Why Linkedin Is A Power Move For Seo In The Ai Search Era

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 1:36 PM

why linkedin is a power move for seo in the ai search era

Let me start with something we’ve all felt, but haven’t all said out loud: SEO is changing, fast. Search engines are now powered by AI systems like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), ChatGPT, and Perplexity. And when AI Overviews show up in results, click-through rates to organic links can plummet. But this doesn’t mean traffic is dead. It just means that where and how we show up, before the click, matters more than ever. One of the smartest, most underused ways to do that right now?

Publishing natively on LinkedIn. AI-powered search prioritizes content from high-authority, well-structured sources. Think Reddit, Quora, and increasingly, LinkedIn. Anisha Chawla is the Founder and CEO of Beyond Tech Media, a global digital marketing agency. Simply ranking on the first page of Google is no longer enough for brands today. With generative AI gaining prominence as a way to search for information, it's equally important to be a source that AI trusts.

Gartner predicted that by next year, search engine queries will decline by 25% "due to AI chatbots and other virtual agents." As the founder of a global digital marketing agency, as well as a... I'm finding that AI models, especially large language models (LLMs), tend to reward sources that demonstrate credibility, consistency and expertise. In my experience, they favor depth of topic knowledge and long-term value over short-term clicks. The brands doing this best aren’t chasing yesterday’s playbook. They’re taking the right steps to adapt to the new world of search and how people are searching. However, brands must understand this nuance: The goal isn't to "beat the algorithm." It's to become an authority that AI algorithms defer to.

Here are my tips on how you can do just that. For decades, public relations professionals focused on landing media placements that connected directly with human readers. Around Asheville, NC and within our broader agency work, that meant building relationships with outlets our clients loved — and tracking the growing footprint of SEO as Google became central to every PR push. But with 2025 in full swing and AI shaping how news is discovered, the choices agencies make about which outlets to pitch have never carried more weight. The rise of AI-driven search—sometimes called generative engine optimization (GEO), answer engine optimization (AEO), or simply AI SEO—means that major language models now play a hands-on role in choosing whose stories appear in response... For LinkedIn’s global consumer communications team, AI has become a factor they can’t afford to ignore when plotting out their next earned media move.

Catherine Fisher, serving as LinkedIn’s vice president of global consumer communications, describes AI visibility as an integral, though not overriding, part of the media selection process. Her team balances traditional goals—reaching a trusted, relevant audience—with ensuring that published stories are accessible to AI crawlers powering tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews. Fisher won’t rule out working with outlets that aren’t indexed by AI. Yet she’s clear: in 2025, ignoring the interplay between earned media and LLMs would be a mistake. AI isn’t the whole game, but it’s now a central piece on the board. This change shapes how LinkedIn—and agencies across the country—craft their blended outreach strategies.

Let’s dig into how this approach played out in the wild, with LinkedIn’s own “Top Colleges” story as a case in point. Let me start with a truth we don’t talk about enough: not all backlinks are created equal. With the rise of AI-powered search, from Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) to ChatGPT and Perplexity, what you publish and where you publish it matters more than ever. And right now, few places carry more strategic SEO weight than LinkedIn. Recent data confirms what many of us have felt: when AI overviews appear in search, click-through rates to traditional organic results nosedive. And with Google actively testing a Gemini-powered search mode, the shift isn’t slowing down.

But here’s the nuance: while AI may handle top-of-funnel discovery, bottom-of-funnel conversions still need a human touch. Real people still visit websites to sign up, book demos, and make purchases. That means visibility, trust, and brand presence are more important than ever, and LinkedIn delivers all three. AI systems favour high-quality, well-structured, community-endorsed content from trusted domains. That includes Reddit, Quora, GitHub, and yes, LinkedIn. For the last two years, LinkedIn has tried to infuse AI into different parts of its platforms, including ad copies, content creation, personalized digests, hiring assistance, job hunting advice, and learning.

The company is now finally adding AI to one of the most-used parts of the site: search. Earlier this year, the company released a job search tool for members in the U.S., allowing them to search for jobs using natural language queries. Now, the company is extending the feature to people search. Users can use queries like “Find me investors in the healthcare sector with FDA experience,” people who “co-founded a productivity company and are based in NYC,” or “Who in my network can help me... Until now, LinkedIn’s search has been more complicated. You can type in a few words to find the right people or rely on many different LinkedIn filters in the hope of getting the right results.

