Is Your SEO Strategy Obsolete? (Maybe, Here's What To Do)

TL;DR: Your customers are asking ChatGPT and Perplexity where to spend their money, not Google. If your business isn't being recommended by AI tools, you're losing deals right now. The good news? Most of your competitors haven't figured this out yet. The bad news? You need to act now before they do. This isn't about hiring AI experts - it's about redirecting what you're already doing.

You've heard the noise. AI is changing everything. ChatGPT is disrupting search. Blah blah blah.

But here's what nobody's telling you in plain English: your potential customers have quietly stopped googling for solutions and started asking AI tools for recommendations instead. And unless you've been paying very close attention to this shift, your business probably isn't part of that conversation.

I'm not talking about some theoretical future where robots run everything. I'm talking about right now. Today. Someone in your target market just asked ChatGPT which CRM to use, or which accountant to hire, or which marketing agency is worth talking to. Did your name come up?

If you don't know the answer to that question, you've got a problem.

The Game Changed Overnight

For the past fifteen years, SEO has been pretty straightforward. You figure out what keywords people search for, you optimise your website for those keywords, you build some links, and you watch your Google rankings. Yes there's a few other variables like algorithm updates and link building but that was the general scope.

Maybe you hired an agency to do this. Maybe you have someone in-house. Either way, you knew the playbook.

Things have now changed.

AI search tools don't work like Google. When someone asks Perplexity "what's the best project management software for a 20-person team," it doesn't show ten blue links. It synthesises information from dozens of sources and gives a direct recommendation. Your website might get cited, might not, but here's the brutal part - even if you do get mentioned, nobody's clicking through anymore. They're reading the AI's answer and making a decision.

Think about your own behaviour. When was the last time you scrolled through page two of Google results? Now think about the last time you asked ChatGPT a question and actually clicked one of the sources. Right. That's the world your customers now live in.

The companies winning in this new world aren't the ones with the best keyword rankings. They're the brands that AI tools trust enough to recommend. And trust? That requires something most businesses have been avoiding: actually demonstrating you know what you're doing.

What This Means for Your Business (The Practical Bit)

Let me translate this into decisions you actually need to make.

First, if you're currently paying an agency or person to pump out blog posts optimised for keywords, you need to have a serious conversation with them. Those "10 Tips for Better Productivity" posts and "Ultimate Guide to [Whatever]" articles? AI systems can spot keyword-stuffed nonsense a mile away. They're trained on the entire internet. They know the difference between genuine expertise and content written by someone who googled your industry five minutes earlier.

Here's what you should be doing instead: publish less, but make it count. One genuinely useful piece of content per month is worth more than twenty mediocre blog posts. I'm talking about something that demonstrates you actually understand your customers' problems. Real case studies with actual numbers. Original research. Insights from your actual experience, not regurgitated advice from other people's blog posts.

If that sounds expensive, here's the secret: it's not. You're probably already spending money on content. Just stop spending it on garbage and redirect it toward something that positions you as someone worth listening to.

The Stuff You Can Actually Control

You know what AI tools love? Businesses that exist beyond their own website. Your customers are having conversations on Reddit, asking questions on Quora, discussing problems in industry-specific forums. If your brand only shows up on your own corporate website, you're invisible.

This doesn't mean you need to hire a "social media manager" to spam links everywhere. It means someone from your company (ideally someone who actually knows what they're talking about) needs to participate in these conversations. Answer questions. Be helpful. Show up where your customers already are.

I can hear you thinking: "I don't have time for that." Fair enough so here's the smallest possible version of this: spend thirty minutes a week answering questions in one place where your customers hang out. That's it. Not posting about your latest blog post. Actually helping people. AI systems notice this stuff. More importantly, your future customers notice it too.

The Technical Thing You Actually Need to Do

I'm going to get slightly technical for exactly one paragraph, and then we'll move on.

Your website needs something called structured data. It's code that helps AI systems understand what your business actually does. If you work with a web developer or agency, tell them you need schema markup implemented across your site. It's mostly a one-time project. If they look confused, find someone who isn't.

You then should add an LLM.txt. Ask them about that too.

That's it. That's the technical bit. Everything else is about being better at the fundamentals.

Your Reputation is Now Your Google Ranking

Here's something that's going to require a mindset shift: AI tools cite reviews constantly. They factor in what people say about you across multiple platforms. If customers hate your product and say so publicly, AI knows about it and won't recommend you. You can't SEO your way around having a bad reputation.

This means reviews aren't something you check once a quarter when you remember. They're central to whether AI tools recommend you at all. You need a system for asking happy customers to leave reviews. You need to respond to every review, especially the negative ones. You need to show that you actually fix problems when they arise.

And no, you can't fake this. AI systems are trained to spot fake reviews and manipulation. The only winning strategy is to actually be good at what you do and prove it consistently. Revolutionary concept, I know.

What to Do About Your Agency

If you're working with an agency, here's the conversation you need to have: "How are we adjusting our strategy for AI search, and what are you doing differently than six months ago?"

If they tell you it's too early to worry about, or that traditional SEO still works fine, or that they're "monitoring the situation," you're paying for outdated thinking. The shift is happening now, not later. Agencies that can't adapt are anchors.

What should they be telling you instead? Something like: "We're tracking where your brand appears when people ask AI tools about your category. We're shifting from keyword-focused content to authority-building content. We're helping you establish presence on the platforms where your customers actually ask questions. We're implementing the technical foundations that help AI systems understand and trust your business."

And here's what you should be getting from them: a monthly report showing where your brand appears in AI search responses compared to competitors. Not keyword rankings - AI visibility. How often are you recommended? For which types of questions? How does that compare to three months ago?

