SEO Questions
Is SEO being phased out?
SEO isn't being phased out. Google dominates search (90%+ market share), showing no sign decline. Organic traffic declining slightly (5-10% to answer engines), but click-through quality high. What's changing: commodity content dying (thin blogs, AI spam), expert content thriving. Answer engines cite sources, so SEO visibility persists (different channel, same content). Real shift: SEO becoming premium skill (harder, higher-value) not disappearing skill. Bad SEO (lazy execution) phased out. Good SEO (expertise, authority, authenticity) thriving. Timeline: SEO mature (slower growth than startup phase), but stable long-term. Five years? SEO still primary visibility channel, adapted to include answer engines. Phased out? No. Transformed? Yes.
Need this done for you?
We build, test, and scale Meta ads for founders who want conversions over vanity metrics. Let’s ship a creative that wins.
SEO isn't being phased out. It's transforming. Big difference.
Google still controls 90% of searches. No competitor emerging. Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo nibble at margins. Google untouchable. While Google dominates, SEO matters. Answer engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) growing but not replacing Google. They cite sources, so SEO content still visible (different path, same destination).
Real change: low-value content dying. Thin blogs (1,000 words, no original research, rehashing same tips everyone knows), AI-generated spam, keyword-stuffed garbage—these increasingly penalized. Google's filters catching spam faster. This isn't SEO phasing out; it's market improving (eliminating junk, rewarding quality).
Expert content thriving. Founder writing advice from 20 years experience, ranks high. Original research, proprietary data, first-person perspective—these rank higher than ever. Market bifurcating: junk tanking, quality rising.
What changing:
Answer engine layer. ChatGPT user asks "how to choose web developer," ChatGPT pulls answer from websites (yours possibly), cites source. You get visibility, maybe click-through. Different traffic path than traditional Google ranking. But visibility persists.
Google adapting. Adding AI overviews to search results (answers pulled from web, shown above organic links). Basically Google becoming answer engine within search. Google fighting answer engine threat by becoming one. Smart move. Keeps searches on Google, not driving to ChatGPT.
Topical authority emphasis. Google's ranking algorithm favoring deep expertise (topical authority—owning specific topic comprehensively) over surface-level keyword matching. This favors humans and specialist teams. AI-generated generalist content struggles here.
Experience/Authenticity priority. E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) core ranking factor now. Author experience matters. Byline with credentials important. AI-generated anonymous content tanks. Human voice essential.
What surviving:
Keyword research. Still core. Understanding what people searching essential.
Technical SEO. Site speed, mobile-friendliness, structured data—still critical ranking factors.
Content quality. More important than ever. Commodity content dead, expert content gold.
Backlinks. Link authority still signals trust to Google.
Topical authority. New emphasis, but core concept: deep expertise in niche.
What dying:
Thin content. Surface-level blogs getting crushed.
Keyword-stuffing. Google's been penalizing for years, enforcement harder now.
Commodity content. Why rank 100 blogs saying same thing? Market consolidating around quality.
Exact-match keywords. Keyword matching loosening; intent matching tightening.
Timeline reality: SEO maturing. Startup phase (2010-2015, easy quick wins) over. Mature phase (2020-2030, harder but sustainable). Declining phase (2030-2040, shrinking as answer engines normalize). Current: mature phase. SEO harder than five years ago, but solid long-term play.
5-year prediction: SEO still primary visibility channel. Google dominance unchanged. Answer engines normalizing (20-30% traffic share), but not replacing search. SEO adapting to answer engine layer (cite-worthy content, source attribution priority). Effective SEO unchanged fundamentally (good content, authority, relevance), just applied multi-channel (Google search and answer engines).
10-year prediction: search + answer engines hybrid unified. Google likely integrated answer engines fully. SEO and AEO merged into single "visibility optimization" (optimizing for human readers, search algorithms, and answer engine extraction). Ranking strategy + cite-worthy positioning = standard practice.
Skills evolution: traditional SEO skills (keywords, backlinks, technical) declining in value (commoditized). New skills rising (topical authority, original research, authentic positioning). Specialists surviving, generalists struggling.
Common mistake: "SEO dying" panic selling businesses, abandoning strategy. Wrong. SEO undergoing natural evolution, not dying. Weak competitors exiting, strong competitors dominating. Consolidation not death.
Smart move: embrace evolution. Invest in content quality obsession, topical authority building, authentic expertise positioning. Use AI tools increase efficiency (draft faster, research deeper). Combine AI capability with human authenticity = competitive advantage.
For Vispaico: web dev services absolutely not phasing out SEO. People still search "web developer," "website design," "site rebuild" constantly. Volume stable. Competition increasing (more agencies optimizing), but opportunity remains. Build content library owning specific niches (e.g., "fastest web development agency," "web dev for ecommerce"), build authority, rank, convert. Doesn't matter answer engines exist; your authority positioning still valuable. Music promotion: SEO less relevant, but blog about music production, artist development, industry insights could own niches, drive relevant audience.
Verdict: SEO not phased out. Evolving. Bad SEO (lazy execution) eliminated. Good SEO (expertise, authenticity, authority) thriving. Market improving by killing junk. Google still dominates. Answer engines adding layer, not replacing. Timeline: mature stable phase, not growth phase. Skills shifting from keyword-matching to expertise-positioning. Specialists winning, generalists losing. Trend? SEO consolidating around quality. Not dying, maturing. Invest smart, you're golden. Ignore? Competitors dominating. Phased out? No. Transformed? Yes.