Search and AI: Where will it go from here?

These days, you can’t scroll through the news or read a blog around digital without hearing something about AI, ChatGPT, Co-pilot or Claude. 

According to Forbes, 57% of online content is now AI-generated, with some experts estimating that this will skyrocket to 90% by 2026! And it’s not just blogs – Gartner predicts that by 2025, half of all business content (yes, even video and offline materials) will be AI-made.

So, is AI going to kill SEO? Are we all going to lose our jobs? Or is AI the answer to smarter, and more efficient SEO for B2B businesses?

The foundations of good SEO are still evergreen

By all means, adopt AI in your strategy. But don’t forget the foundations.

• Focus on user intent
• Maintain topical site architecture
• Create relevant, value-packed content
• Prioritise excellent user experience (UX)
• Stay on top of on-page and technical SEO
• Grow your authority
• Build fast loading code 
• Keep things secure

At the end of the day, it’s all about the user – offering them valuable, relevant content while keeping your on-page optimisation and technical SEO in check.

AI risks and challenges 

Naturally, businesses are cautious about jumping headfirst into AI. Let’s weigh up the risks and challenges. 

Fast-evolving algorithms 

Keeping up with algorithm updates is like trying to hit a moving target. For many years, it was Google, Google, Google. Today, we’re also considering other platforms like Bing, Microsoft, ChatGPT, LinkedIn…you get the idea. AI is everywhere, and it’s constantly evolving.

Google’s been using AI for years, and each update gives us more clues about what works. Take BERT in 2019, which helped Google better understand search intent, or the MUM update, which handled everything from text and images to video in multiple languages. The most recent “helpful content” update? It’s all about providing actual value to users.

“These updates are giving us lots of signals about how we need to operate and what works for good optimization. It’s important that we have this mindset whenever we’re developing SEO strategies, implementing best practice and evaluating whether to adopt AI (and how much) into our strategy.” – Ashley Salek, Agency Director, SeventhElement

The race for processing speed and capacity

With everyone churning out AI content, there’s a real risk of chaos online with content, content, content everywhere. And how is anyone ever going to compete in generating rankings?

With the momentous rise of ChatGPT it has never been so important for a good SEO strategy to include well optimised, value added content. We’ve got to think about how we optimise to be part of conversational search. 

And let’s be real, value-driven, authoritative content with solid backlinks and real thought leadership is more important than ever for organic traffic. But that doesn’t come without its challenges.

Balancing automation and human creativity

AI helps streamline processes, but humans are essential for strategy and creativity. Automation has its limits, especially when it comes to building meaningful connections with customers.

If you rely too heavily on AI for content creation without optimising, you risk ending up with generic, unreliable content that sounds samey and robotic – undermining trust in your brand and killing your authority. 

In our experience, AI content doesn’t perform well in SEO over time, unless it is drip-fed, optimised and – most importantly – humanised.

Ethical and legal considerations

When it comes to AI-driven SEO, businesses need to walk a fine line between innovation and ethical responsibility. Privacy, copyright, liability – these are all crucial factors to consider when working with AI technologies. The grey areas can be tricky, and staying compliant is key to avoiding unwanted surprises.

The AI / SEO opportunity is limitless

AI touches on all elements of SEO in some way, shape or form. It’s no longer just about keywords or writing blog posts and tweaking a headline. SEO now includes everything from image optimisation and backlinks to local SEO, Google My Business, and the deep technical stuff that most people shy away from.

AI is revolutionising every aspect of SEO, including:

• Research
• Predictions / Trends
• Creation
• Optimisation
• Translation
• UX / user journey
• Code
• Monitor / Control
• Real-time (SEO)

The goal? Spend less time and fewer resources, and get even better results. 

You may also like: Will SearchGPT be the death of Google?

7 principles to future-proof your SEO strategy with AI

When it comes to AI, there’s no magic button or one-size-fits-all approach that will revolutionise your SEO overnight. AI can streamline your workflow, but we’re still going to need human input, interrogation and intervention to make the magic happen.

1. E-A-T-T your way to success

Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (E-E-A-T) are SEO fundamentals that aren’t going anywhere, now and in any AI future. Google’s algorithms look for credible, authoritative content. So does ChatGPT. Cultivating E-E-A-T requires human input.

AI rewards deep expertise. If you want to rank, establish yourself as a thought leader with in-depth, relevant content in your niche. As we’ve mentioned before, topical authority is key for B2B businesses in the age of AI.

2. Invest in content strategy

Invest in your SEO strategy. Information Architecture, topic clusters and roadmap come before any AI content. No one should be firing ahead with AI without a clear path to success.

As part of your strategy you’ll need to understand the search opportunity and your current state – where are you, where are the gaps, issues and opportunities?

3. Get familiar with the algorithms

Google and Bing’s AI-driven algorithms are constantly evolving. It’s not about guessing what’s next – it’s about staying updated. Sign up for alerts, get expert SEO advice and ensure your SEO strategy evolves with these changes.

AI might highlight technical SEO issues, but when it comes to complex challenges like site restructuring, human intervention is still essential.

4. Create AI-friendly human content

Write for humans first, but don’t forget about making your content AI-friendly. Use natural language processing (NLP) to help AI tools understand and rank your content. 

AI lacks the creativity needed for unique content and strategic decision making and AI-generated content needs human oversight to avoid being flagged by Google’s filters.

By all means use AI tools for research, analytics and predictive trends, but leverage human expertise and creativity to keep content relatable. 

5. Think voice search

Voice search is growing, and conversational queries are becoming a big part of the UX puzzle. Optimising for voice search can give you a significant edge. Think of voice search as UX in a new form.

6. Analyse and adapt to user behaviour

AI can help you understand user intent faster and allow for quicker adjustments to your strategy. But let’s be honest – AI still struggles to interpret emotional changes or rapid shifts in behaviour. That’s where human instinct comes in.

7. Don’t just automate

Aligning SEO with business goals requires expert judgement. Long-term ROI over short-term efficiency. 

AI can boost efficiency, but it’s human expert judgement that will guide you to long-term success. Start small, test, and scale – then bring in the SEO and content marketing experts to add that final flourish.

As our digital agency director Ash shared in a recent LinkedIn live session, the real magic happens when you blend AI efficiency with human creativity. Get the tedious stuff done quickly so your team can focus on the bigger picture – brainstorming, strategising, and unlocking your brand’s full potential.

Watch it here:

Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming LinkedIn lives, where we cover all things SEO and digital marketing.

Author information

With 15 years of hands-on SEO and digital marketing experience, agency director Ash is the driving element behind our digital team. Ashley heads our digital execution team, delivering innovative strategic and tactical marketing initiatives and campaigns; helping propel our clients’ growth and success.

Learn more about Ash