Hello, and welcome back to AI on the Fly.
My name is Ryan Kelly, and I’m your host.
The very first question I’m going to answer, and one I get asked all the time, is whether SEO is dead. Here’s the short answer: no, it’s not dead. It’s evolving into something entirely different.
The idea of being found at the top of a search engine or answer engine is still very real. The question now is how businesses and organizations get found in the right place, at the right time, in a way that actually leads to conversions. That might be a phone call, a purchase, a booked appointment, or whatever conversion matters most to your business.
For decades, Google has acted like a librarian. You would ask a question, such as who the best estate planning attorney near you is, and Google would point you to an aisle in the library. That aisle, the search engine results page, contains websites, podcasts, webinars, reviews, and other resources so you can do your own research and make an informed decision.
Now we’re seeing the rise of AI answer engines. You ask the same question, and instead of pointing you to an aisle, the answer engine responds by saying it has already read every website, listened to every podcast, watched every webinar, reviewed social media posts, and analyzed reviews. Based on all of that information, it delivers a direct answer and identifies who it believes are the best options.
That is the fundamental difference between search engines and answer engines.
So what does that mean for SEO? Traditional search engine optimization is turning into Artificial Intelligence Optimization, or AIO. What’s interesting is that much of what works for AIO is still rooted in SEO fundamentals. Many of the tactics are familiar, but the way they are applied and evaluated is changing.
In future episodes, I’ll break down which SEO tactics still work, which AIO strategies are emerging, and how to adapt content marketing for this shift. We’ll talk about how to decide what to write, how to write it, when to publish, and how to format content so it’s more digestible for both people and AI systems.
We’ll also cover digital PR and why getting your messaging into the right media outlets still matters. High-quality third-party references continue to play a role, because authority and popularity are still important signals.
So, is SEO dead? No. It’s not dead. It’s evolving into a different, more tactically delivered approach that businesses can learn if they understand the right pieces of the puzzle.
AI is changing the rules quickly. If you want to stay current on what matters and what’s coming next, subscribe to the channel for more episodes of AI on the Fly.