Is SEO really dead?
How to get noticed by the internet traffic gatekeepers?
As an introvert, I have a hard time putting myself out on the internet. Social media feels like a filled LPG gas cylinder that I have to drag up 4 flights of stairs, only to find that the gas knob needs fixing.
When I first came to know about the world of SEO, it felt magical. People could focus on creating good written content, and Google would reward them with traffic. Though I’ve personally never had much success with it, I’ve seen many people finding a living on the internet because of this magic. For decades, SEO defined the winners and the losers.
With the AI wave, though, thing are changing - drastically for some, not so drastically for others. AI summaries are eating up a lot of the traffic that indie creators would otherwise receive. Big companies like Hubspot are receiving 30-40% less SEO traffic because of the AI summaries on Google. The natural question that comes up -
Is SEO dead?
Most of the experts say no - it has “modified” to the altered reality of conversational AI. Conversational AI is better for users, as the answers to their questions are a lot more contextual and specific. This is a major win for consumers, no doubt, but it may be a loss for online business owners.
With drastic drops in traffic, many businesses may be under existential threat. allaboutberlin.com, a site I’ve used for long, mentioned losing more than half of its traffic with AI. It is in the middle of a pivot to a separate business model.
What should businesses do to adapt and evolve?
We must evaluate SEO from first-principles, which may hold answers to how to stay relevant in this new world of AI-driven internet. There’s no obvious answer yet, but we can use this framework to suit our own products.
Let’s start with the Jobs To Be Done Framework: the core job that “SEO” is doing is to match a user’s search query with the best content available for that query on the internet. It tries to -
Find you the best possible answer to your question, based on your context.
This doesn’t change with AI. Every AI chat that you initiate has the same purpose -
Find you the best possible answer to your question, based on your context.
However, the modalities of how this works are very different. With AI, you have a “conversation” and typically share a lot more of your context. You are also very unlikely to leave the chat unless your intent changes (eg: from a “informational” intent to a “purchase” intent).
It is likely that with chatGPT launching commerce, a lot of the transactions start happening from within this chat itself.
That said, what do you need to do to stay relevant?
Step one - make unique content
The first thing is to create the best content that serves a unique query for a unique person. With a conversational experience like chatGPT, the long-tail combinations are endless, which makes it beautiful. Instead of serving a broad set of queries, like -
“How do I get a new PAN card?”
Think about the following -
“I am a college student. How do I get a new PAN card?”
“I am a homemaker. Do I need a PAN card? How do I get one?”
“I already have an Aadhaar card. Do I need a PAN card? How do I get one?”
The latter are more likely to be conversations on chatGPT.
Step two - make your advice human
Instead of giving robotic instructions, share your unique perspective. As a reader, I like reading blogs on the internet where people share unique perspectives, not the plastered AI content that is now flooding the internet.
Finding such unique content is getting harder, but this is where your unique advantage comes from.
For example, instead of just answering “how do I get a new PAN card” - share your own experience of how you got one. Better yet - talk to a few people and share their stories of getting PAN cards.
Make yourself distinct. This is how you defend yourself against AI generated content.
Human stories connect better to readers. Find them, research them, share them.
The days of SEO keyword stuffing are gone. It is a matter of time before the AI search engines realize what content is stuffed with keywords for the sake of it.
Focus on answering user questions genuinely. In the long-term, this is what survives, anyways.
Step three - find a way to retain users consistently
Email subscriptions, notifications, app downloads, whatever else.
Find your own consistent way of adding value to users who stick with you. The goal is for users to not have to go to chatGPT, but come to your product in the mid-long term.
This is essentially how you build your brand.
If people resonate with you as the expert on all things PAN cards - people are likely to refer you and come to you directly.
We still see a tonne of traffic come to sites directly if they serve a specific niche. Once people relate to a brand, they are likely to not only come to your product directly, but also talk about your product to others.
Wait, what’s exactly new here?
All of this is the same advice you’ll get when you talk to an SEO expert.
The major change is the intensity of personalization you need to operate at.
In essence -
Be unique. Have a personality. Make friends. The internet is still a wonderful place to connect with other “humans” - as a blogger, optimize for that connection, and you’ll find your place.
P.S. The technical stuff that you’ll see around the internet for AI discovery still applies. There’s a lot of expertise already on the internet for this, so I won’t add it here. Just share your context with AI, and it will help you.
What do you think? Reply and let me know?
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Cheers!
Hemant