John Davis
The world of digital marketing is going through a seismic shift, and if you’re not paying attention, you might just get buried in the rubble. The AI and SEO revolution has arrived, and it’s having a bigger impact on marketing than anything we’ve seen in the last decade.
For years, marketers have leaned on Google like a crutch. Year after year, we’ve adapted to new Google algorithm updates, tweaking keyword research, and content methodologies to appease the search engine gods.
In fact, over the years, I’ve noticed most content creators have almost exclusively focused on optimizing for the search engines. They’ve prioritized clicks – not delivering genuine value to their audience. For better or worse, that’s all about to change.
AI has muscled its way into the game, and the traditional rules of engagement no longer apply. Generative AI systems and personalized assistants are set to replace the search-dominated landscape, creating a barrier between marketers and their audience.
So, are you ready for a world where Google no longer rules?
AI and SEO: The Evolution of AI-Dominated Search
The relationship between AI and SEO is nothing new to marketers. Search engines have been using AI algorithms for years to rank and display web pages based on their quality and relevance. Just look at Google’s RankBrain. Google even uses natural language processing to analyze the content and structure of every web page it reviews.
But the evolution of generative AI has changed everything. As noted at the latest AOP Crunch event, since the launch of ChatGPT, AI has gradually begun taking over. Search engines can understand natural language better than ever before, deliver personalized, conversational results to queries, and essentially stop customers from visiting your website.
That’s not to say AI is all bad for marketers. It certainly has value, particularly when it comes to scaling content creation, generating ideas, and enabling companies to create omnichannel, multi-format brand-building content.
But the strategies companies once used to stand out in the tech marketing space no longer apply. Marketers can no longer afford to rely on Google to connect with readers, or regurgitate basic content that could easily be produced by a generative AI bot. It’s time for granular update to everything we thought we knew about SEO, and content development.
AI and SEO: The Challenges to Overcome
Perhaps one of the most poignant statements I’ve seen as a marketer navigating the AI-dominated world in the last few years came from Sundar Pichai in 2018. He described artificial intelligence as the most profound “discovery” made by human beings in years. Specifically, he said it was potentially even more significant than fire.
Like fire, AI has its pros and cons. It can ignite creativity; help fuel extensive marketing campaigns and illuminate research opportunities. But AI, just like fire, is destructive too. Here are the challenges marketers will need to overcome if they don’t want to get burned.
Challenge 1: AI Summaries Killing your Clicks
Let’s start with one of the most significant signs that the post-search apocalypse has already arrived: AI-generated summaries. Google has adapted to the average consumer’s “need for speed”, using generative AI (Gemini), to deliver quick, personalized answers to queries in seconds.
These AI summaries aren’t the same as the “featured snippets”, we used to fight for as marketers dealing with AI and SEO. They don’t just showcase a section of your latest article or blog post, teasing customers to click through to your website. They give full, in-depth answers to questions, eliminating the need to click on your website at all.
After all, why would a customer bother reading an entire article about a topic when they can learn everything they need to know, right there on Google Search?
According to David Buttle at the AOP Crunch event, AI-summarized search results have reduced in traffic losses of between 20-70% for most companies already. Going forward, all search engines, from Bing to Google, will become more effective “answer engines”.
They’ll return fewer link suggestions to customers, and deliver more in-depth answers to consumers. That means your content could easily be digested by AI bots, repackaged, and delivered to users without customers ever knowing your brand was involved.
The Solution
This will be a tough challenge for creators and marketers to navigate, but there’s one important first step you’ll need to take: making your content more powerful. If you’re creating commodity-level content, it’s going to be dead on arrival.
You’ll need to move beyond basic SEO strategies, like making sure you use a certain number of keywords throughout a page. You’ll need to learn what your customers actually want, and create authoritative, thought-provoking content that keeps them reading.
The more in-depth, unique, and insight-led your content is, the harder it will be for AI to summarize into a paragraph shown at the top of the search engine results page. Even if Google and other AI systems do extract insights, data, and unique opinions from your content for a summary, customers will be more inclined to dive deeper and find out where that information came from.
Additionally, experience-driven, authoritative, and expert content will encourage sharing, giving you another avenue for traffic outside of Google.
Challenge 2: AI Personalization: Your Audience Is No Longer Yours
The threat of AI on the SEO landscape goes beyond its ability to regurgitate your content. Search engines now understand natural language, and the consumer journey better than ever before. AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are learning from user behavior.
They know how to deliver hyper-personalized content, and experiences to consumers on the web. With access to endless information, AI will have no problem getting to know your customers – perhaps even better than you do. It’ll be able to recommend products, and answer questions more effectively throughout the entire purchasing journey.
The problem? Your audience won’t need to come to you. AI will serve them whatever they want, whenever they want it. That means you need to find a way to manipulate what these systems actually deliver to your audience if you want customers to reconnect with your brand.
