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AI-generated responses seem like a direct danger to the conventional natural traffic websites used to get from search engines. Today, LLMs simply rip the content on websites and people no longer require to check out a site any longer.
While I personally believe this threat is blown completely out of proportion (based on information from websites I have actually personally seen), I do not believe it's a reason to neglect it completely. From my own experience growing both blog sites and YouTube channels, especially to offer something, I can inform you that video converts way more than composed material.
And the audience can detect more subtleties in your message. It's a lot easier to inform if somebody is lying or complete of it if you can see their facial expressions and their intonation. So YouTube ought to absolutely be in your SEO and material strategy. Usage video as need generation and a way to build trust with an audience.
And since you have constructed the trust with video, your conventional SEO efforts will transform better. There's even more to it. Earlier this year, I had an inkling that if I turned a few of my finest ranking article into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing post, my article would rank even much better.
Improving Website Efficiency for High-Volume Denver Firm Launches Aeo For Ai Search GrowthI used rank between 2-3 for the keyword "AI marketing tools." I made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that blog site post, and I have actually been ranking # 1 because. In 2026, think of YouTube videos as a way to beef up your SEO blog site posts to rank even much better.
Keep focusing on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have spending plan, however do not desert what's in fact driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everyone talking about how AI search was going to take over Google. Beyond simply SEO, the marketing community as a whole started to get bombarded with influencers trying to ride the AI buzz train.
It ended up being tough to find trusted sources that weren't biased or had a prejudice to offer us something. While I do think there are advantages to using LLMs in our workflows, I do believe it has actually been overhyped. And in 2026, I forecast many marketers will understand that ChatGPT and Perplexity are just a small part of the SEO market.
Google still dominates 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it's in the perfect position to win the AI online search engine race. Search habits hasn't fundamentally shifted far from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a couple of things that have rubbed me the incorrect method about the AI SEO trend.
What these marketers do not understand is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel material, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The informational top of funnel material is "eaten up" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
If you were to take that same concept over to Google, you would see the same conversion rates. Google's conversion rates show less because the traffic is higher due to it being watered down by all the top of funnel content that is in the formula. Other things like how ChatGPT can make stuff up, it never ever completely follows triggers correctly (i.e.
I do still believe that larger companies will set aside an experimental budget to check things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools. In 2026, I forecast people will realize optimizing for Google will permit them to reveal up in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Simply take a look at ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity's Comet internet browsers.
These tactics may work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, however they're short-term plays that will eventually get penalized. Focus on white hat strategies that construct real authority and trust over time rather of going after fast wins that won't last.
Now, the algorithm is mature enough to overlook all that rubbish. ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as mature. I can't name this individual, however I fulfilled an SEO director at a big banking company. This person told me they (and all their rivals) are producing microsites (like small blog sites) on different domains.
And from there, they are utilizing their primary business domain, that has an extremely strong brand name authority, and sending backlinks to the microsite. And this has actually led to greater rankings for their brand in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that substantial, trusted business are doing this. And I understood just how much black hat (or grey hat) techniques are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I anticipate these techniques will continue to occur. Up until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as wise as Google's search algorithm. That seems like a long time from now. Anyways, I personally would not advise participating in this. It's brief term thinking and your energy is best invested in white hat marketing strategies that can stand the test of time and enhance your websites trust signals gradually.
Share genuine insights, use your own images and videos, and construct topical authority in your niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat huge brand names in 2026. This is one of the biggest SEO trends for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You need a real organization, be it a newsletter company, a service-based company, SaaS company, or ecommerce store. And then you add on this human-centered niche blogging to the site to organically grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I forecast that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which web pages consist of AI material and which don't.
In truth, I understand lots of people silently crushing it with AI created content (even going after top of funnel keywords). What I am saying is that engaging, human content will outrank AI produced content with no original insights. There are 2 routes I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated article and get them to rank in the middle/bottom of page 1.
Produce a hundred human post and get them to rank at the top of the first page. Quality over quantity. The very first path is based upon large volume, and can result in traffic growth. But you do run the risk of a prospective algorithm upgrade harming your rankings. And anyone who writes better human material will rank higher in positions 1-3. The 2nd path is slower, however can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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