It is (still) important to have an SEO-friendly website in 2025
If you want to be found on Google and attract the right customers, it is essential that you have an SEO-friendly website. This also applies if you want to be found by the various AI models and LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude.
This is even more true now that AI models like ChatGPT and Perplexity retrieve answers directly from the web and primarily select sources with authoritative and structured content.
AI has already – and will continue to – change the way we search for and find information, companies, services, products, etc. This has led to great interest in concepts such as GEO, AEO and LLM-SEO; new disciplines that all relate to how to best optimize your visibility in AI-generated search results. But fundamentally, it is still about having an SEO-friendly and optimized website if your company is to be visible online.
How AI and LLMs impact SEO?
Search engines like Google are undergoing a major transformation, with AI and LLMs playing a major role in how search results are presented. For example, Google has rolled out AI-powered indexing (AIO), which automatically generates answers directly at the top of search results, often with sources from websites that have strong authority and technical structure. This reduces the number of clicks to websites. However, Google defends this by saying that the clicks that come from AIO are more relevant.
ChatGPT can also search the web directly (via the Bing search engine), which means it can pull content from your website if it deems it relevant and credible. And that's how it works for all these different LLMs.
This also means that it is important to ensure that your website has:
- High-quality content that AI models can use as reference
- Credibility and authority, so search engines consider your website a valuable source
- A technically optimized structure that makes it easier for AI to crawl and index your content
- Structured data (Schema markup), which enables AI models and search engines to understand the context and purpose of your content
Microsoft has previously confirmed that Bing and Copilot actively use Schema markup to identify and understand content on websites, making it a key piece in being cited and visible in AI-generated answers.
By optimizing your website both in terms of content and technology, you can ensure that your content is still found, even when AI takes over more of the search results.
What does it mean for a website to be SEO friendly?
An SEO-friendly website is built and optimized so that it can be easily crawled and indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. It's about everything from technical setup and speed to usability and quality content.
For a website to be considered SEO-friendly, it must, among other things:
- Loads quickly
- Have a mobile-friendly and responsive design
- Contain quality content that matches users' search intent
- Have optimized meta tags and Schema markup (structured data)
- Have a good internal link structure
In other words, having an SEO-friendly website is a holistic process, where both technical, content-related and link-related factors come into play. Therefore, it may be a good idea to prepare your SEO strategy based on the SEO pyramid.
When talking about concepts like AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and LLM-SEO – i.e. optimization for the type of answers that AI generates – it is about structuring the content with questions and answers, using schema markup and ensuring high credibility and professionalism.
The technical aspects
Technical SEO is the foundation of an SEO-friendly website, and it plays an increasingly important role as AI models become more advanced. A proper technical setup ensures that search engines (and now AI models) can easily understand, analyze, and index your content.
A key element for AI models in particular is Schema.org markup, which structures data in a way that makes it easier for search engines and AI to understand your content. Structured data can help improve visibility in search results by providing more detailed information about your content, products, services or articles.
Microsoft has clearly stated that Copilot and Bing prioritizes content with schema markup. This applies to FAQ sections, articles, products, and organizational data, for example. The same applies to Perplexity and other LLMs that use structure and authority as criteria for what they choose to cite in their answers.
Technical SEO is therefore not only important for traditional SEO, but also for how AI models evaluate and use your content. Read more about the technical aspects of the SEO pyramid.
Create high-quality content
Content is still one of the most important factors for SEO and digital visibility. Both search engines and AI models value high-quality content that delivers real value to users. That's why it's also important to focus on users' search intentions when writing texts: What are they looking for? What questions do they want answered?
Google evaluates content based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), among other things. This concept is not only relevant to SEO, but also to how AI models choose what content to present in response to users’ questions.
The more professionally qualified, structured and transparent your content is, the more likely it is to be used as a source in AI-generated answers. This is especially true if you have expert opinions, well-documented guides and questions & answers (Q&A format).
By optimizing your content according to the E-E-A-T principles, you can ensure that both Google and AI see your site as a trustworthy source. When your content matches users’ needs and is easily accessible to search engines and AI, it will increase your visibility and relevance – both in traditional search results and via AI models.
Learn more about E-E-A-T here.
itpilot ensures a strong SEO foundation from the start
When we develop websites at itpilot, we always ensure that they are technically SEO-optimized from the start. This means that we develop websites that are mobile-friendly and responsive, load quickly, have intuitive navigation, etc. In addition, we also offer to write new, optimized texts for the website or to optimize existing ones.
We know that a strong SEO strategy starts with a solid technical foundation and quality content. We ensure that your website is (technically) optimized from day one – both for traditional search engines and the new AI-based systems. Read more about how we work with SEO here.
Do you want an SEO-friendly website?
If you want to ensure that your website not only looks good, but is also found by the right customers, SEO is essential. At itpilot, we help develop SEO-friendly websites that both meet technical requirements and contain content that creates value for users. We make sure that your website is fast, mobile-friendly and structured correctly, while also being optimized to rank well in search engines.
Do you need a new website or an optimization of your current one? Contact us, and let's have a non-binding conversation about how we can help you to strengthen your website and visibility.