If your agency can't deliver this, they're not keeping up. Find someone who is.

The Budget Reality

Here's the bit you actually care about: how much is this going to cost?

The honest answer? It probably shouldn't cost you more than you're already spending. It just requires spending differently.

If you're currently paying for fifty blog posts a month, stop. Take that same budget and create one genuinely valuable piece of content monthly. Something comprehensive that actually helps your customers make decisions.

If you're paying for link building schemes (those questionable guest posts and directory submissions), stop. Redirect that money toward getting featured in credible industry publications or building relationships with journalists who cover your space.

If you've got someone managing your social media who just posts promotional content nobody engages with, redirect them toward actually participating in conversations where your customers hang out. Less posting, more helping.

The point is this: you're probably already spending money on digital marketing. The question is whether it's effective in a world where AI tools are making recommendations. For most businesses, the answer is no, and the fix isn't more budget - it's smarter allocation.

What You Should Actually Do This Month

Forget five-year roadmaps. Here's what you can do in the next thirty days that will make a difference:

Week one: Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview the questions your customers ask when they're looking for solutions you provide. See if your name comes up. Check if your competitors appear. This is your baseline.

Week two: Look at the content you've published in the past six months. Be honest - is any of it genuinely useful, or is it just keyword-optimised filler? Pick one topic you actually know about and create something substantial about it. Not "10 tips" nonsense. Real insights from real experience.

Week three: Find one place online where your customers ask questions - a subreddit, an industry forum, a Quora topic. Spend three hours reading through it. Understand what they're actually struggling with.

Fun fact - we built a brilliant reddit listener for Slack! Drop us an email for more info.

Week four: Answer five questions in that forum. Actually help people. Don't link to your website. Don't pitch your product. Just be useful.

That's it. Four weeks, and you've started adapting. You're not done - this is ongoing - but you're moving in the right direction while your competitors are still debating whether AI search is a real thing.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Timing

I'm going to be blunt about something: the window for easy wins is closing.

Right now, most businesses are still operating like it's 2020. They're optimising for keywords, building links, churning out mediocre content. AI search hasn't fully clicked for them yet. That gives you an advantage if you move now.

But that window is temporary. In twelve months, your competitors will have figured this out. In twenty-four months, it'll be standard practice. The companies that establish themselves as authorities now, while everyone else is still playing the old game, will have an advantage that's hard to overcome later.

Think about early SEO. The businesses that understood it in 2005 and invested properly had an advantage for years. The same thing is happening now. The founders who figure out AI search in 2025 will be ahead of those who wait for "best practices" to emerge.

You don't need everything figured out. You need to start experimenting now. The businesses that win won't be those with perfect strategies - they'll be the ones who adapted earliest.

What Success Actually Looks Like

• Stop obsessing over keyword rankings. They're not meaningless yet, but they're increasingly useless as a picture of whether customers can actually find you.

• Start tracking whether AI tools recommend you. When someone asks about your category, does your name appear? How often? In what context? Are you mentioned alongside market leaders or are you invisible?

• Watch your direct traffic. As AI responses increase brand awareness without necessarily driving clicks, you should see more people just typing your URL directly. They've heard about you somewhere (probably AI), and they're coming to check you out.

• And look at the quality of your leads. Customers who find you through AI recommendations often arrive more informed and ready to buy. They're not comparison shopping - they've already been told you're a good option.

But honestly? The best measure of success is whether you're becoming genuinely more useful to your customers. Because that's what this is really about. AI search rewards usefulness, expertise, and actual value. If you're optimising for those things, the visibility follows naturally.

Why This Might Actually Be Good News

Here's what I find genuinely exciting about this shift: for the first time in years, being good at what you do matters more than being good at gaming algorithms.

AI search is harder to manipulate than traditional SEO. It rewards genuine expertise and authority. The playing field is tilting back toward companies that deserve to win, not companies that are best at keyword optimisation.

But only if you adapt. Only if you recognise that the game has fundamentally changed. Only if you stop thinking about online visibility as something you can hack and start thinking about it as something you earn by actually being worth recommending.

The opportunity is sitting right there. Most of your competitors haven't moved yet. They're waiting for clarity, or best practices, or proof that this matters. By the time they have all that, you could already own the space.

The question isn't whether AI search will reshape how customers find businesses in your industry. The question is whether you'll be ready when it does - or whether you'll still be optimising for keywords while your competitors are getting all the AI recommendations.

People Also Ask

How long do I realistically have before this becomes critical?

You're already losing deals to competitors who show up in AI recommendations when you don't. The question isn't "when will this matter" but "how much business am I losing right now." That said, the mass adoption curve suggests you have 12-18 months before this becomes table stakes. Move now while there's still an advantage to being early.

What's the minimum viable version of this?

Three things: First, create one genuinely valuable piece of content per month that demonstrates real expertise. Second, spend 30 minutes weekly participating in one community where your customers ask questions. Third, implement proper structured data on your website (get your developer to do this - it's not complicated for them). That's enough to start showing up in AI recommendations.

Should I fire my current agency?

Not necessarily, but have the AI search conversation immediately. If they're not already thinking about this and can't articulate how they're adapting, that's a red flag. Good agencies are evolving their approach. Mediocre ones are pretending nothing's changed. The difference is obvious once you ask the right questions.

What if my competitor is already dominating AI recommendations?

Then you're behind, but not dead. AI tools update their understanding constantly based on new information. Start building authority, generating positive reviews, and establishing presence across platforms. It takes time, but AI recommendations aren't set in stone like old-school SEO rankings used to feel.