Highlights from brightonSEO 2025 in San Diego
brightonSEO is a global event series for SEOs and digital marketers. The flagship US event took place September 23–24 in San Diego, California, and offered two days of expert-led trainings and fresh insights from some of the top leaders in search.
This year, Squarespace Circle was an event sponsor, and hosted a presentation, “All Quiet on the Blue Link Front” with Squarespace SEO Manager Jonah Pessin and Senior Community Events Manager Sam Zelitch. Amid changing trends in organic search traffic and the prevalence of AI search, the two discussed Squarespace’s recent discoveries on the impact of AI on web traffic and SEO, along with consumer trends on AI use.
What we know
In a recent study conducted between January and July 2025, Squarespace analyzed three million Squarespace websites. Here are the key findings:
AI referrals are growing
Between January and July 2025, AI referrals increased 136% across all Squarespace websites. Moreover, AI traffic has grown 1200% since July 2024. This validates that AI search is a growing channel of opportunity for web designers and SEO experts, offering new spaces for distribution and discovery.
Organic search is still king
When it comes to the overall share of traffic, organic traffic still remains supreme. Google accounts for the most traffic to Squarespace sites, approximately 280 times more than AI referrals.
To put the real prevalence of AI into perspective, Squarespace found that AI referrals only make up 0.1% of all website traffic. As we contextualize the changes that we see and this shifting environment, it’s important to keep this in mind.
Organic traffic is steady despite claims that SEO is dead. Squarespace sees healthy amounts of organic traffic coming to millions of Squarespace websites. And while there are different markets, industries, and verticals facing different headwinds, there are sustainable levels of organic traffic from Google on a macro level.
ChatGPT dominates market share
Squarespace found that ChatGPT is responsible for 81% of AI referrals. In fact, ChatGPT is driving more than 12 times the amount of traffic as its closest competitor, Perplexity. While it’s worth checking out where you stand on other LLMs, your current focus should be on optimizing for ChatGPT.
How you can prepare
Many of the same SEO principles you implement on your websites are considered best practices in the world of AI optimization (AIO).
As you work on your site or client sites, take the following steps:
Nail the basics
Your AIO strategy should complement your existing SEO strategy; it shouldn’t replace it.
With that being said, it’s never been more important to establish your brand identity and voice than in the era of AI. Focus on creating pages that clearly state what you do and the services you provide, and share content that offers answers to real questions.
Additionally, ensure your site is crawlable and indexable for traditional search, ChatGPT, and other LLMs. Lastly, keep site pages clutter-free and properly structured. Learn more SEO and AIO best practices.
Squarespace has built-in features to help you and your clients prepare for this new world. The SEO report tool audits your website for missing alt text or page titles and descriptions. It automatically generates AIO and SEO-friendly copy to fill in the gaps and help your pages get discovered.
In the future, Squarespace’s AIO scanner will show you how and where your site appears across external AI platforms. It will give you a personalized visibility score and add suggested text to your site to increase mentions. Learn more about Squarespace’s upcoming innovations in AIO.
Think beyond your website
Once you’ve conquered the basics, it’s time to expand your focus beyond your website. Determine where your website is showing up and what conversations people are having about your brand, and think about how to optimize your site for visibility. This means putting yourself in the right channels, like social media, YouTube, and forums.
The same goes for your clients. When working on their SEO and AIO strategy, consider where they should appear and recommend content creation that helps them enter these channels.
Build brand authority
As an extension of expanding your efforts beyond your website, it’s essential to build brand authority. You can do so by publishing content that positions you as an industry thought leader, acquiring backlinks from reputable sources, and sharing client testimonials on your site and on social media.
For your clients, this is also important from a brand authority perspective.
Adapt and experiment
What works for one brand may not work for another. Ultimately, you’ll need to test the channels you’re in, the content formats you produce, and the different levers you can pull to adapt and expand your strategic investments.
Looking for wisdom on SEO and AIO best practices? Check out advice from these Circle members:
How AI is being used
Squarespace recently surveyed 1,200 entrepreneurs and released its annual Entrepreneurship Report in September 2025. The study also revealed interesting insights about how people are using AI.
Here are the standout findings that Jonah and Sam shared:
AI use
Forty-three percent of entrepreneurs use AI for SEO. This number will only continue to rise, so if you’re not already using AI in your workflows, you risk falling behind.
There are a ton of ways you can strategically introduce AI into your business, such as notetaking, invoicing, and project management.
AI sentiment
From a content creation standpoint, AI outputs will not necessarily set you apart from the competition. In fact, 50% of entrepreneurs say AI is too generic.
AI tools cannot replace human creativity, but they can help you streamline monotonous or time-consuming tasks. According to the report, 64% of entrepreneurs say AI saves them time. Find opportunities to automate your business, leaving you space to think strategically and creatively where it matters most.
AI trust
One of the report’s most interesting findings is that 50% of entrepreneurs trust AI more than an employee. Set up AI to develop proposals or contract templates, automate task generation, develop project summaries for clients, organize files, pull data, and qualify leads. Then, let your employees and teammates focus on the more creative or client-facing aspects of the business.
Dive into Jonah and Sam’s presentation deck from brightonSEO:
Dig into the data and insights from the session:
Read more of our SEO and AIO resources:
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers and web design agencies. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
