WordCamp Canada 2025: WordPress and SEO in the Age of AI

WordCamp Canada 2025 buzzed with fresh ideas, big connections, and bold conversations about the future of the web. The WHC team had a great time in Ottawa catching up with familiar faces and meeting new ones: developers, designers, agencies, and industry experts all working to build a better web for everyone.

As one of Canada’s leading web hosting and domain providers, that's something we truly value.

💙 A vibrant community

There’s something special about the WordPress community in Canada. It’s collaborative, curious, and always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible online. From hallway chats to hands-on demos, it was inspiring to see so much talent and innovation coming from Canadians.

And of course, one big topic kept coming up: Artificial Intelligence, and not just in terms of generating a WordPress site in a couple of clicks. It's changing the way we work. How the web works. How everything works.

But what really stood out was how many creators are thinking critically about it, finding smart, ethical, and distinctly Canadian ways to use these tools to boost creativity and productivity.

🧠 Session spotlight

Search Marketing for WordPress in the Age of AI 

One of the most talked-about sessions this year came from Alex Melen, a digital marketing expert who shared his insights on how AI is reshaping search marketing, both for traditional Google results and emerging AI-driven search tools.

Alex’s talk, called “Search Marketing for WordPress in the Age of AI,” broke down some complex ideas into clear, practical steps anyone managing a website can understand. 

🔍 Big picture: SEO isn’t “dead” 

A bit of context: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of helping your website appear higher in search results by making your content more relevant, trustworthy, and easy for search engines to understand. 

It involves things like writing useful content around topics people search for, using descriptive page titles and headings, earning links from reputable sites, and keeping your site fast and user-friendly.

But things are changing: AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Bing Copilot are becoming new ways for people to search for answers, sometimes skipping Google entirely. This has made many website owners wonder if SEO is still worth doing.

Alex’s answer? Absolutely.

It might be evolving, but search isn’t going away. Most people still use Google alongside AI chat tools. That means your site still needs to be visible in both places: in traditional search results and within AI-generated summaries.

✨ Good SEO still matters for AI

Now for a newer term: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), or AI SEO 🤖. In simple terms, GEO is about making your content easy for AI systems to understand, trust, and recommend. These “answer engines” (like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity) don’t just pull links; they interpret context, credibility, and clarity. 

The good news? If you’re already optimizing your content for search engines, with a focus on high-quality, helpful, original content made for real people, you’re already on the right track. 

Solid SEO includes things like:

• Topical authority (depth around your niche or category).
• Relevant links from authoritative sites.
• On-page fundamentals (clear structure, helpful headings, technical basics).

In short, good SEO = good GEO, so don’t abandon the above.

💡 Key takeaways 

✍️ Write for questions, not just keywords

With GEO, it's less about reinventing SEO and more about evolving it. When people use AI tools, they ask full questions (“How do I optimize my WordPress site?”) rather than typing short phrases (“WordPress SEO”).

➡️ Try including those questions as headings and answer them clearly near the top of your post.

❤️ Keep your content human and helpful 

AI can spot (and skip) copy-pasted, keyword-stuffed articles. Authentic writing still wins.

🗂️ Organize your content around topics 

Group related posts together into “topic hubs.” For example, if you write about online stores, create one main “E-commerce SEO Guide” page and link to related posts on product descriptions, customer reviews, etc. This helps both Google and AI tools see you as an expert in that area.

📍 Maintain your Google Business Profile 

For local businesses, this matters more than ever. Reviews and up-to-date info help you show up when customers nearby are searching, and can even influence AI-generated recommendations.

📰 Earn trustworthy mentions 

AI systems look for credible third-party sources, like local news outlets, industry blogs, or community forums that talk about your business. These citations can boost your visibility, even if people don’t always click the links.

🚀 Looking ahead 

WordCamp Canada 2025 was a powerful reminder of just how vibrant, curious, and forward-thinking Canada’s WordPress community truly is. Alex Melen’s session captured that perfectly: a mix of practical expertise, real data, and optimism about where the web is headed. His insights on SEO and AI showed that while tools and trends evolve, the fundamentals of creating great, human-centered content remain constant.

We left inspired and excited to keep building tools and services that empower this growing ecosystem. A huge thanks to the organizers, speakers, and everyone we met along the way. Let’s keep pushing WordPress and the open web forward!

Follow WHC for more insights or details on future WordPress events.

👋 See you at the next WordCamp!