The Solution
We can’t stop AI solutions from becoming more valuable, and helpful to customers throughout the buyer journey. Consumers online will always want convenience, and search engines will deliver. So, if you can’t beat them – join them.
In other words, design content that feeds AI tools the information your consumers need. Give them access to valuable data- while ensuring you stay memorable enough to drive customers to you. Be known as a source of valuable information.
That way, when customers search for something online, you increase your chances of AI bots recommending your product, service, or business to searchers. More importantly, you make it more likely that customers will want to visit your site, and learn more.
Challenge 3: AI-Assisted Advertising: Ad Spend on Life Support
If you think that pay-per-click advertising is safe from the AI revolution – think again. It’s not just AI and SEO that’s changing the digital marketing landscape. Sure, it’s easy to assume that Google would want to protect ad-buyers from AI issues to retain its revenue.
However, the reality is that AI is playing a more significant role in determining which ads are served to customers – and when. AI is getting better at understanding what customers need, and when they need it. Ad platforms that rely on search behavior will become more obsolete, as AI recommends products based on contextual understanding – not keywords.
In the years ahead, the results of PPC campaigns and paid search strategies are likely to nosedive as AI acts as the gatekeeper between brands and their customers. So, just like a salesperson targeting a high-level executive, you’re going to need to find a way to bypass the middle man.
The Solution
Again, the answer here isn’t to fight harder against artificial intelligence. It’s to form a tighter relationship with AI, and discover, on a deeper level, how they work. Embrace AI-powered advertising tools, and get to know them, just like you’d get to know your customer.
Find out how machine learning algorithms are optimizing targeting strategies, and how they affect various components of the consumer journey. Start building AI-centric ad strategies, based on what you already know about your customer, and your understanding of AI.
Then, develop emotion-driven narratives, personalized ad campaigns, and interactive experiences that are going to resonate with customers on a human level, and bypass the AI gatekeeper.
Challenge 4: Data Wars: AI Knows All, but What About You?
AI thrives on data, hoarding it like a dragon with gold. The top AI solutions built into search engines and social media platforms have access to endless data – more than you could ever imagine. As AI’s access to data is growing, our access as human marketers is shrinking.
Privacy regulations are evolving, and already, we can no longer rely on third-party cookies and similar sources of information to create strategic content based on customer journeys. Even the AI tools that promise access to research and data might reserve the most valuable information for themselves in the years ahead.
Ultimately, we’re left flying blind, without easy access to granular data that would help us to create the customer profiles and tailored campaigns that really resonate with customers.
The Solution
Here, the answer is to cut out the middle man entirely. Stop relying extensively on online research and tools to gather information about your target audience. Become an explorer, and build direct relationships with your customers through true value exchanges.
Create incredible content that delivers genuine, niche insights, but go beyond this too. Create communities where you can interact directly with customers and learn about their goals and pain points. Design loyalty programs and exclusive experiences that incentivize users to share their data directly with you.
In other words, take ownership of your relationships with your audience before AI platforms wall you off from the data you so desperately need.
Challenge 5: Trust in a World of AI: The Last Line of Defense
Finally, the rise of AI in the digital world is also triggering new trust dynamics. On the one hand, consumers are becoming more comfortable with the idea of using AI to access answers to basic questions quickly. On the other, they’re becoming increasingly skeptical of fully AI-driven content and insights.
Customers still won’t trust a bot to tell them how they can get the most value out of their CCaaS system, or advise them on which VR headset to purchase entirely. They might use AI for basic direction, but they’ll want real, human insights to make decisions.
Brands and people who can offer credibility, authority, and honesty, with human storytelling and unique opinions will still reign supreme. This is good news for tech marketers, as if you can earn the trust of your customers, they’ll choose you over AI – every time.
The Solution
Become more than a thought leader – be a trust leader. Double down on human-led content, real experience, authenticity, and transparency. Find ways to show your customers, constantly, that you understand them, empathize with them, and have their best interests at heart.
Invest in influencer partnerships and collaborations with respected publications. Gather customer testimonials and case studies that genuinely show your value to your audience. Build a relationship with your customers through distinct, genuine content.
Ultimately, make your brand the go-to source of support when human expertise matters most.
The Post-Search Apocalypse Is Here: Are You Ready?
Marketers have been anxiously waiting for the nuclear bomb of AI to reveal it’s true impact. Now, the post-search apocalypse has officially arrived. If you stand still, you’re going to be consumed.
AI will undoubtedly disrupt every facet of digital marketing – and the changes are already happening. Brands that fail to adapt quickly are the ones that will fade into obscurity. The good news is that the future of marketing doesn’t have to be a dystopian nightmare.
If you embrace the evolution process fully, use the strategies above to reduce your reliance on Google, and start focusing first, and foremost on your audience again, you will survive. In fact, with the right approach to research, innovation, and trust-building, you have the power to thrive.
