Search is getting chatty. Around 35% of desktop queries now surface a Google AI Overview before the blue links even show up, and when that happens, click-through rates drop by 56%. To stay visible, we need to shift our mindset from “collect more links” to “earn more citations.” That means:
- Quality-first backlinks that AI trusts.
- Smart internal linking so bots understand your expertise.
- Brand mentions on Reddit, LinkedIn, and niche forums that prove real-world authority.
AI Has Rewritten the SEO Playbook
What changed?
- Conversational results: Large Language Models (LLMs, which is software that predicts the next best word, like ChatGPT or Gemini) answer questions in a chat box instead of a list of pages.
- Zero-click reality: 65% of searches already end without a website visit, and projections hit 70% by mid to late 2025.
- Visibility > traffic: If an AI cites you, you win impressions and brand recall, even when no one taps a link.
Why it matters to marketers
Traditional SEO measures success by ranking and clicks. In an AI-first world, the real KPI is how often the robots say your name. Authority signals, like links, mentions, structured content, feed those answers.
How LLM’s Surface Data For a Query
Fan-out queries are the extra searches that an AI (like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google’s AI Overviews) launches behind the scenes to build a rich, well-rounded answer. Think of them as the follow-up questions a savvy researcher would type into Google after hearing your main question.
How Fan-Out Queries Work in 3 Steps
1. Intent Mapping
The AI model reads the user’s original prompt and breaks it into the underlying “jobs to be done.”
Example: A user asks, “What’s the healthiest plant-based protein for muscle gain?” The AI decides on sub-topics like: “protein quality,” “amino-acid profile,” “digestibility,” “protein cost.”
2. Query Generation (the “fan-out”)
For each sub-topic, the AI spins up more specific searches, often 5–20 at a time.
- “best complete plant protein source”
- “digestibility score of pea protein vs soy”
- “price per gram plant protein 2025”
- “clinical studies plant protein muscle hypertrophy”
3. Aggregation & Synthesis
The engine scrapes results, scores credibility, and stitches the findings into a single conversational answer. Only the polished summary appears to the user; the fan-out queries stay under the hood.
Quick Optimization Tips
- Cover related sub-topics in one hub post (you can then write more in-depth articles separately, and link to those from your hub post – continue to read for more details on this)
- Use descriptive sub-headings (H2/H3)
- Include data points (especially our own data), definitions, and mini-FAQs
- Refresh supporting stats annually
Fan-out queries are the AI’s way of triple-checking its work. By anticipating these spin-off questions and addressing them clearly on your website, you position your content to be the source the bots (and your future customers!) keep coming back to.
Do Backlinks Matter in 2025?
Yep, backlinks still move the needle, but only the right ones. Think quality over quantity, context over random link swaps. Long gone are the days when any old link could bump you up the rankings.
In 2025, Google’s AI Overviews and chat-based engines like ChatGPT weigh backlinks more like reputation votes. They look at who is linking to you, why they’re doing it, and whether the surrounding content makes sense for your topic.
If a respected publication, niche podcast site, or university blog points to your guide, that’s gold. Ten spammy directory links? Dead weight.
What still works
Links aren’t dead; they’re pickier. AI assesses:
- Source authority (Is the site trustworthy?)
- Topical relevance (Does the surrounding content match your niche?)
- Anchor context (Natural language > exact-match keyword stuffing).
How to build “AI-ready” links
- Create genuinely linkable assets: original research, interactive tools, or deep guides others want to reference.
- Upgrade anchor text: Mix branded mentions with partial-match phrases so it reads like real prose. (i.e. “Check out Kanopi Studio’s AI-SEO checklist” instead of “Click here.”)
- Partner up: Cooperate with trade groups, podcasts, or complementary SaaS platforms for joint studies and co-branded webinars.
- Think digital PR, not link exchange: Pitch journalists with newsworthy data; the story earns you natural links and brand buzz.
Anchor text is the clickable words in a hyperlink. It tells both readers and search engines what they’ll get on the other side.
