Is traditional SEO dead? The rise of AI search engines and what it means for your wedding business website

There's no doubt the age of AI has arrived. LLMs such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini have changed the way we do things online, potentially forever – especially in search.

In this post I'm looking at how AI is impacting the world of SEO, and what this means for your wedding business website. As a wedding industry copywriter who specialises in SEO-powered copy and content, this is a topic I find fascinating, and something I'm keeping on top of so I can continue to offer my clients the most optimised copy possible.

Some personal thoughts on AI before we dive into the blog post proper

I believe AI has the potential to do amazing things, especially in areas such as healthcare and medical diagnosis. But I also am very aware of the huge environmental cost of AI: the huge amount of emergy needed to power it, the water needed to cool the servers. There are also massive implications for copyright and scraping other people's work.

Therefore, I think any use of AI should be carefully considered: just because you can use it for something doesn't mean you should. I'd rather it be reserved for actions that have a positive impact on society, rather than being used to create Barbie or manga versions of ourselves.

I don't use AI when writing copy and content, because I love the craft of writing, and I don't believe it can come up with copy as original, compelling and unique as a human can. However, I am aware that the genie is out the bottle and AI is here to stay (for now at least), and that many people do want to use it. This is why I'm learning about how AI is changing search, and how I can use this knowledge when working with my clients to help their businesses get found by more of the right people.

So! Onto the post.

What is AIO and GEO? How is it different to SEO?

SEO is search engine optimisation – the practice of making sure the copy and content on your website is set up so it can be crawled, indexed and returned in search results by search engines such as Google.

AIO stands for artificial intelligence optimisation and GEO stands for generative engine optimisation. These are interchangeable terms used to describe the process of optimising websites so that AI programmes such as ChatGPT and Perplexity offer them as results to search queries.

What's changed in the world of SEO?

The concept of search engines (for which I'm going to use the word Google, because let's face it, they're still the biggest by a long way) has changed dramatically in 2025, in the following two ways.

1 The AI overview

The first is the introduction of the AI overview (the panel at the top of search results that summarises the answer to your query) into Google, which has meant that people can instantly get the answer to their search in a glance. Add this to the simple drop-down query boxes, videos and snippets that already existed, and it's not surprising that 65% of searches don't leave Google.

There was also a major change to Google's algorithm on 8th September this year. There's now a greater emphasis on 'intent satisfaction metrics', i.e. does a user get their full answer without needing additional searches? (This is a great article explaining the change in more detail.)

You may have noticed this change if you regularly check Google Search Console and gstarted to panic at the steep dive your impressions (the purple line) took after 8th September. The good news is that your average position (the orange line) should be way up.

2 Using AI programmes as search engines

Many people are now using programmes such as ChatGPT and Perplexity as search engines. Rather than traditional Google queries based on simple keywords (i.e. 'florists in Keynsham'), people are asking much more conversational questions, i.e. 'I'm looking for a wedding florist in Keynsham who specialises in boho style'. In fact, search terms of 7-9 words long have nearly doubled since the arrival of ChatGPT, compared with the 1-4 word search terms that have long been a staple of a Google search.

AI search returns answers but then also asks the searcher to refine the question, asking if they have any specifics, i.e. 'Are you looking for a florist who's got experience of working at a particular venue?' They'll then keep refining results to come up with a list that's completely personal to that query, and that searcher – particularly if the searcher has used the programme before and it's already built up an idea of their persona and preferences.

So what are the results from these two shifts? The bad news is that your website is likely getting far less traffic than it has in previous years. The excellent news is that the traffic you do get will be from warm leads, i.e. people who already can see you're a great match for their query.

So what do you need to do for your wedding business?

Firstly, don't panic! What you traditionally did for SEO on your wedding business website still holds true. Create focus keywords for each page, then use those keywords in the header, body copy, page title and meta description.

Google is also focussing more on geographic intent, so make sure you highlight your locality and the areas you serve. Adding a line to your footer is a really simple way to achieve this, as well as putting it in the body copy of your home and about page.

As search queries are becoming more conversational with more keywords, make sure your language reflects that, both in your website copy and also in other content such as blogs. Another piece of good news is that you don't need to worry so much about repeating keywords as language models interpret meaning, not just words.

Blogs are still crucial, but more for AI then people clicking through the read the whole post. If you have a series of well-written blogs that comprehensively answer the queries people are asking online, you're more likely to be featured in the AI overview panel on Google or be recommended by ChatGPT et al. Make sure your blog posts highlight your expertise and knowledge of the subject, rather than being just a topline overview – you have to really know and show your stuff these days.

Content clusters are really helpful. This is where you link together a series of blog posts on a similar topic, to show search engines you have detailed knowledge across a subject. This is a great article on content clusters in the context of AIO/GEO that explains it in more detail.

A top tip I heard is to write down every question a client has ever asked you, then write a comprehensive blog post to answer it, highlighting your unique experience and expertise.

SEO and AIO help for your wedding business

If the thought of SEO and AIO makes your head spin and is threatening to overwhelm your to-do list, give me a shout. From website audits to highlight what you can DIY for SEO success to thoughtfully crafted blog posts to help with your SEO and AIO strategy, I'd love to help.

With thanks to Chris from BrisTechTonic for a fascinating talk earlier this month and sharing his insights on SEO in the age of AI.