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Specifically CMOs and those responsible for a business's marketing success. AI-generated answers appear like a direct threat to the conventional natural traffic websites used to get from search engines. Before, you had to click a site to see the outcomes. Today, LLMs just rip the material on sites and people no longer need to go to a website any longer.
While I personally believe this risk is blown entirely out of percentage (based upon information from websites I've personally seen), I don't think it's an excuse to neglect it completely. From my own experience growing both blogs and YouTube channels, particularly to sell something, I can inform you that video converts way more than written material.
And the viewer can detect more subtleties in your message. It's a lot easier to tell if someone is lying or complete of it if you can see their facial expressions and their intonation. So YouTube should absolutely be in your SEO and content technique. Use video as demand generation and a method to construct trust with an audience.
And since you have actually developed the trust with video, your traditional SEO efforts will transform much better. There's even more to it. Previously this year, I had a hunch that if I turned some of my finest ranking blog site posts into YouTube videos, and embedded them into my existing post, my blog posts would rank even much better.
Entity Mapping Methods for Dominating Mailchimp ExpertI made a YouTube video about the subject, embedded it into that blog post, and I've been ranking # 1 given that.
In 2025, we saw everyone talking about how AI search was going to take over Google. Beyond just SEO, the marketing neighborhood as a whole started to get bombarded with influencers attempting to ride the AI hype train.
It ended up being difficult to find relied on sources that weren't prejudiced or had a surprise agenda to sell us something. While I do believe there are advantages to utilizing LLMs in our workflows, I do think it has been overhyped. And in 2026, I anticipate many marketers will understand that ChatGPT and Perplexity are just a small part of the SEO market.
Entity Mapping Methods for Dominating Mailchimp ExpertGoogle still dominates 90% market share and with its AI Mode and AI Overviews, it's in the perfect position to win the AI search engine race. Browse behavior hasn't fundamentally moved away from Google. Beyond simply that, there are a couple of things that have actually rubbed me the wrong way about the AI SEO trend.
Some claim ChatGPT has a 16% conversation rate and is much better by more than 2X compared to Google. But what these online marketers do not realize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel material, tends to be shown in ChatGPT. The educational top of funnel content is "consumed" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
Google's conversion rates show less since the traffic is greater 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 things up, it never ever fully follows triggers correctly (i.e.
I do still believe that think companies bigger set aside an experimental budget to spending plan things evaluate ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools.
Don't do it. 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 build real authority and trust in time instead of chasing after fast wins that will not last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword stuffing strategies, paying for low-grade backlinks, delivering thousands of worthless articles all in the name of ranking high.
Now, the algorithm is mature enough to disregard all that nonsense. ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this person, but I satisfied an SEO director at a big banking company. This individual told me they (and all their competitors) are producing microsites (like small blogs) on various domains.
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 actually resulted in greater rankings for their brand in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that substantial, trusted business are doing this. And I recognized how much black hat (or grey hat) techniques are going on behind the scenes.
In 2026, I anticipate these strategies will continue to occur. Until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as smart as Google's search algorithm.
Concentrate on quality over quantity. Share real insights, utilize your own images and videos, and build topical authority in your niche. This is how solo creators and small groups can beat huge brands in 2026. Niche blogging is back infant. With a twist. This is one of the most significant SEO trends for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You require a genuine service, be it a newsletter company, a service-based service, SaaS business, or ecommerce store. And after that you add on this human-centered specific niche blogging to the website to naturally grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I forecast that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which websites contain AI content and which do not.
I understand heaps of individuals silently squashing it with AI produced material (even going after top of funnel keywords). What I am saying is that engaging, human content will outrank AI generated content with no original insights. There are two paths I see with SEO's right now: Produce countless AI-generated article 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 anyone who composes better human content will rank higher in positions 1-3. The 2nd route is slower, but can yield greater ranking positions and more trust with readers.
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