There’s a lot of pessimism surrounding the new AI-Powered Overviews and the SEO industry. The main takeaway seems to be that SEO is dead, and we should all start pivoting to new facets of work. However, I have a different perspective. I see this as more of an adaptation, where we will find new ways of measuring success, new metrics to analyze, and a new approach to attracting users to sites.
I’ve always approached my SEO career as a marketer who knows a lot about this one thing: SEO. After working with many companies, I see firsthand that most of them do not know how to market themselves in relation to SEO and website presentation. I don’t see this ever really going away, hence the need for some sort of SEO specialist to guide and help implement these strategies.
Another aspect is that search is Google’s greatest asset when it comes to its business model. I like to believe that SEOs add more value to that, and Google wouldn’t want to harm this community. There will always be a need to adapt results for products, services, and industry information that will provide continual value to users. Having an understanding of how that content is crawled and ranked, especially in the age of AI, will be a huge asset for companies.
In the short term, it will be rocky because it’s a new technology and will take some time to figure out. But in the long run, I see a continued need for SEO professionals to provide analysis, strategy, and consultation.
Hugh said:
If AI overviews take over search, then SEO will evolve to optimizing for the AI overview.
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@Magdalina
It’ll be about getting your brand mentioned for commercial queries and cited for informational ones. Strategies will evolve. Producing original insights will be key, as AI can’t generate those.
SEO won’t die, but publishing economics will be hit hard. Google’s claim that more links will be clicked is misleading. People will get their answers in AI snippets without needing to visit sites.
For simple Q&A searches like ‘who was the first president,’ AI overviews will dominate. But for complex topics, people will still seek multiple perspectives.