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AI-generated responses appear like a direct danger to the traditional organic traffic websites used to get from search engines. Today, LLMs just rip the material on websites and individuals no longer need to check out a site any longer.
While I personally believe this danger is blown totally out of proportion (based upon information from websites I have actually personally seen), I do not think it's an excuse to neglect it completely. From my own experience growing both blog sites and YouTube channels, particularly to sell something, I can inform you that video converts way more than composed content.
And the viewer can detect more subtleties in your message. It's a lot much easier to inform if someone is lying or filled with it if you can see their facial expressions and their intonation. So YouTube needs to certainly be in your SEO and content technique. Usage video as need generation and a way to build trust with an audience.
And since you have actually constructed the trust with video, your standard SEO efforts will convert much better. There's even more to it. Earlier this year, I had a hunch that if I turned some of my finest ranking article into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing article, my post would rank even much better.
I made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that blog post, and I've been ranking # 1 because.
Keep focusing on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have spending plan, but do not desert what's in fact driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everyone discussing how AI search was going to take control of Google. Beyond just SEO, the marketing community as an entire started to get bombarded with influencers trying to ride the AI hype train.
It ended up being tough to discover relied on sources that weren't prejudiced or had a prejudice to sell us something. While I do think there are benefits to utilizing LLMs in our workflows, I do believe it has actually been overhyped. And in 2026, I anticipate many marketers will understand that ChatGPT and Perplexity are simply a small part of the SEO market.
Google still dominates 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it remains in the ideal position to win the AI online search engine race. Search habits hasn't essentially moved away from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a couple of things that have rubbed me the wrong way about the AI SEO trend.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% discussion rate and is much better by more than 2X compared to Google. What these online marketers don't realize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel material, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The educational top of funnel material is "eaten up" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
Google's conversion rates show less because the traffic is greater due to it being diluted by all the top of funnel content that is in the formula. Other things like how ChatGPT can make stuff up, it never totally follows prompts properly (i.e.
I do still believe that larger companies bigger set aside an experimental budget speculative spending plan things check ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
Do not do it. These techniques might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, but they're short-term plays that will ultimately get penalized. Focus on white hat strategies that construct genuine authority and trust in time rather of chasing fast wins that will not last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword stuffing tactics, spending for low-grade backlinks, shipping thousands of worthless posts all in the name of ranking high.
ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this individual, but I satisfied an SEO director at a huge banking company.
And from there, they are using their main business domain, that has an extremely strong brand authority, and sending out backlinks to the microsite. And this has led to higher rankings for their brand name in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that substantial, reputable companies are doing this. And I understood how much black hat (or grey hat) techniques are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I forecast these strategies will continue to happen. Until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Share genuine insights, utilize your own images and videos, and develop topical authority in your niche. This is how solo developers and small teams can beat big brands in 2026. This is one of the greatest SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You require a genuine service, be it a newsletter company, a service-based company, SaaS business, or ecommerce shop. And after that you add on this human-centered specific niche blogging to the website to naturally grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I predict that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which websites include AI material and which do not.
In reality, I understand lots of individuals quietly crushing it with AI created material (even pursuing top of funnel keywords). What I am stating is that engaging, human content will outrank AI generated material with no original insights. There are 2 routes I see with SEO's today: Produce countless AI-generated article and get them to rank in the middle/bottom of page 1.
Produce a hundred human article and get them to rank at the top of the first page. Quality over amount. The very first route is based on sheer volume, and can result in traffic growth. You do run the risk of a possible algorithm upgrade hurting your rankings. And anyone who writes much better human material will rank higher in positions 1-3. The second path is slower, but can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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