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Specifically CMOs and those accountable for a company's marketing success. AI-generated answers appear like a direct hazard to the traditional natural traffic sites utilized to get from search engines. Before, you needed to click a website to see the outcomes. Today, LLMs just rip the content on sites and individuals no longer require to visit a site any longer.
While I personally think this threat is blown completely out of percentage (based on information from websites I've personally seen), I do not think it's a reason to ignore it entirely. From my own experience growing both blogs and YouTube channels, particularly to sell something, I can tell you that video converts way more than written material.
It's a lot much easier to inform if someone is lying or full of it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. YouTube must absolutely be in your SEO and material strategy.
And because you have actually developed the trust with video, your standard SEO efforts will transform better. There's even more to it. Previously this year, I had a hunch that if I turned a few of my best ranking post into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing article, my post would rank even better.
How Conversational Queries Affect Local SEOI utilized rank in between 2-3 for the keyword "AI marketing tools." I made a YouTube video about the topic, embedded it into that article, and I've been ranking # 1 considering that. In 2026, believe of YouTube videos as a method to beef up your SEO blog site posts to rank even better.
Keep focusing on Google, which still owns 90% of search market share. Buy AI search experiments if you have budget plan, but do not abandon what's actually driving traffic and conversions today. In 2025, we saw everyone talking about how AI search was going to take over Google. Beyond simply SEO, the marketing neighborhood as a whole started to get bombarded with influencers trying to ride the AI buzz train.
It ended up being hard to find trusted sources that weren't biased or had a hidden agenda to sell us something. While I do believe there are benefits to using LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I forecast numerous marketers will recognize that ChatGPT and Perplexity are simply a little part of the SEO market.
Google still controls 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it's in the best position to win the AI search engine race. Search behavior hasn't fundamentally shifted away from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a couple of things that have rubbed me the wrong method about the AI SEO trend.
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 informational top of funnel content is "eaten up" by LLMs and revealed to users without anywhere to click.
Google's conversion rates reveal less because the traffic is greater 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 think companies will set aside an experimental budget to spending plan things check ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
Don't do it. These methods may work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, but they're short-term plays that will ultimately get punished. Concentrate on white hat methods that construct genuine authority and trust in time rather of chasing after quick wins that won't last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword packing techniques, paying for low-grade backlinks, shipping countless useless short articles all in the name of ranking high.
ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this individual, but I satisfied an SEO director at a huge banking company.
And from there, they are using their main business domain, that has an exceptionally strong brand name authority, and sending out backlinks to the microsite. And this has led to higher rankings for their brand in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that substantial, respectable business are doing this. And I recognized how much black hat (or grey hat) strategies are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I anticipate these techniques will continue to happen. Till ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Share real insights, use your own images and videos, and construct topical authority in your specific niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat substantial brands in 2026. This is one of the greatest SEO trends for content marketing I'm seeing right now.
You need a genuine company, be it a newsletter company, a service-based company, SaaS company, or ecommerce shop. And after that 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 consist of AI material and which don't.
I understand heaps of individuals quietly crushing it with AI produced material (even going after top of funnel keywords). But what I am saying is that engaging, human material will outrank AI generated material with no initial insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated post 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 amount. The very first path is based upon sheer volume, and can lead to traffic growth. You do run the risk of a possible algorithm upgrade harming your rankings. And anybody who composes much better human material will rank greater in positions 1-3. The second route is slower, however can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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