Is SEO Dead? My Thoughts on Google's AI Mode

When I first heard about Google's AI mode last year, I knew things were about to change.

For as long as SEO has been around, so much of it was about getting that #1 ranking. Better keywords. More backlinks. Everyone competing for those few spots on page one. Then Google started talking about AI answers, and I remember thinking, "Well, this is either going to be really interesting or really annoying." Probably both.

There has been a lot of speculation, and few concrete answers. Nobody fully knew what AI-powered search would prioritize. But one thing seemed likely: genuinely useful, original content would still be critical.

Because after all, “Content is King.”

Content is Queen, I mean.

My thinking was pretty simple. AI still had to get its information from somewhere. So I focused on creating content that was genuinely useful and reflected the real expertise of the businesses behind it. Here are some of the things I did to help my clients rank in AI mode.

Report from Searchable

1. Consistent Content

One of the decisions I made was to keep websites growing instead of treating them as finished projects.

For example, at Godley Clinic, we didn't just publish a treatment page and call it done. We kept adding patient stories, answering common questions, updating older content, and writing about new treatments, technologies, and concerns as they emerged.

The goal was to make sure the website reflected what was actually happening in the clinic. If patients were asking new questions, we answered them. If Dr. Godley attended a conference and brought back new techniques or ideas, we wrote about them. If a new treatment became available, the website evolved alongside the practice.

A website shouldn't feel frozen in time. If the business is evolving, the website should be evolving too.

2. No AI Slop

Some things can't be generated by AI. A real customer’s reaction is one of them.

As an artist, I’m still mostly in the “AI is junk” camp. But as a business owner, I understand why people use it. For small businesses, AI can save a lot of time and money. The problem starts when websites become flooded with the exact same AI-generated content everyone else is producing. There’s no real value in that, and increasingly, Google seems to recognize that too.

What I've noticed is that the content showing up most often tends to have a purpose. It answers a specific question, compares two options, or helps someone make a decision. It's the kind of content that sounds like it came from a real experience, not a machine remixing the same internet summaries over and over again.

How many articles have you read lately telling you to "discover" an "emerging trend" that's "transforming the landscape" of something? Bonus points if every paragraph contains an em dash.

For my client work, AI helped speed up content creation, but the actual substance still came from real conversations and genuine expertise. It came from a patient sharing their experience with a treatment, an artist explaining the story behind a piece of work, or a business owner answering a question they hear from customers every day.

3. How Does AI “Feel” About Your Business?

If someone asks ChatGPT about your business, what does it say? Does it understand what you do? What you're known for? Why customers choose you?

I don't think anyone outside of Google or OpenAI can tell you exactly how AI forms an opinion about a business. But if AI is trying to understand who you are, it needs information to work with.

For my clients, that meant building a larger digital footprint over time. We wrote articles, answered customer questions in different forums, earned reviews, and stayed active on social media. Did all of that contribute to how AI understands those businesses today? Unclear.

SEO sentiment about Godley Clinic

What I do know is that AI can't form much of an opinion about a business that barely exists online. The businesses that show up most often are the ones that have spent years sharing expertise, and giving both search engines and AI plenty of information to work with.

So… Is SEO Dead?

Far from it.

If anything, SEO has grown up. It started as a baby where stuffing a webpage with keywords was often enough to rank. Then came technical SEO, local SEO, and a seemingly endless stream of Google updates designed to stop people from gaming the system. Every time someone found a shortcut, Google eventually found a way to make that shortcut less effective.

These days, SEO feels more like a difficult teenager. The rules keep changing. Nobody agrees on anything. And every time you think you've figured it out, it decides to reinvent itself.

So, will my clients' websites continue to rank in AI search? Will people stop visiting websites altogether because AI conveniently answers their questions right there? Will I be a farmer next year?

Only time will tell.