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AI-generated responses appear like a direct danger to the standard natural traffic sites utilized to get from search engines. Today, LLMs simply rip the content on sites and individuals no longer need to go to a site anymore.
While I personally think this threat is blown totally out of proportion (based on data from sites I have actually personally seen), I don't think it's a reason to ignore it entirely. From my own experience growing both blog sites and YouTube channels, specifically to offer something, I can tell you that video converts way more than composed material.
It's a lot simpler to inform if somebody is lying or complete of it if you can see their facial expressions and their tone of voice. YouTube must definitely be in your SEO and material strategy.
And due to the fact that you have actually developed the trust with video, your conventional SEO efforts will convert much better. But there's even more to it. Earlier 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 post, my article would rank even much better.
I made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that blog post, and I've been ranking # 1 because.
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 hype train.
It ended up being tough to discover relied on sources that weren't prejudiced or had a prejudice to offer us something. While I do believe there are advantages to using LLMs in our workflows, I do believe it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I anticipate many online marketers will recognize that ChatGPT and Perplexity are simply a little part of the SEO market.
Circulation Excellence for Modern Content MarketingGoogle still dominates 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it remains in the best position to win the AI search engine race. Browse behavior hasn't fundamentally shifted far from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a few things that have actually rubbed me the wrong method about the AI SEO pattern.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% discussion rate and is better by more than 2X compared to Google. However what these marketers don't understand is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel content, tends to be displayed in ChatGPT. The informational top of funnel material is "eaten up" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
If you were to take that very same idea over to Google, you would see the very same conversion rates. Google's conversion rates show less because the traffic is greater due to it being diluted by all the top of funnel content that is in the formula. Other things like how ChatGPT can make things up, it never completely follows triggers correctly (i.e.
I do still think that bigger business will reserve a speculative budget to evaluate things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools. In 2026, I anticipate individuals will understand optimizing for Google will enable them to reveal up in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Simply look at ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity's Comet browsers.
Don't do it. These methods might work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, however they're short-term plays that will eventually get penalized. Focus on white hat strategies that develop real authority and trust with time rather of going after fast wins that won't last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword packing strategies, spending for low-quality backlinks, shipping thousands of ineffective articles all in the name of ranking high.
Now, the algorithm is fully grown enough to neglect all that nonsense. However, ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as mature yet. I can't name this person, but I met an SEO director at a big banking company. This individual informed me they (and all their competitors) are creating microsites (like little blog sites) on various domains.
And from there, they are using their primary company domain, that has an exceptionally strong brand name authority, and sending out backlinks to the microsite. And this has resulted in greater rankings for their brand name in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that big, reputable companies are doing this. And I realized how much black hat (or grey hat) strategies are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I anticipate these techniques will continue to take place. Till ChatGPT's algorithm gets as wise as Google's search algorithm.
Focus on quality over quantity. Share real insights, utilize your own images and videos, and construct topical authority in your niche. This is how solo developers and small teams can beat substantial brands in 2026. Niche blogging is back baby. With a twist. This is one of the greatest SEO patterns for content marketing I'm seeing right now.
You need a genuine service, be it a newsletter business, a service-based company, SaaS company, or ecommerce store. And after that you include 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 consist of AI content and which do not.
I know loads of people quietly crushing it with AI created content (even going after top of funnel keywords). But what I am stating is that engaging, human content will outrank AI generated content with no original insights. There are two routes I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated article 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 very first page. Quality over quantity. The first route is based upon large volume, and can lead to traffic growth. However you do risk a possible algorithm upgrade harming your rankings. And anybody who writes better human content will rank higher in positions 1-3. The 2nd path is slower, but can yield higher ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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