Here’s the gist, friend-to-friend:

Search isn’t just Google anymore—it’s everywhere: AI chatbots, voice assistants, social platforms, you name it. The smartest SEO teams aren’t just trying to rank on Google; they’re making sure their stuff shows up wherever people are searching or asking questions.

Here’s how they’re doing it:

First, they’re thinking about GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)—basically, making sure their content is the kind that tools like ChatGPT or Google’s new AI features will pull from when they generate answers. These tools don’t “rank” sites, they just pick sources to build their answers, so you want to be that source.

Next is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)—structuring content so it gives direct, clear answers. This is how you win those “featured snippets” on Google, get picked up by voice assistants, or show up in zero-click results.

Then there’s AIO (AI Optimization)—making your content easy for machines to read and learn from, so it gets included in AI training data and future search models.

Bottom line: SEO in 2025 is about being everywhere people search, not just on Google.

The best brands are playing a 10-level game, not just doing blogs and backlinks. They’re thinking about traditional SEO, AI search, paid search, brand authority, community, platform-specific strategies, and more.

And here’s the kicker: SXO (Search Experience Optimization) isn’t just something you do after you rank—it’s what helps you rank in the first place. You need to make the whole search experience better, not just chase keywords.

So, if you want to keep up, you’ve got to optimize for all these new channels and experiences—not just search engines. Time to level up your SEO game!