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Specifically CMOs and those responsible for a company's marketing success. AI-generated responses seem like a direct threat to the traditional organic traffic sites used to receive from online search engine. Before, you needed to click a website to see the outcomes. Today, LLMs simply rip the material on websites and individuals no longer require to check out a site any longer.
While I personally believe this hazard is blown completely out of percentage (based on data from websites I have actually personally seen), I don't think it's a reason to ignore it entirely. From my own experience growing both blogs and YouTube channels, especially to offer something, I can inform you that video converts way more than written content.
And the audience can detect more subtleties in your message. It's a lot easier to inform if someone is lying or filled with it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. YouTube ought to absolutely be in your SEO and content technique. Usage video as need generation and a way to build trust with an audience.
And because you have developed the trust with video, your traditional SEO efforts will convert much better. But there's a lot more to it. Earlier this year, I had a hunch that if I turned a few of my best ranking article into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing post, my article would rank even much better.
I made a YouTube video about the topic, embedded it into that blog site post, and I've been ranking # 1 since.
Keep focusing on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have budget plan, however don't abandon what's actually driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everybody speaking about how AI search was going to take control of Google. Beyond simply SEO, the marketing community as an entire begun to get bombarded with influencers attempting to ride the AI buzz train.
It became difficult to find trusted sources that weren't biased or had a surprise agenda to offer us something. While I do think there are benefits to using LLMs in our workflows, I do believe it has actually been overhyped. And in 2026, I forecast lots of marketers will understand that ChatGPT and Perplexity are just a small part of the SEO market.
Google still controls 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it's in the best position to win the AI search engine race. Search behavior hasn't fundamentally shifted away from Google. Beyond just that, there are a few things that have rubbed me the incorrect method about the AI SEO trend.
What these marketers don't understand is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel content, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The educational top of funnel content 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 material that is in the formula. Other things like how ChatGPT can make things up, it never ever totally follows triggers correctly (i.e.
I do still believe that larger companies will set aside an experimental budget speculative budget plan things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
These methods might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, but they're short-term plays that will eventually get penalized. Focus on white hat methods that develop genuine authority and trust over time rather of chasing after fast wins that won't last.
Now, the algorithm is fully grown enough to neglect all that nonsense. However, ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown yet. I can't call this person, but I satisfied an SEO director at a big banking company. This person informed me they (and all their competitors) are developing microsites (like little blog sites) on various domains.
And from there, they are utilizing their main company domain, that has an exceptionally strong brand name authority, and sending out backlinks to the microsite. And this has resulted in higher rankings for their brand name in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that big, reliable business are doing this. And I recognized how much black hat (or grey hat) techniques are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I forecast these methods will continue to occur. Until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as wise as Google's search algorithm. That appears like a long time from now. Anyways, I personally would not recommend taking part in this. It's brief term thinking and your energy is finest invested on white hat marketing methods that can stand the test of time and improve your sites trust signals with time.
Share real insights, utilize your own images and videos, and develop topical authority in your niche. This is how solo creators and small teams can beat substantial brands in 2026. This is one of the greatest SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You require a genuine company, be it a newsletter company, a service-based service, SaaS company, or ecommerce store. And after that you add on this human-centered specific niche blogging to the site to organically grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I predict that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which websites contain AI material and which do not.
In truth, I understand tons of people silently squashing it with AI generated content (even going after top of funnel keywords). But what I am saying is that engaging, human content will outrank AI generated material with no original insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's right now: Produce thousands of AI-generated article and get them to rank in the middle/bottom of page 1.
Produce a hundred human blog site posts and get them to rank at the top of the first page. Quality over amount. The very first route is based upon large volume, and can cause traffic growth. However you do risk a prospective algorithm upgrade hurting your rankings. And anybody who writes much better human material will rank greater in positions 1-3. The 2nd route is slower, but can yield higher ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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