What are the latest trends in SEO due to increased use of AI and changes in CPC advertising please?
Topic summary
The discussion addresses how AI integration and rising advertising costs are reshaping SEO strategies.
Key Strategic Shifts:
- Focus has moved from keyword rankings to becoming authoritative answers for user intent
- Optimization now targets Google’s AI Overviews rather than just traditional #1 rankings
Critical Factors:
- E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) are now essential for AI to recommend content
- Building “topical authority” through comprehensive content clusters demonstrates deep niche expertise
Technical Requirements:
- Structured data (JSON-LD Schema) is now baseline, providing machine-readable information on products, prices, reviews, and stock
- Google Search Console recommended for monitoring schema issues and warnings
- Rich Results testing tools available for validation
Cost Mitigation:
Businesses are leveraging paid ad campaign data—particularly high-converting search terms—to inform organic SEO strategies as CPC costs increase.
The discussion remains open with one response providing detailed guidance.
Hi @havenheim
It is David from SearchPie here. That is a great question!
The latest SEO trends are a direct response to generative AI in search results and rising ad costs. The focus has shifted from winning keywords to becoming the most authoritative answer for a user’s intent.
The primary trend is optimizing to be featured in Google’s AI Overviews, not just ranking #1. This makes E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) the most crucial factor, as the AI must trust your content to recommend it. This has led to a focus on building “topical authority” by creating comprehensive content clusters around a niche, proving deep expertise to the AI. Check this out for your reference
On the technical side, structured data (JSON-LD Schema) is now a baseline requirement. It provides clean, machine-readable data on your products (price, reviews, stock) that directly feeds AI models. You can check you site for Rich Results here: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
You can also set up your Google Search Console account as a safety measure.
Google Search Console will detect any issues/warning with your schema any notify you!
Finally, with rising CPC costs, businesses are increasingly using insights from their paid ad campaigns, like high-converting search terms, to inform their SEO strategy and improve organic visibility.
Hope this helps!