SEO in the AI Age: Which is the Right Assessment?

The emergence of many AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini has dramatically changed users' search behavior. In particular, with the launch of AI Overviews in May 2025, traffic to many websites recorded a sharp decline: 17.49% for the B2C industry and 6.15% for the B2B industry (According to the Report analyzing the impact of AI Overviews on 3000 Vietnamese business websites, SEONGON). This makes the SEO community worried about future development directions.

In the community, many opinions say that users are gradually leaving Google Search to find answers on AI platforms. Besides, there are also opinions that SEO will no longer be effective, or will need to be implemented in a completely new way.

Based on the view that every correct strategy must be built on real data, analyzed and tested on a large enough scale, SEONGON organized an in-depth webinar: "Search Transformation in AI Era" - The transformation of search in the AI era.

With researched and tested content, as well as providing insights from real data for Vietnamese businesses, the webinar has received great attention from the community with more than 900 registrations, including senior managers and representatives from leading Vietnamese businesses such as FPT, Sun Group , Viettel Telecom, VNPT, Shopee, Vua Nem, Vinfast,...

In addition, the webinar “Search Transformation in AI Era” also received many positive responses from the community with 93.93% satisfied with the quality of the program and 96.88% wanting to participate in webinars organized by SEONGON in the future.

Highlights from the program content

The webinar "Search Transformation in AI Era" goes through four parts with lots of practical content to help businesses build optimal SEO strategies in the AI era.

SEONGON pointed out that, by the second quarter of 2025, although ChatGPT recorded significant growth, Google still held an overwhelming position in the Vietnamese market with about 80% of the market capacity. And to continue to maintain its position, Google introduced AI Overviews (AIO) and AI Mode - two key features that will shape future search behavior.

With AIO and improved SERPs, user queries are about 1.5 times longer and tend to be more like questions. The user journey is no longer linear and conversions can happen anywhere, meaning businesses will have less predictability in their planning.

As for AI Mode, user behavior is similar to ChatGPT or Gemini, including long, complex, multi-context conversations. And with features such as AI Mode Shopping, Search Local, AI Mode Search, Search Live,... users can perform actions efficiently and seamlessly on a single interface of AI Mode.

Returning to the AIO feature, in the webinar, SEONGON announced the experimental results with more than 20 businesses and concluded as follows: content creation accounts for 45% of the impact on the ability of a website to be cited by AI. The reason is because Google wants users to quickly get the correct answer and return to using Google. Therefore, websites that provide useful content to serve as good “raw material” for AI synthesis will be prioritized for citation in AIO.

Attendees also received the SEO formula for AIO with 4 main pillars to consider when implementing SEO in the AI era, including: Query Fan-out, semantic content, technical and brand.

In the webinar, SEONGON also shared about the direction of Google and the international SEO community after having the opportunity to discuss directly at the Search Central Live event organized by Google in Thailand, including reshaping the value and opportunities of SEO, the role of branding in the AI era and the application of AI in SEO production and operation.

The Q&A section at the end of the program was also a highlight when the organizers received many questions from attendees, revolving around how to optimize content for AI citation, the influence of technical factors or the role of SEO for businesses in the near future.

The success of the webinar “Search Transformation in AI Era” affirms SEONGON's pioneering position in updating trends, researching and experimenting with new methods of Google Marketing, especially SEO in the AI era.

SEONGON representative, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc said: “This is just the starting point. In the coming time, we will deploy a series of in-depth events with many other practical topics, helping marketers, SEO Leaders and Vietnamese businesses promptly adapt to the major changes of Google and AI” .