AI Search is Eating Your Clicks: Here's How to Hack SEO in 2025 - HackerNoon

The SEO game has changed more this year than it has in the past 10 years. And that’s actually to your advantage.
People are finding answers on ChatGPT, Reddit, and YouTube, not just Google. Google itself is rewriting search with AI Overviews. And now there are tools that can do 80% of the work without you.
This is your no-fluff beginner’s guide to what actually works for SEO this year.

Fifteen years ago, SEO was all about Google. It was the only organic game in town. YouTube wasn’t what it is today. Instagram barely existed.
Now, you’ve got to think about optimizing for YouTube, which is the second-largest search engine in the world. If you’re selling stuff, Amazon matters. If you want to show up in niche discussions, Reddit matters.
So if you’re only focusing on Google, you’re missing out. Simple as that.

Even though SEO has changed, the foundation is still the same: content, citations, and what’s called double-E-A-T, experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust.
These building blocks have been around for a while. But now, how you apply them across platforms like Google, YouTube, and Amazon makes all the difference.

Winning this year means going after long-tail niche queries with real intent.
So instead of trying to rank for “Salesforce,” you should be looking at stuff like:
Or instead of “red shoes,” think:
These kinds of queries usually have four or more keywords. They’re longer, more specific, and when people search them, they actually want something. That’s what real intent means.
Yes, they have lower search volume and lower competition. But they convert better. And that’s what matters. More conversions, better leads, more email signups.

Here’s what’s happening: because of AI Overviews, impressions for websites are going up, but clicks are going down.
I just talked to the CEO of an enterprise SEO company. He told me they have data showing this exact pattern; your analytics graph now looks like a jaw. Impressions are rising, but clicks are dropping.
So, the smart move? Optimize for places where people have real intent. You’re going to have a much easier time there, especially since the game of getting website traffic is changing fast.
You don’t need to guess anymore. You can use products like ChatGPT or other AI tools for your specific needs.
All you need to do is give them a few examples of long-tail keywords, talk a little about your business, and boom, it spits out 50 to 100 solid keyword ideas. Pick the ones you like and start creating content around those.

Let’s talk about large language models like ChatGPT again.
You can feed them your existing blog content, and they’ll figure out your writing style. Like for us, our posts are usually 1,500–2,000 words, packed with links, stats, and tables. The LLM picked that up.
And then it created 21 blog posts in about 30 minutes. Posts that were 95–99% ready to go. That’s what you can do now. You’ve got an AI assistant that’s patient, doesn’t get tired, and helps you move fast on your SEO strategy.
Even though we’re talking about advanced stuff, SEO still comes down to three main things: content, citations, and double-E-A-T.
Content = helpful, useful, real stuff.
Citations = links from other websites. Or if you’re doing local SEO, reviews count as citations too. There are different kinds across the internet.
And double-E-A-T matters even more now, since there’s so much content being created.
Whatever platform you’re on, these three still apply. Always.
Let’s go over the new toolkit.
There are tools now that can automate things like internal linking, content pruning, and overall make your SEO a lot more efficient.
These AI tools can scan your whole site, figure out where you should be adding internal links, which keywords should be prioritized, and what content to update, combine, or delete.
You can even build your own mini tools using tools like Cursor. And here’s the crazy part: non-technical people can use these tools now. You don’t need to be a coder. These little apps help you do your work faster and more effectively.
When we talk to our team about using these products, they say they can now get 70–80% of their work done way faster. They’re saving hours and spending more time on the high-leverage stuff.
A lot of what we covered so far used to take days or weeks. Not anymore.

Let’s talk about what’s really disrupting organic search: Google’s AI Overviews.
These are the answers that show up right at the top of the page. And studies are already showing traffic drops of more than 37% for some websites.
So what does that mean? It means your strategy has to shift. Like I said earlier — this is the age of Search Everywhere Optimization.

Website traffic is going to keep declining over the next 5 to 10 years. But that doesn’t mean give up.
It’s like a cigar butt business. That’s something Warren Buffett talks about — businesses that are slowly dying, but still have a few good years left.
So while everyone else runs for the exits, you can stay in and make the most of it — while also building out other channels.
Websites still matter. But now it’s about optimizing for where your audience actually hangs out.
Let me just say this again: traditional SEO isn’t dying, it’s spreading.
People are searching on YouTube. They’re searching on TikTok. They’re searching on Instagram Reels. And they’re searching on LinkedIn as well.
Humans will always search for things. Because humans are curious. That doesn’t change. The platforms change.
So the message here is: adapt. Test content on different channels. Build your own playbook for each platform.
Because the best way to learn is by doing.
With the right tools and strategy, SEO is actually easier than ever. You’ll get better faster than you think.