When ChatGPT first emerged at the end of 2022, some commentators suggested that it would mean the end of Google and other search engines. Experts worried that people would simply ask machines for information instead of using search engines. 

For some tasks, that was true. But examples of those were actually quite scarce, even for basic information gathering. 

Because of this, companies should be sanguine. AI doesn’t change the requirement for search engines, websites or any of the current needs to get seen on search page results. 

The purpose of this post is to discuss the reasons why AI won’t kill Google SEO and how you should position your business accordingly. While artificial intelligence is a powerful and world-changing technology, basic systemic factors mean that regular search engines and page results are here to stay. 

Why AI Won’t Kill Google SEO

This section explores the main reasons why AI isn’t going to kill Google SEO for a long time, if ever. 

AI Assists But Doesn’t Replace SEO

Many people imagine that AI can do anything that a person can. That might be true in years to come, but it certainly isn’t at that stage yet. Existing business models still require people to perform SEO work, even if they have access to tools. 

For instance, imagine if you gave an AI the brief to ensure that you appear at the top of search results. The AI might be able to analyze keywords and even write content, but it would struggle to deploy a methodology that would allow it to perform those tasks independently. SEO is a messy business, and getting everything right requires more than a machine learning algorithm that requires a million trials. Businesses can’t fail a million times.

Instead, the main function of AI going forward will be to assist SEOs in their work. The likeliest outcome is that it improves productivity, enabling professionals to get more done in less time. Professionals and businesses will automate many of the time-consuming tasks today, helping to reduce costs. 

However, humans will still be needed for things like intent beyond basic keywords, which is essentially a human strength. Businesses will also need them to select high-quality back-linking opportunities, which can be challenging to find in today’s environment. 

The Focus On User Experience

Another reason why AI probably won’t destroy SEO is the focus on user experience. Google and other search engines don’t just want every website to contain generic, unoriginal AI-generated copy. Instead, they want website owners to provide the highest-quality information to their readers. 

Users want this too. AI has the problem that it usually only regurgitates the information that’s out there and presents it in a dry format. Humans interacting with the real world, on the other hand, can collect information from their senses or perspectives, and use that to construct interesting articles. 

At present, AI is trying to tread the middle ground. Companies backing these systems don’t want them to say anything that might reflect poorly on their brands. 

That might be good for business, but it’s not ideal for users. People want to be entertained. They don’t want a system that simply tows the party line. 

Google requires content that is: 

• Trustworthy and reliable. Unfortunately, most AI systems get confused and often say things that are untrue with a simple source check. As such, current systems have significant headwinds, and AI companies are struggling to overcome them and get them to tell the truth. 
• Understanding why users make their queries. Again, AI isn’t as good at this. While it can evaluate a lot of data, it can’t always understand human intentions. SEOs, on the other hand, have these insights and can help companies develop strategies that maximize their revenues and rankings. 
• High-quality and informative. Finally, Google wants page results to provide users with high-quality and informative content. SEO can generate text quickly, but it can’t always produce work that’s going to change how users perceive a topic. It certainly isn’t going to go on a deep dive, like an investigative journalist might. 

The Evolution Of Search

The evolution of search is another reason why the demise of SEO and the rise of AI is overblown. It’s not a question of replacement but of complementarity. Search engine optimization and AI will likely work together over the coming years. 

Supporters of SEO say that it has always survived in the past, and will probably continue to do so. Originally, SEOs would simply write a lot of keyword-containing content to get specific websites to the top of search results. Now, they have to be much more careful and focus on quality, with all the changes Google has made. 

The same changes will likely occur with the advent of AI. It will probably mean a greater reorientation towards more focus on long-term strategies and building a reputation. That might be why Google launched its E-A-T framework for page rankings, which includes things like Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. It knows that content will be ultra-abundant going forward, but it also believes that users should view the highest-quality articles and blogs when they go online. 

Google’s Own Interest

Another reason why reports of the demise of SEO are overblown is Google’s own interest. The company actively needs to search to continue, unless it is going to go out of business. 

The majority of Google’s revenues come from its advertising on its search engine and YouTube. The rest of the company is surprisingly small, meaning that that search giant has failed to successfully diversify over the past 25 years. Yes, it has some cloud operations, but these are small in comparison to its main operations. 

If AI were to come along, it could disrupt the search market. Users might ask AI systems to direct them to specific websites or find the best deals outside of Google’s framework. This approach would decrease the willingness of companies to compete for space on the platform, leading to revenue declines. 

Furthermore, because Google wants to keep users on its platform with high-quality content, it doesn’t make sense for the search giant to prioritize AI over SEO. Users want brands to communicate with them authentically, using human-generated text on websites with rich features and company-specific information. 

Sure, if your business is to provide the world with an encyclopedia, then you might be in trouble. But that’s only a small fraction of the website. Most are selling something or providing unique information not available anywhere else. And those are precisely the domain types that Google prioritizes. 

Specialization

Specialization is another critical reason why AI won’t kill Google. Artificial intelligence by itself doesn’t always have expert knowledge on niches because there is insufficient training data. As such, it can’t come to helpful conclusions by weighing up the statistical likelihoods of everything it’s read. 

Human SEOs, by contrast, need far less information to learn a subject or process what the data is saying to them. That means they can more effectively drill down into segments and discover more about what works, and what doesn’t. These professionals can offer value beyond AI, which is something users respond to. 

Again, that means that users will continue to use Google. AI can’t replicate the website experience of individual brands. 

Local SEO And Personalized Results

Local SEO and personalized results may also explain why AI won’t kill Google search. At present, these systems don’t learn about the people using them. That might be why they tend to pander to one political view or persuasion instead of being more general and even-handed. 

For instance, if you ask an AI a question, it will give you what it thinks is the modal answer. It wants to be impartial to avoid annoying anyone or making a mistake that could get it in trouble with its creators or segments of the community that don’t like what it’s saying or doing. (Just look at the recent kerfuffle over Gemini). It won’t offer alternative perspectives – at least not unless you prompt it and those perspectives are allowed inside the mind of the people creating it. 

But if a company runs a business that’s slightly different from what the mainstream wants to see, then SEO remains critical. That might be why so many alternative companies still use old-fashioned methods to get their messages out. 

The Need For Strategic Thinking

The final reason why AI probably won’t kill Google is the need for strategic thinking. Brands still need analysts who can peer into the future of SEO and see what’s coming around the corner. 

Strategic thinking is hard to get right and requires a long time horizon and understanding of context. AI is good when it has data, but it might not be as good when it needs to make projections.

Of course, new systems will be able to go beyond technical optimizations. But whether that replaces the need to think intelligently about how to grab users’s attention is not as straightforward. 

So, that’s where we are right now with AI. Whether things will change in the future remains to be seen.