For hotels, restaurants and brands, AI is changing how customers find you online. At this year’s BrightonSEO, one message rang loud and clear: AI is rewriting the rules. Traditional SEO levers like keyword density and link volume are no longer enough. The new game is about semantics, expertise and understanding human intent, all while keeping one eye on what the machines see. It’s about delivering what humans need and machines want.

Here’s what stood out to us at BrightonSEO and what it means for brands looking to stay visible in 2025.

Once a tool for backlinks and buzz, digital PR is now your ticket to AI visibility. With 96% of AI citations originating from PR coverage, earned media has become the fuel that powers discoverability in LLMs like ChatGPT and Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience).

Unlike traditional PR, digital PR makes brands discoverable – not just memorable. Speakers urged brands to move from reactive “newsjacking” to proactive “news-hacking”: anticipating trends, predicting headlines and owning the narrative.

To stay visible in the “search verse,” we need to think beyond the press release. Authentic, expert-driven coverage, presented in clear, structured formats (think bullet points and listicles), now shapes how AI sees your brand.

Keyword density is out; semantics are in.

Semantics is about how the language on your website or online channels connects ideas and intent, not just the words themselves. Data from the conference showed that semantic URLs generate 11.4% more AI citations, and semantic chunking (structuring content into meaningful topic clusters) dramatically improves discoverability across LLMs.

AI search engines don’t just index, they interpret making the context of the words you use just as important as the content itself. Understanding how your site’s information connects and how users phrase long, natural prompts (10–15 words on average in ChatGPT vs. 5–8 in Google) is key to ranking in the new search ecosystem.

For example, on hotel rooms pages use descriptive content like “boutique sea-view rooms for romantic getaways” to better align with the intent with the experience.

EEAT (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) isn’t new, but now it isn’t optional — it’s algorithmic.

The days of “good enough” content are over. With only 13.5% of top-ranking pages fully written by humans, signals of authority and experience have become critical differentiators.

That means showcasing credentials, citing data, and building depth into your digital PR and web content. AI systems reward reliable expertise, not just relevance. When your voice reflects genuine knowledge, you become part of the trusted data sources that AI pulls from. Look for opportunities to add comment in trends pieces or industry news and if you’re a restaurant brand get your chefs featured in relevant publications.

“The great decoupling” was a theme throughout the conference. Impressions and clicks no longer move in lockstep leaving clear patterns for us to follow.

As AI Overviews (AIOs) increasingly answer queries directly, traditional CTRs (click through rates) are dropping by 20–40%, according to Adthena data shared at the conference. The new goal? Visibility without the click.

SEO is shifting from a performance channel to a visibility channel that will support increasing brand awareness. Being seen in AI summaries, SERPs, or voice outputs builds brand recall even when users don’t click through. Think of it as top-of-funnel awareness for the AI era.

To increase your chances of being listed in AIOs, create engaging informational content on your website – this can be through blog content, product pages and your FAQs.

BrightonSEO’s local SEO sessions reminded brands with multiple locations that local presence is performance marketing.

From Google Business Profiles to platforms like Yelp and OpenTable, ensuring listings are accurate, reviews are answered (within 72 hours), and tone of voice is consistent across all touchpoints are no longer just best practice – they’re ranking factors.

AI systems treat these signals as indicators of trust. Each listing, review and “about” section feeds the algorithms that determine visibility. The advice was simple: “Make sure your local presence isn’t on mute.”

For multi-location businesses like cafes, restaurants and bars, this means building a scalable framework for visibility, reputation, engagement and conversion – the four pillars of local success. To further enhance your local presence, focus on regional digital PR coverage that signals to AI where customers can find you.

As AI-driven search shifts from user mindsets from “I do the work” to “you do the work,” understanding customer intent has never been more crucial.

Users are no longer typing fragmented keywords; they’re expressing complex, conversational prompts that reveal deeper motivations. Brands that align their pages with these needs will convert faster as AI shortens the path to purchase. We use a combination of digital insights and social listening to understand customer intent on a deeper level.

It’s also a reminder that you can’t optimise your way out of bad sentiment. AI reads the room. Online reputation, reviews and even tone of feedback loops now directly affect your discoverability in AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation).

From digital PR to semantics, local search to brand expertise, BrightonSEO 2025 made one thing clear: the brands who thrive in this new AI landscape will be those who think holistically — blending human creativity with machine logic. At Palm we’re helping brands blend human creativity with AI powered logic, ensuring they stay discoverable no matter how search evolves.

Subscribe to receive notifications on the latest Case Studies, Insight and Blog releases.