They tried to tell us SEO was dead after the Panda update. They tried to tell us SEO was dead after the Penguin update. They tried to tell us SEO was dead when voice search came on to the scene. Not long ago, they tried to tell us SEO was dead when zero-click searches and AI Overviews became common features on informational SERPs.
So, of course, they’re going to say that SEO is dead or dying in the wake of its strongest enemy yet: generative engines.
What is it with this industry? It’s like marketers are a bunch of bloodthirsty Romans licking their lips, as lion after lion faces off with the grizzled yet unbeatable fighter who may be as weathered as crocodile jerky but who, despite his battle wounds, continues to reign as the ultimate champion—and then, inexplicably, going home and thinking ‘oof, that poor guy’.
SEO isn’t dead, in case that isn’t clear enough. Because in order for SEO to be dead, Google’s market share would have had to slip in some significant way, and guess what?
Google vs. ChatGPT Market Share
Take a look at this graph. That’s a whole lot of white space between Google and ChatGPT. For those who prefer the numbers, ChatGPT accounts for only 0.31% of Google’s market share.
Source: Statcounter
And that’s not to say that ChatGPT isn’t pulling in some impressive numbers (and yes, we’re using ChatGPT in this example because, as you can see below, it is the only AI system that could conceivably give Google a run for its money).
In fact, as of September 2025, ChatGPT was reportedly rolling in 700 million weekly active users, which is a metric buttload to be sure.
But when you consider the fact that Google is still getting up to 16.4 BILLION searches PER DAY, that metric buttload starts looking like small potatoes (or small butts?) real fast.
Source: Statcounter
But that’s not even the real reason SEO isn’t dead, and excuse us if it sounds like we’ve been yelling from a soapbox this whole time. SEO isn’t dead because large language models use search engines like Google (and sure, Bing) to do the grunt work for them.
How AI Actually Retrieves Information
Pre-Trained DataPre-Trained Data
Here, LLMS are trained on vast amounts of information available on the internet, as in website content, brand mentions, citations, and authoritative sources. For example, some put ChatGPT 4’s training data at 1 petabyte (that’s 1,000 terabytes or roughly 200,000 copies of Gladiator in HD).Live Internet Data Retrieval
Remember back in the day when ChatGPT couldn’t answer anything that had to do with events that transpired after September 2021? Yeah, we don’t need to worry about that anymore. While LLMs don’t directly browse the internet the way humans do, they will access web data through APIs, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), and web scrapers to fetch, process, and feed external information into their context during inference. AI systems use things like semantic relevance, authoritativeness (cough E-E-A-T cough), content quality, and content freshness as part of their retrieval criteria. And well, whaddya know, doesn’t that sound like SEO?SEO Is the Foundation of AI Visibility
If your pages aren’t being crawled or indexed by search engines, they’re not going to be picked up, retrieved, or cited by ChatGPT, Copilot, or Perplexity.
This is why we scoff, set our arms akimbo, and shake our heads whenever so-called pundits claim that investing in SEO in the age of AI is for chumps.
In fact, we say that SEO is still the very foundation upon which AI stands because it directly aligns with the three core pillars of SEO (technical, on-page, and off-page optimisation):
- Technical SEO, because AI models rely on crawlable, indexable sites with fast load times, mobile optimisation, and structured data. Without these, content stays hidden from search crawlers that feed AI retrieval systems.
- On-Page SEO, because semantic relevance and E-E-A-T signals make your pages understandable to both search engines and AI (oh yeah, and real folks). And because LLMs prioritise topically authoritative, well-structured content that follows on-page best practices when generating responses or citations.
- Off-Page SEO, because backlinks and brand mentions build domain authority and signal trustworthiness to AI models. And because high-authority links ensure your content gets referenced in the datasets and knowledge graphs AI pulls from.
So nope, SEO isn’t dead just yet. And juuuuust in case you needed a little more proof, how about the fact that Anthropic, the brain behind Claude, recently posted this job listing for a full-time SEO lead.
Moving Forward in 2026
Want our unsolicited advice? Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don’t quit your day job to dropship fidget spinners. And don’t invest 100% of your marketing budget in generative engine optimisation.
Instead, use a mixed approach. Continue to invest in SEO with added GEO practices to ensure you’re laying the right foundations for traditional search while expanding your visibility surface into other platforms.