Internal Linking: Your Secret Weapon for AI Understanding
Internal links are the signposts that tell AI, “Here’s how all our content connects.” As Google’s AI Overviews roll out, internal links help “AI algorithms better recognize the relevance and authority of your site,” increasing the chance your page is chosen for the summary box.
Google calls solid link architecture “crucial” for getting a site fully indexed because it signals which topics are broad pillars and which are supporting details.
Let’s pretend we’re working on a boat repair brand.
1. Pillar-cluster model (quick refresher)
- Pillar page: A broad, authoritative hub (i.e. “Your Ultimate Guide to Boat Maintenance”).
- Cluster pages: Deeper articles that cover subtopics (i.e., “Winterizing Your Engine,” “Cleaning Fiberglass Hulls”).
- Links both ways: Every cluster links back to the pillar and to each related cluster.
2. Semantic anchor text strategy
Instead of repeating the exact same anchor text “boat maintenance guide” 10+ times, vary with natural phrases: “seasonal service tips,” “engine tune-up checklist.” This diversity feels more “human” and also helps AI map related ideas.
3. Implementation checklist
- Audit: Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to spot orphan pages (a webpage with no internal links pointing to it, making it hard for users and bots to find) or pages with low internal links.
- Map clusters: Use a Google Sheet to group URLs and note missing links.
- Add context links: Place them inside sentences, not sidebars. Contextual placement carries more weight with AI and readers alike.
Brand Mentions Are the New Links
Google and OpenAI both license Reddit data – so having a presence on forums (Reddit and Quora) is definitely recommended!
LinkedIn pulses also tend to show up in business queries.All of these unlinked brand shout-outs train AI on who you are and whether you’re trusted.
Why mentions matter
AI tries to mimic real-world consensus (which is why they love crawling forums like Reddit, or review sites). When your brand name pops up across different credible conversations, it acts like digital word-of-mouth. That familiarity makes an AI citation more likely
How to spark the right chatter
Use social listening tools (Brandwatch, Mention) to track new discussions, then jump in to clarify facts or offer resources. Every helpful reply is a brand mention in the making!
Three Tactical Wins You Can Deploy Today
- See what AI already says about you
Open ChatGPT or Gemini and ask, “What is [Brand]?” Note missing or incorrect points, then update your About page and top-traffic posts to make these facts easy for AI to pull. - Mine AI for unanswered questions
This is a fun trick I love to use. Run a Deep Research prompt (if you have a paid ChatGPT subscription, which I highly recommend!) on your main keyword. The model spits out common sub-queries (see below). Turn each gap into a quick FAQ or blog update, or include them on your service or product pages!
- Track citations over time
Pick 5 to 10 queries that are relevant to your brand (ex. “best virtual golf simulators,” or “best web development agency”) and record which brands AI lists every 2-4 weeks. Find an LLM Mention template and example for this here. There are also tools like XFunnel.AI that help to automate this task but typically cost a subscription fee.
So that’s the game plan! Ditch the “collect-all-the-links” mindset, double-down on quality signals that AIs actually trust, and give those fan-out queries everything they need to pick your brand first.
If we tighten up our internal links, spark real chatter out in the wild, and watch our citation share like a hawk, we won’t just survive the AI shake-up, we’ll ride it. Let’s get out there and make sure the next time someone asks a smart bot a question, your name pops up in the answer.
Quick Glossary
- LLM (Large Language Model): A type of AI that predicts words to generate human-like text.
- AI Overview: Google’s summary box powered by generative AI, they appear above organic links.
- Anchor text: The words you click in a hyperlink.
- Internal link: A link that points to another page on the same website.
- Orphan page: A page with no internal links linking to it, making it hard to find.
Want more? We held a webinar about it.
How is AI transforming the SEO game? Kanopi’s Lauren Chervinski breaks it all down in this webinar, “Beyond Backlinks: Future-Proofing Your SEO in an AI-First World” (48 minutes)
