultimately want to purchase from you, which is a different thing entirely.

Quality over clicks: Why zero-click doesn’t spell the end for SEO

‘Zero-click’ is one of the big buzzwords of AI – and we want to be realistic about what this actually means. Yes, you will lose clicks. Your statistics will take a hit. That upward-trending graph might look a little less healthy. But, outside of your statistics screen, those clicks don’t matter.

At Sherbet Donkey, we’ve long made the move from clicks as the primary indicator of success. The reality is that not every click is qualified, and visibility and conversions are where the real money is. These metrics matter more than Doris in Dorchester clicking on your website link when she was never going to buy anything from your company anyway. The majority of clicks to your website will have informational intent, which means they are the least likely to convert to customers already.

AI is a filter that condenses the people that reach your website. You aren’t the only one being filtered; every one of your competitors is too. With clever SEO and a solid strategy, you can take advantage of this filter to get ahead of your competition. An excellent website full of quality, E-E-A-T-friendly content gives you the best head start possible in gaining customers through AI search results, and that’s exactly what we deliver. No shortcuts or gimmicks.

Why you should stop listening to the sensationalists

Whether you’re reading dramatic statements on LinkedIn or finding fearmongering articles on websites, half of the internet makes it sound like AI search has emerged out of nowhere, a terrifying and unexpected force destined to destroy the internet for good.

If you’ve had your ear to the ground, like our team has at Sherbet Donkey, you’ll have seen Google’s foray into fully AI search coming from a mile off. We’re well aware of the shift towards agentic and query-based searches, and we’ve already been achieving incredible results for our clients on AI Overviews and in ChatGPT alongside the conventional methods.

‘”In reality, Google’s been moving towards answer-based search for years via featured snippets, AI Overviews, People Also Ask, local packs and so on. We can view this as a continuation of the direction they’ve been heading in, rather than a change.” – Elliot Bennett, Assistant Head of SEO at Sherbet Donkey

What we’re doing to get ahead of AI

We’ve always been ahead of the curve at Sherbet Donkey, and adopting an AI-inclusive approach to SEO in the work we do is no exception to that rule. To achieve success for our clients, we’ve put in the hard work behind the scenes to understand and take advantage of AI:

• We monitor changes closely, ready to adapt to Google updates and AI integrations.
• We adapt new strategies where needed to continue doing more for our clients.
• We test AI search visibility as standard alongside our other metrics to maximise results.

We focus on long-term strategy, not short-term hacks

We’re not about the short-term hacks. Instead, we deliver long-term wins based on solid strategies that achieve consistent results for our clients and only get better over time.

By focusing on what’s really important and choosing longevity over trends, we’re able to avoid the pitfalls many agencies fall into when optimising for AI. That’s the reason we have an incredible 84% retention rate for our clients – we keep delivering, no matter what changes Google throws at us.

“AI search didn’t change what good SEO looks like – it validated it. The work we do with clients, building authority, earning trust and structuring content so it’s genuinely useful, is exactly what it rewards. We’ve always done things the right way, and now that’s showing up in the results. Our clients are gaining meaningful traffic and leads through AI search, and for me personally, that’s what makes this such an exciting time to be working in SEO.” – Katie Chinn, Head of SEO

Ready to make AI work for you?

Great SEO brings AI into the fold while focusing on the factors that matter most. Our team at Sherbet Donkey achieves incredible results for our clients with AI thanks to our unique approach. Our in-house SEOs and content writers work hand-in-hand to produce high-quality, technically sound E-E-A-T-optimised websites that elevate your business across both rankings and AI citations.

If you’re looking for an AI SEO agency that takes the next stage of search seriously, we’re the team you need. Get in touch today for a FREE SEO audit, including an overview of your current AI position.