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AI-generated responses appear like a direct risk to the traditional natural traffic websites used to get from search engines. Today, LLMs simply rip the material on websites and people no longer require to check out a site anymore.
While I personally think this threat is blown totally out of percentage (based upon data from websites I've personally seen), I do not believe it's a reason to disregard it entirely. From my own experience growing both blog sites and YouTube channels, specifically to sell something, I can inform you that video converts way more than written content.
And the audience can detect more subtleties in your message. It's a lot much easier to tell if someone is lying or loaded with it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. So YouTube must certainly remain in your SEO and content method. Use video as demand generation and a method to build trust with an audience.
And due to the fact that you have actually developed the trust with video, your conventional SEO efforts will transform much better. There's even more to it. Earlier this year, I had an inkling that if I turned a few of my best ranking post into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing blog posts, my blog posts would rank even better.
I utilized rank between 2-3 for the keyword "AI marketing tools." I made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that article, and I've been ranking # 1 given that. So in 2026, think about YouTube videos as a method to boost your SEO blog site posts to rank even much better.
Keep concentrating on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have budget plan, however do not desert what's in fact driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everybody speaking about how AI search was going to take control of Google. Beyond simply SEO, the marketing neighborhood as an entire started to get bombarded with influencers attempting to ride the AI buzz train.
It ended up being tough to discover trusted sources that weren't prejudiced or had a hidden agenda to sell us something. While I do think there are benefits to utilizing LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I anticipate numerous online 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 best position to win the AI online search engine race. Search behavior hasn't essentially moved away from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a couple of things that have actually rubbed me the incorrect way about the AI SEO pattern.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% discussion rate and is better by more than 2X compared to Google. But what these marketers don't recognize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel material, tends to be displayed 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 content that is in the equation. Other things like how ChatGPT can make stuff up, it never completely follows prompts correctly (i.e.
I do still believe that larger companies bigger business aside an experimental budget speculative test things check ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
These strategies might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, however they're short-term plays that will ultimately get penalized. Focus on white hat techniques that develop genuine authority and trust over time instead of chasing fast wins that will not last.
ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this person, however I met an SEO director at a huge banking company.
And from there, they are utilizing their main company domain, that has a very strong brand authority, and sending backlinks to the microsite. And this has led to higher rankings for their brand in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that big, trustworthy companies are doing this. And I understood how much black hat (or grey hat) strategies are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I forecast these techniques will continue to occur. Until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Focus on quality over amount. Share genuine insights, use your own images and videos, and build topical authority in your specific niche. This is how solo creators and little teams can beat huge brands in 2026. Specific niche blogging is back baby. With a twist. This is among the biggest SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing today.
You need a genuine service, be it a newsletter business, a service-based company, SaaS company, or ecommerce shop. And then you include on this human-centered niche blogging to the site to organically grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I predict that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which web pages include AI material and which don't.
In reality, I understand lots of individuals silently crushing it with AI created material (even pursuing top of funnel keywords). However what I am saying is that engaging, human material will outrank AI created material without any initial insights. There are 2 paths I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated blog site posts and get them to rank in the middle/bottom of page 1.
Produce a hundred human blog posts and get them to rank at the top of the very first page. Quality over quantity. The very first path is based upon sheer volume, and can lead to traffic development. But you do run the risk of a prospective algorithm update hurting your rankings. And anyone who writes much better human material will rank higher in positions 1-3. The second route is slower, but can yield higher ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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