In 2025, Microsoft and Google both issued new guidance emphasizing that traditional SEO principles remain crucial for maintaining visibility within AI-powered search results. Despite the rapid adoption of AI search tools, these companies stress that content quality, structural organization, and metadata continue to determine whether pages are featured in AI summaries, chat-based answers, or conventional search listings. Google’s Position Google clarified that AI Overviews do not replace existing ranking algorithms; rather, they rely on the same signals used in organic search—such as clarity, relevance, structured data, and overall page quality. These AI Overviews now serve over 2 billion users monthly worldwide. Given this vast reach, content lacking proper structure or freshness is increasingly unlikely to be cited or surfaced. Additionally, Google reminded publishers that outdated content performs poorly when AI models retrieve and summarize information, reinforcing the need for timely updates. Microsoft’s Insights on Bing and Copilot Microsoft revealed that 58 percent of answers provided by Copilot are based on web results adhering to strong SEO fundamentals. Pages featuring clear headings, accurate metadata, and up-to-date information are more frequently included in AI-driven summaries. The company also noted that AI systems face challenges with old or low-quality content, which are less apt to be ranked or summarized effectively. Together, these insights highlight that while AI search has changed content consumption habits, the foundational requirements for visibility remain largely unchanged. The Importance of Rewriting and Updating Content As AI usage grows, the drawbacks of outdated content become more significant. Aged pages lose ranking both in Google’s search algorithms and large language model (LLM) systems. They also fail to appear in AI-generated summaries, answer panels, or group-chat retrievals. For this reason, publishers and businesses are increasingly investing in rewriting old articles to improve their ranking in ChatGPT and similar AI tools.

Updated content performs better because AI models interpret it more reliably: clean structure, fresh data, and current metadata enhance the likelihood of retrieval, citation, and user engagement. Immediate Actions for Website Owners - Rewrite aging content that still attracts impressions but experiences reduced clicks. - Enhance metadata for better clarity and accuracy. - Incorporate structured data to assist AI systems in understanding context. - Update statistics, references, and examples to reflect trends from 2024-2025. - Improve readability by simplifying complex paragraphs and breaking them into smaller sections. - Monitor pages losing traffic following the expansion of AI features and prioritize refreshing them. Implementing a robust rewriting strategy protects against ranking decline and enhances performance across both traditional search and AI-driven ecosystems. Expert Commentary from Anatolii Ulitovskyi, CEO at UNmiss “Both Google and Microsoft convey the same message: AI search depends on well-structured and updated content. In our audits, we observed that rewritten pages gained between 20 to 40 percent more visibility in AI summaries compared to unchanged pages. Refreshing older content is currently the most effective approach to remain competitive in the AI-first search landscape. ”