Plus, you also have to think about what kinds of words you might want to use to get the best out of the search system. “With lexical search, you have to know the exact title of the person, or you need to wrestle with filters to find the right person, maybe. And if you didn’t know the right combination, the right person remained undiscovered. The new AI-powered people search is designed to be the fastest path to the person who can help you the most,” Rohan Rajiv, senior director of product management at LinkedIn, told TechCrunch over a... AI is transforming LinkedIn in 2025. Here’s what’s happening:

These advancements are helping professionals connect better, save time, and achieve measurable results. But LinkedIn also prioritizes ethics, ensuring transparency and fairness in AI-driven content. AI is no longer just a tool - it’s reshaping how professionals grow and interact on LinkedIn. The world of professional networking has undergone a massive shift, thanks to AI's growing influence on content creation and delivery. Here's a closer look at the trends redefining LinkedIn's content ecosystem in 2025. LinkedIn's AI now tailors content feeds with precision, using algorithms that analyze everything from browsing habits and professional backgrounds to subtle emotional cues.

The result? Highly personalized content that resonates on an individual level. In recent times, there has been much speculation about whether Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) still matters in an age dominated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). With AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI search making waves, many wonder if traditional SEO strategies have become obsolete. However, new research analysing 25,000 real user searches shows that SEO remains as relevant and important as ever. This article delves into why SEO continues to be crucial in the AI era and how digital marketers can adapt to this changing landscape.

With the rise of AI-powered search assistants that provide direct answers rather than just links, some digital marketers and content creators have expressed doubts about the future of SEO. The argument goes that if AI gives users direct answers, they may no longer need to click through to websites. This could reduce the value of ranking high on Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs). While this concern is understandable, it turns out that the reality is more nuanced. The latest research suggests that Google’s rankings still significantly influence the content AI uses to answer queries. So, SEO is far from dead.

A detailed study conducted by Tomasz Rudzki, co-founder of ZipTie, examined over 25,000 searches across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. The results were clear: This is crucial because it means that ranking well on Google still opens the door to visibility in AI search results. If you want your content to appear in AI-powered answers, SEO cannot be ignored. What’s happened? LinkedIn is rolling out an AI-powered people search feature for Premium members in the US.

Instead of typing job titles and company names, subscribers can describe the kind of person they want to find in plain language. This is important because: LinkedIn is turning one of its core tools into a paid AI upgrade. That gives Premium subscribers a smarter way to find useful contacts and pushes more of LinkedIn’s advanced features behind a subscription. Why should I care? If you lean on LinkedIn for help, advice, or talent, this changes how you start that search. Instead of guessing other people’s job titles, you can describe the outcome you want and look for people who have already done it.

Okay, so what’s next? Right now this AI people search is a Premium perk in the US, but LinkedIn does not plan to keep it that narrow. As it rolls out more widely, it is likely to reset what “searching on LinkedIn” looks like. How LinkedIn barnstormed Google's SERPs using AI, Machine Learning, and Human Experts LinkedIn’s Collaborative Articles features reached the milestone of 10 million pages of expert content in one year. The Collaborative Articles project has experienced a significant rise in weekly readership, rising by over 270% since September 2023.

How they reached these milestones and are planning to achieve even more results offer valuable lessons for creating an SEO strategy that uses AI together with human expertise. The intuition underlying the Collaborative Articles project is that people turn to the Internet to understand subject matter topics but what’s on the Internet is not always the best information from actual subject matter... A person typically searches on Google and maybe lands on a site like Reddit and reads what’s posted but there’s no assurance that the information is by a subject matter expert or just the... How does someone who is not a subject matter expert know that a post by a stranger is trustworthy and expert? The solution to the problem was to leverage LinkedIn’s experts to create articles on topics they are expert in. The pages rank in Google and this turns into a benefit for the subject matter expert, which in turn motivates the subject matter expert to write more content.

LinkedIn's innovative approach to SEO has revolutionized content creation and visibility on the platform. The Collaborative Articles feature, which amassed 10 million pages of expert content in just one year, exemplifies how combining AI with human expertise can yield exceptional results. This milestone, accompanied by a 270% increase in weekly readership since September 2023, underscores the effectiveness of LinkedIn’s strategy. Here’s how LinkedIn achieved these milestones and their plans to achieve even more, offering valuable lessons for creating an SEO strategy that leverages AI and human expertise. The premise behind LinkedIn’s Collaborative Articles project is straightforward yet powerful. People seek reliable information on the Internet, but the quality of content varies significantly.

Why Linkedin Is A Power Move For Seo In The Ai Search Era

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Catherine Fisher, Serving As LinkedIn’s Vice President Of Global Consumer