Everything you know about SEO is about to become obsolete. Or so the headlines say.
The truth is more nuanced. AI is fundamentally changing search, but not in the ways most marketers expect. After helping dozens of businesses adapt their SEO strategies, here's what's actually working.
What's Changing
Search Behavior
Users are increasingly getting answers directly from AI assistants instead of clicking through to websites. This affects informational queries more than transactional ones.
What this means: Content that just answers basic questions will get less traffic. Content that provides unique insights, tools, or experiences will become more valuable.
Content Creation
Everyone can now generate "good enough" content with AI. This means the bar for what stands out has risen dramatically.
What this means: Generic, keyword-stuffed content is worth even less than before. Original research, case studies, and expert perspectives matter more.
Search Engine AI
Google's AI overviews and other AI-powered search features are changing how results are displayed. Websites need to be structured for AI comprehension, not just keyword matching.
What Stays the Same
Technical SEO
Fast, accessible, well-structured websites still rank better. AI hasn't changed the importance of:
Page speed — Users and search engines both prefer fast sites.
Mobile optimization — More than half of searches happen on mobile.
Clean site architecture — Both users and crawlers need to navigate easily.
User Intent
Understanding what users actually want hasn't changed. The businesses that win at SEO are still the ones that best match content to user needs.
AI-Powered SEO Strategies That Work
1. Programmatic Content at Scale
AI enables creating location-specific, product-specific, or use-case-specific pages at scale. A single template can generate thousands of optimized pages.
Example: Instead of one "plumber services" page, create pages for every neighborhood you serve, each with local context and information.
2. Content Optimization
AI tools can analyze top-ranking content and identify gaps in your pages. They can suggest improvements that would have taken hours to research manually.
3. Structured Data Generation
AI can automatically generate schema markup for your content, making it easier for search engines to understand and display your pages in rich results.
4. Continuous Optimization
AI can monitor rankings, analyze competitors, and suggest content updates — continuously, not just during quarterly reviews.
The Bottom Line
AI SEO isn't about replacing traditional SEO. It's about doing traditional SEO faster, at greater scale, and with more precision.
The fundamentals haven't changed: create valuable content, make it easy for search engines to understand, and build authority in your space. AI just makes executing these fundamentals dramatically more efficient.
Curious how AI could improve your SEO? Check out our AI SEO service — we'll show you exactly what's possible.