Is SEO Dead Going Forward?

Is SEO Dead as we know it?

I sure hope not.

At the moment, I’m trying to transition into an SEO career.  So if SEO is dead I’m screwed.

So are a lot of others.

But is there a need to worry?

The rise of AI is a threat to crush many industries.  We’re already seeing it in other creative professions.  Graphic designers are being replaced by AI-generated artists. Writers are being replaced by software like ChatGPT and Jaspar.  Will SEO follow down this same grim road?

Search Generative Experience (SGE)

Google has rolled out SGE recently.  If you’re not familiar, it allows users to ask a question and get info that isn’t displayed in traditional SERP format.  Instead, it’s shown at the very top of the page before paid and organic ranking sites.

Convenient for searcher.  Not so good for anyone looking to get noticed online.  If people can get their questions answered by AI quickly and easily it means less traffic, less ad revenue, and less conversion for anyone with a presence on the web.

This would kill the SEO industry.  Fewer people would want SEO services.  After all, why would they care about ranking on page one of Google if users – with ever-eroding attention spans – don’t make it past SGE?

SEO would be a worthless strategy going forward.  Agencies would experience huge customer churn.  There would be less and less need for SEO experts.

SGE Won’t Kill SEO

I just painted a pretty bleak picture of the future of SEO.  But don’t get too depressed.  I don’t think this will happen.  Here’s why…

We Still Value Human Answers Over AI

We don’t always want to get answers from a robot.  For example, if I search best creatine I don’t trust AI to give me a solid answer.  That’s because AI can’t consume creatine and will never worry about getting an extra rep or two in the gym.  Their answer means nothing.

If I’m looking for the best creatine I want to hear the opinion of authority.  Even if that authority uses AI-generated content to share that opinion.  When researching creatine I’ll still go through multiple websites. I wouldn’t rely solely on AI-generated answers.

SGE is limited

I just searched “best creatine” in Google and got crickets from SGE.  This just goes to prove that SGE doesn’t generate responses for all searches.

It also doesn’t seem to work well with more complex searches. I’m sure the technology will improve, but for now, SGE is still very limited.

SGE needs content creators

SGE will discourage people from creating content if they know it’s never going to get eyeballs.

That’s bad for SGE because it needs to scrape through content to provide the best answers.  With less and less content SGE will just get worse.

Google Wants to Make Money

SGE could potentially kill Google’s profits.

In 2023, Google generated $307.39 billion.  $175.03 billion came from search ads. $31.31 billion came from display ads.

With SGE paid ads get pushed down lower, which means fewer people will see them.  This will discourage people from running ads on Google. Also, if people are just getting answers on AI instead of websites why will people pay for display ads?

They won’t, and that hurts Google’s bottom line.  Trust me, Google isn’t going to cockblock themselves from making money.  Not now. Not ever. If SGE cuts into ad profit then they’ll get rid of it.

This is the biggest reason to be optimistic that AI won’t kill SEO quite yet.

Final Thoughts

People have been pouring dirt on SEO’s grave for over a decade now.  I found this article from 2010 claiming SEO was dead.  Then I found this article from 2015. And another one from a year ago.  Yet like a staggering zombie SEO still trudges on.

Will AI be the final shot to the brain stem that kills SEO?  I tend to think it won’t be.

Maybe I’m looking at this whole thing through rose-colored glasses.  Maybe I’m just writing this to justify my decision to try to transition into an industry that is dying. Let me know what you think.