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AI-generated answers appear like a direct danger to the conventional natural traffic sites utilized to get from search engines. Today, LLMs just rip the content on websites and people no longer require to visit a site any longer.
While I personally think this hazard is blown entirely out of proportion (based upon data from sites I've personally seen), I do not believe it's a reason to overlook it completely. From my own experience growing both blogs and YouTube channels, particularly to offer something, I can inform you that video converts way more than written content.
And the audience can select up on more subtleties in your message. It's a lot much easier to tell if somebody is lying or filled with it if you can see their facial expressions and their intonation. So YouTube should definitely be in your SEO and content method. Use video as need generation and a way to develop trust with an audience.
And because you have developed the trust with video, your standard SEO efforts will transform much better. There's even more to it. Previously this year, I had an inkling that if I turned a few of my finest ranking post into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing article, my article would rank even much better.
Why Meaning Matters More Than Ever for RankingsI made a YouTube video about the topic, embedded it into that blog post, and I've been ranking # 1 given that.
Keep focusing on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have budget, however do not abandon what's actually driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everyone speaking about how AI search was going to take over Google. Beyond just SEO, the marketing community as an entire started to get bombarded with influencers trying 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 think there are benefits to using LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I anticipate lots of marketers will recognize 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 remains in the best position to win the AI online search engine race. Search behavior hasn't fundamentally shifted far from Google. Beyond just that, there are a few things that have actually rubbed me the incorrect method about the AI SEO pattern.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% discussion rate and is better by more than 2X compared to Google. What these online marketers do not recognize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel material, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The educational top of funnel material is "consumed 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 exact same conversion rates. Google's conversion rates reveal less since the traffic is higher 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 completely follows triggers properly (i.e.
I do still believe that bigger business will reserve a speculative spending plan to check things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools. But in 2026, I predict individuals will realize optimizing for Google will allow them to show up in ChatGPT and Perplexity also. Simply look at ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity's Comet web browsers.
These tactics may work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, but they're short-term plays that will ultimately get penalized. Focus on white hat techniques that construct real authority and trust over time rather of chasing fast wins that will not last.
Now, the algorithm is mature enough to ignore all that rubbish. ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as mature. I can't call this person, but I fulfilled an SEO director at a big banking business. This individual informed me they (and all their competitors) are producing microsites (like little blog sites) on various domains.
And from there, they are using their main business domain, that has an exceptionally strong brand authority, and sending out backlinks to the microsite. And this has actually led to greater rankings for their brand name in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that big, credible 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 forecast these techniques will continue to occur. Till ChatGPT's algorithm gets as wise as Google's search algorithm. However 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 in white hat marketing methods that can stand the test of time and enhance your sites trust signals over time.
Concentrate on quality over quantity. Share real insights, utilize your own images and videos, and construct topical authority in your specific niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat substantial brand names in 2026. Specific niche blogging is back infant. With a twist. This is one of the biggest SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing today.
You require a genuine company, be it a newsletter company, a service-based business, SaaS company, or ecommerce store. And then you include on this human-centered specific niche blogging to the site to naturally grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I forecast that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which web pages include AI content and which don't.
In truth, I know tons of individuals quietly squashing it with AI generated content (even pursuing top of funnel keywords). But what I am stating is that engaging, human content will outrank AI produced material with no original insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's today: Produce countless AI-generated blog posts 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 first path is based upon sheer volume, and can result in traffic development. You do run the risk of a prospective algorithm upgrade hurting your rankings. And anyone who writes better human material will rank greater in positions 1-3. The second path is slower, but can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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