How Ecommerce SEOs Are Using AI in 2025

A recent survey highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a growing role in transforming ecommerce operations, particularly in areas such as content creation, SEO, and improving conversion rates.

The research, conducted by Aleyda Solis and published through SEOFOMO, gathered responses from ecommerce professionals and SEO specialists. The findings reveal a broad spectrum of AI usage, demonstrating how the technology is being integrated into day-to-day workflows. While many are already applying AI in various aspects of their work, a considerable number of respondents are still in the process of figuring out how best to use it effectively.

Interestingly, only a small portion of those surveyed stated they had no plans to explore AI at all. This suggests that most people in the ecommerce SEO space recognise its potential, even if they haven’t fully adopted it yet.

The survey identified five key areas where AI is most commonly being used:

Content creation, such as writing product descriptions or blog posts
Data analysis and research, helping with insights and decision-making
Technical SEO, including identifying site issues or optimising pages
User experience and conversion rate optimisation, to improve how visitors interact with ecommerce sites
Client support, including generating reports, educational material, and internal training tools

These findings point to a growing trend of AI becoming a vital part of digital marketing and ecommerce strategies, offering both time-saving benefits and improved performance when used strategically.

Content Creation

Survey participants shared a variety of reasons for using AI in their ecommerce and SEO workflows. Many reported using it to help with essential tasks such as writing product listings and descriptions. AI was also frequently used to scale repetitive tasks like generating meta descriptions, titles, and alt text for images.

Beyond these practical uses, some respondents said they employed AI to produce content outlines, check grammar, and assist in other routine tasks. Others indicated that AI was used to create blog posts, landing page copy, and even FAQ content. However, the extent to which AI was responsible for generating this content wasn’t detailed in the survey.

There is a concern here, especially when it comes to fully generating main content using AI. Google has recently issued guidance cautioning against over-reliance on AI for content creation. Danny Sullivan, speaking at the Search Central NYC event, highlighted the risks of producing low-effort content that lacks originality — something Google is increasingly discouraging.

Grammar checking and improving clarity were also mentioned as common uses for AI, which many regard as valuable tools. However, even for these tasks, there’s a need to be careful. AI can sometimes subtly alter the tone or style of writing, which may not align with a brand’s established voice.

Interestingly, several respondents said they used AI to help adapt content to match their brand’s tone of voice. This involved reviewing and tweaking word choice, sentence structure, and overall tone — a creative use of AI that can help maintain brand consistency.

Lastly, brainstorming was another popular application. Many ecommerce professionals used AI to generate content ideas, which can be a fantastic way to overcome writer’s block or to speed up the planning stage of content creation.

Analysis & Research

An interesting point from the report revolves around keyword analysis, particularly the use of AI for keyword research and clustering. Keyword clustering, which involves grouping similar search terms together, is highlighted as one of the more practical applications. It’s an efficient strategy, especially since creating separate pages for every similar keyword can feel repetitive and unnecessary. Often, a single well-written page covering the broader topic is more effective than multiple pages targeting variations of the same phrase.

While the emphasis on keywords has been central to SEO for decades — even before Google existed — the search landscape has changed significantly. Google has moved beyond relying solely on keywords. It now incorporates a deeper understanding of the intent behind queries and how content fits within broader topics. This is reflected in its use of “core topicality systems” as part of its search ranking algorithm.

Given this evolution, it’s slightly surprising that the survey didn’t mention topical research as one of the ways AI is being used. It’s possible that keyword clustering was intended to cover this area, but it wasn’t explicitly stated. Regardless, applying AI to analyse data and identify meaningful patterns remains one of its strongest capabilities, and using it for keyword grouping is a smart and strategic approach.

Technical SEO

AI has proven to be incredibly useful in the area of technical SEO, particularly for automating repetitive tasks and helping with decision-making. This aspect of SEO is especially suited to AI, as it often involves working through large sets of data and applying consistent rules or checks.

One of the ways this is being done is by uploading SEO guidelines or visual data like charts and asking AI to analyse them for specific insights. This approach allows digital marketers and SEO professionals to make faster, data-informed decisions. It also helps reduce the time spent on manual checks and frees up resources for more strategic tasks.

There are already tools available that integrate with AI platforms. For example, Screaming Frog now allows integration with OpenAI, making it possible to carry out more advanced crawls and automated analyses. Ignoring the potential of such integrations could mean missing out on time-saving and cost-effective opportunities.

An example shared in the survey showed how AI was being used to develop internal linking strategies. This is a great use case, as AI can assess content structure and relevance across a website to recommend effective and logical link placements. Overall, AI offers a powerful way to enhance technical SEO work while reducing workload.

Not Using AI Or Limited Use

One of the more surprising findings from the survey was the number of SEO professionals who have yet to adopt AI in any meaningful way. Around 31% of those surveyed said they weren’t using AI but had plans to do so in the future. A small percentage—3%—said they had no intention of using AI at all, while another 4% were uncertain about how or whether to incorporate it.

Altogether, that means 37% of respondents aren’t currently leveraging AI within their workflows. On the positive side, the 31% who are planning to adopt it soon suggest a growing awareness of AI’s potential. Many WordPress hosting providers have already begun integrating AI tools into their website builders, and some WordPress SEO plugins now include AI features. Platforms like Wix have introduced AI-driven assistants such as the Astro chatbot, while Shopify is exploring practical applications for AI across their services.

The SEOFOMO survey clearly shows that AI is becoming an essential part of SEO and ecommerce practices. While there’s no obligation to use it, those unsure of where to begin might consider which tasks they’d typically delegate to a junior team member or intern. These are often the perfect jobs for AI to handle, allowing professionals to increase their output dramatically—sometimes producing five times as much as they would without AI support.