SEO, AIO, and How Search Really Works in 2025

SEO & AIO
Written By Kim Nellans
 
Pinterest graphic for blog post SEO, AIO, and how search works in 2025 by Tiny Zen Studio.

Ideas are built from pieces of knowledge and experience that have come before. We reshape what we’ve seen, learned, and lived into something new. This is how creativity works, and it’s also how authority is built online.

In the context of SEO, authority means being a clear and reliable source of information. It’s when people and search engines recognize that your words carry weight because they are useful, grounded, and easy to understand.

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SEO vs. AIO: The Basics

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In simple terms, it’s the work of making sure search engines can find your site, understand what it’s about, and connect it to the people who are searching for your services.

AIO is newer. It stands for AI Optimization. Instead of typing into a search box, people are now asking AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to find answers.

And even when people use Google, they’re often shown an AI-generated summary at the very top of the page before the regular list of results! Google calls these AI Overviews. They pull content from multiple sites to give a quick answer, and you can even expand the summary or ask follow-up questions right there in the same query.

That’s where AIO comes in: making your website clear, structured, and trustworthy enough that AI tools recognize it as a source worth pulling from.

Why AIO Is Emerging in 2025

Search habits are changing. For years, SEO was the only game in town: you typed into Google, scrolled through the results, and clicked a link. That’s still happening, but more and more people are skipping straight to AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to get their answers.

Even Google itself is shifting. Many searches now display an AI-generated summary at the top of the page, what Google calls an “AI Overview.” It pulls pieces of information from different websites and serves them up before you ever reach the standard results. You can even expand the summary or ask follow-up questions right there in Google.

This matters because AI is becoming part of the way search works. Some people in the industry call it AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). The acronyms aren’t that important in and of themselves, but it is helpful to understand the terminology as they now refer to the various ways people are finding information online through AI-assisted answers.

So why care now? Because this shift is already underway. If your website is clear, trustworthy, and connected, it’s more likely to be pulled into those AI responses. If it isn’t, you risk being left out of the conversation before potential clients even scroll down the page.

The Three Levers of Authority Online

Authority online really comes down to three levers. Think of them as the three ways you can show both people and search engines that your site deserves to be trusted.

  • Content
    This is what you create. The words on your site, the articles you publish, the FAQs you answer. Content is how you show your expertise and respond to the questions people (and AI tools) are already asking.
  • Structure (On-Page SEO)
    This is how your site is built and organized. Clear headings, simple navigation, mobile friendliness, accessibility, alt text, schema markup. Structure makes your site easy to read, for both humans and the bots that decide what shows up in results.
  • Off-Page SEO
    This is what happens beyond your own site. Backlinks from other credible websites, mentions in directories, citations from trusted sources. Off-page signals tell search engines and AI, “others vouch for this content.”

For now, it’s enough to know that authority is built on these three pillars. In future articles, I’ll go deeper into each one, sharing with you what it means, how it works, and what steps you can take to improve it.

How to Start (Quick Wins)

At this point, you might be wondering, where do I even start with all of this? The good news is that authority online isn’t built in one day. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Small, consistent steps add up.

Quick wins come from small steps you can take yourself. Bigger changes, like restructuring your homepage to reflect your audience’s journey or redesigning your navigation, usually need a strategy behind them. That’s where working with a designer might make sense, because those choices connect to bigger questions about your brand, your audience, and how you want people to move through your site.

Building trust online takes time. Most websites that update consistently start to see traction in a few months, with real authority building over 6 to 12 months. What matters most is steady effort. Even one small action each week makes a difference.

Resources and External Links

If you’d like to dig deeper, here are a few resources I recommend:

Here are a few places to peek into if you want to see what the larger conversation looks like right now.

Closing: The Big Picture

If there’s one thing to remember, it’s that SEO and AIO reward clarity and trust. Start small, keep showing up, and your site will become more visible over time.

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Kim Nellans

FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS MOST- YOUR LIFE’S WORK.

Hey there, friend. My name is Kim. I am a Squarespace web designer whose mission is to help you connect with your audience by building an awesome, intentional website. Whether you are a grassroots business, local nonprofit, educator, artist, or creative entrepreneur, it is essential that you have one thing right before beginning any project- and that is clarity of purpose. 

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https://www.tinyzenstudio.com
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