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AI-generated answers seem like a direct danger to the traditional organic traffic sites used to get from search engines. Today, LLMs just rip the material on websites and people no longer require to check out a website anymore.
While I personally think this hazard is blown totally out of proportion (based on data from websites I have actually personally seen), I do not think it's a reason to overlook it completely. From my own experience growing both blogs and YouTube channels, particularly to offer something, I can tell you that video converts way more than composed material.
And the audience can pick up on more subtleties in your message. It's a lot much easier to inform if somebody is lying or loaded with it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. YouTube should certainly be in your SEO and content method. Use video as need generation and a method to develop trust with an audience.
And since you have constructed the trust with video, your conventional SEO efforts will convert much better. There's even more to it. Earlier this year, I had an inkling that if I turned a few of my finest ranking blog site posts into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing blog site posts, my article would rank even much better.
Why Local Teams Requirement Better Entity-Based SEOI made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that blog site post, and I've been ranking # 1 because.
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 begun to get bombarded with influencers attempting to ride the AI buzz train.
It became hard to find trusted sources that weren't biased or had a prejudice to sell us something. While I do believe there are advantages to using LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I predict lots of 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's in the ideal position to win the AI search engine race. Browse habits hasn't essentially moved away from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a few things that have actually rubbed me the wrong method about the AI SEO pattern.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% conversation rate and is better by more than 2X compared to Google. But what these online marketers do not realize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel content, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The informational top of funnel material is "consumed" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
Google's conversion rates reveal less because the traffic is higher due to it being watered down by all the top of funnel material 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 think companies bigger set aside an experimental budget speculative spending plan things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
Don't do it. These methods might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, however they're short-term plays that will ultimately get punished. Concentrate on white hat methods that build genuine authority and trust gradually rather of going after quick wins that will not last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword stuffing strategies, paying for low-quality backlinks, shipping thousands of useless short articles all in the name of ranking high.
Now, the algorithm is fully grown enough to overlook all that rubbish. ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't name this individual, but I met an SEO director at a huge banking company. This person informed me they (and all their competitors) are developing microsites (like little blog sites) on different domains.
And from there, they are utilizing their main business domain, that has an extremely strong brand authority, and sending backlinks to the microsite. And this has resulted in greater rankings for their brand in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that huge, reliable companies are doing this. And I realized how much black hat (or grey hat) techniques are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I predict these tactics will continue to occur. Up until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Share real insights, utilize your own images and videos, and develop topical authority in your specific niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat huge brand names in 2026. This is one of the biggest SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You need a real organization, be it a newsletter company, a service-based service, SaaS business, or ecommerce store. And after that you add on this human-centered specific niche blogging to the site to naturally grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I anticipate that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which websites include AI content and which do not.
I know loads of people silently crushing it with AI created content (even going after top of funnel keywords). But what I am stating is that engaging, human content will outrank AI created content without any original insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated blog posts 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. And anybody who composes much better human content will rank higher in positions 1-3. The 2nd route is slower, however can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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