There’s this guy, Paul, I know who runs a content marketing agency. Six months ago he was convinced AI was going to destroy his business. He’d spent fifteen years building SEO expertise and suddenly felt like it was all becoming irrelevant overnight.
We grabbed drinks last month, and his perspective had totally shifted. Still thinks AI is massively disruptive, but he’s figured out how to adapt rather than just stress about it. His business is actually doing better now than before AI blew up.
“Took me a while to stop panicking and start actually learning this stuff,” he told me. “Turns out AI changes things but doesn’t kill them.”
The changes nobody saw coming.
When ChatGPT dropped in late 2022, most SEO people didn’t immediately freak out—it seemed like a cool toy but not really relevant to search. That perspective aged badly.
Within months, Google started rolling out AI overviews. Bing integrated ChatGPT. Every central search platform suddenly had AI features, changing how results appeared. The shift happened way faster than anyone expected.
Traditional SEO was built around understanding algorithms and optimizing for them. Pretty mechanical process. Create content targeting specific keywords, build links, fix technical issues, and monitor rankings. Rinse and repeat.
AI introduced this massive variable; nobody really knows how to fully control yet. How does AI decide what content to reference? How do you optimize for something that’s constantly learning and changing? What even matters anymore when AI synthesizes answers instead of just ranking pages?
Paul spent two months basically paralyzed, trying to figure this out. His clients were asking questions he couldn’t confidently answer. His strategies felt outdated, but he didn’t know what should replace them.
What actually changed versus what stayed the same
Here’s what Paul eventually realized. The fundamentals of good SEO didn’t stop working. Quality content still matters. Technical soundness still matters. Authority and credibility still matter. User experience still matters.
What changed is the application of those fundamentals. You’re not just optimizing for algorithmic ranking pages anymore. You’re optimizing for AI systems that read, understand, and synthesize content. Different goal, similar building blocks.
Aidan Coleman SEO professionals who adapted quickest understood this. They weren’t abandoning everything they knew; they were expanding it to account for new variables.
Content needs to be more comprehensive now. AI favors thorough information over superficial keyword targeting. An article genuinely covering a topic beats one just hitting keyword density targets.
Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness got way more important. AI systems prioritize content from recognized credible sources. Building genuine authority matters more than gaming algorithms.
Structured data markup went from nice to have to essential. AI needs clear signals about what your content is and what it covers. Proper markup helps AI understand and reference your content accurately.
The mistakes everyone’s making
Paul watched tons of businesses make the same errors responding to AI changes. The first mistake was ignoring it completely and hoping it wouldn’t affect them. Spoiler: it affected them.
The second mistake was panicking and abandoning proven SEO practices. Some businesses completely ditched their SEO strategies, thinking they were worthless now. Shot themselves in the foot because traditional search still drives massive traffic.
The third mistake was trying to manipulate AI systems the way people used to manipulate search algorithms. Keyword stuffing evolved into trying to stuff content with phrases AI might reference. Doesn’t work and makes your content rubbish for actual humans.
The fourth mistake was focusing purely on AI without considering user experience. Content optimized only for AI systems often reads terribly. People still need to actually want to read and use your content.
The fifth mistake was treating this as a solved problem. AI search is evolving rapidly. What works today might need adjusting next month. Businesses that stopped adapting got left behind quickly.
What’s actually working in practice
Paul’s agency completely rebuilt their approach based on what they saw working. Not from theory or speculation but from actual results across dozens of client sites.
They started creating what he calls “reference quality content.” Comprehensive guides and resources that AI systems would logically cite when answering questions in that space. Not just blog posts hitting keywords, but genuinely useful resources.
They focused hard on demonstrating expertise. Author credentials, citations, clear sourcing, everything signaling this content comes from people who genuinely know their stuff. AI systems increasingly care about this.
They improved technical implementation across all client sites. Proper structured data, clean site architecture, fast loading, and mobile optimization. The technical basics mattered more, not less.
They expanded beyond text. Video content, podcasts, infographics, multiple formats. AI systems are learning to process and cite various content types. Being present everywhere increases visibility chances.
They built genuine authority through PR, partnerships, speaking engagements, whatever, to establish clients as recognized experts. When AI systems evaluate sources, recognized brands and experts get weighted higher.
The opportunities most people miss
While everyone’s worried about threats, Paul’s finding actual opportunities in AI changes. Businesses slow to adapt create openings for those who do.
Local businesses especially have chances here. AI-powered local search relies heavily on verified business information. Businesses that are properly optimizing their profiles and local presence are dominating while competitors ignore it.
Voice search optimization is still underutilized. People ask questions differently when speaking versus typing. Content optimized for conversational queries performs better in AI answers.
Featured snippets and knowledge panels became more valuable. These positions directly feed AI responses. Getting your content selected for these dramatically increases AI citation likelihood.
Long-form comprehensive content outperforms short posts now. AI needs substantial information to reference. Businesses creating thorough resources get cited, while those posting thin content get ignored.
Collaboration creates leverage. Being mentioned by other authoritative sources, getting interviewed, and contributing expertise to others’ content all build signals AI systems use when evaluating authority.
What Paul’s doing differently now
His agency doesn’t pitch traditional SEO services anymore. They pitch “search visibility,” which encompasses traditional SEO, AI optimization, voice search, local optimization, and the whole ecosystem.
They spend more time on content quality and less on technical manipulation. Still handle technical SEO, but the content strategy got way more important and resource-intensive.
They track different metrics. Traditional rankings still matter, but they also monitor brand mentions, AI citations when possible, voice search visibility, and featured snippet captures. Broader view of search presence.
They educate clients constantly. AI search changes monthly. Keeping clients informed and managing expectations matters more when the landscape shifts this fast.
They experiment continuously. Every client site becomes a testing ground for strategies. What works gets scaled, what doesn’t gets dropped. No assumptions about best practices being permanent.
The actual path forward
AI isn’t going to stop disrupting search. This isn’t a temporary shift that’ll revert. Search is fundamentally different now and will keep changing as AI improves.
Fighting this or ignoring it both fail. Adaptation is the only viable strategy. Understanding how AI search works, what it values, and how to position your content for it.
But don’t abandon traditional SEO fundamentals. They’re not obsolete, they’re evolving. Good content, technical soundness, authority building, and user focus all still matter. The application just needs updating.
Stay curious and keep learning. Nobody has this fully figured out yet. The businesses succeeding are those staying flexible and adapting as they learn, rather than claiming they’ve cracked the code.
Paul’s agency is busier now than before AI emerged. Turns out disruption creates demand for people who actually understand what’s happening and how to navigate it. His initial fear about AI destroying his business was backwards. It’s been his biggest growth opportunity.
Change is scary, but it’s also where opportunities live. AI is changing SEO massively. That’s reality. Whether that’s good or bad for your business depends entirely on how you respond to it.
