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AI-generated answers seem like a direct threat to the standard organic traffic websites used to get from search engines. Today, LLMs just rip the content on sites and individuals no longer need to visit a website any longer.
While I personally believe this danger is blown totally out of percentage (based upon data from websites I have actually personally seen), I don't think it's an excuse to overlook it completely. From my own experience growing both blog sites and YouTube channels, particularly to offer something, I can inform you that video converts way more than composed content.
It's a lot much easier to tell if somebody is lying or complete of it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. YouTube ought to definitely be in your SEO and content technique.
And due to the fact that you have developed the trust with video, your traditional SEO efforts will convert better. There's even more to it. Previously this year, I had a hunch that if I turned a few of my finest ranking blog site posts into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing article, my article would rank even much better.
Top Quality Content Workflows for Leading OrganizationsI made a YouTube video about the topic, embedded it into that blog post, and I've been ranking # 1 since.
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 trying to ride the AI hype train.
It became hard to discover trusted sources that weren't biased or had a hidden program to offer us something. While I do believe there are advantages to utilizing LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has actually been overhyped. And in 2026, I forecast lots of online marketers will understand that ChatGPT and Perplexity are just a little part of the SEO market.
Google still dominates 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it's in the perfect position to win the AI online search engine race. Browse habits hasn't essentially shifted far from Google. Beyond just that, there are a couple of things that have actually rubbed me the wrong method about the AI SEO pattern.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% discussion rate and is much better by more than 2X compared to Google. What these marketers do not recognize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel content, tends to be shown in ChatGPT. The informative top of funnel content is "consumed up" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
If you were to take that exact same idea over to Google, you would see the exact same conversion rates. Google's conversion rates show less since the traffic is higher due to it being watered down by all the top of funnel material that remains in the equation. Other things like how ChatGPT can make stuff up, it never totally follows prompts correctly (i.e.
I do still think that bigger companies will set aside a speculative spending plan to evaluate things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools. In 2026, I predict individuals will understand optimizing for Google will allow them to show up in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Just take a look at ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity's Comet browsers.
These techniques might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, however they're short-term plays that will eventually get punished. Focus on white hat techniques that construct genuine authority and trust over time instead of chasing after quick wins that won't last.
ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this individual, but I satisfied an SEO director at a substantial banking company.
And from there, they are utilizing their main company 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 in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that big, trustworthy companies are doing this. And I realized how much black hat (or grey hat) methods are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I predict these tactics will continue to happen. Up until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Share real insights, use your own images and videos, and develop topical authority in your niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat big brands in 2026. This is one of the most significant SEO trends for content marketing I'm seeing right now.
You require a real company, be it a newsletter service, a service-based organization, SaaS company, or ecommerce shop. And then you add on this human-centered niche blogging to the website to organically 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 material and which do not.
I know lots of individuals silently crushing it with AI created content (even going after top of funnel keywords). What I am saying is that engaging, human content will outrank AI produced content with no initial insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's right now: Produce countless 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 first page. And anybody who writes much better human content will rank greater in positions 1-3. The 2nd path is slower, but can yield higher ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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