After more than 20 years in SEO, I’ve seen plenty of changes. But nothing has shifted the landscape like what’s happening with AI right now.
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I’m talking to coaches and consultants every day who are freaking out about these changes, worried their SEO strategies are suddenly obsolete. Here’s what I’m seeing from the trenches-and, more important, what I’m telling my clients to do about it.
The Reality Check: Zero-Click Searches Are Here to Stay
You might find this surprising: I’m not actually mad about Google’s AI Overviews taking over search results. Really.
When I first saw those AI summaries pushing organic results down (on mobile, sometimes several screens deep), my first reaction was panic, just like everyone else. The data looked brutal: only 8% of searches with AI summaries result in clicks to traditional results, compared to 15% without them. We’re looking at about 58% of all Google searches ending in zero clicks.
But here’s what I’ve learned after months of tracking this with my coaching clients: the traffic we’re losing isn’t the traffic we want anyway.
I’ve got clients reporting that visitors who do click through after seeing an AI Overview spend 41% more time on their sites, bounce 23% less, and actually convert better. It’s like AI is doing our pre-qualifying for us, filtering out the tire-kickers and sending us people who are genuinely interested.
One of my coaching clients, a business strategist, summed it up perfectly: “I’d rather have 100 highly engaged visitors than 500 people who bounce in 10 seconds.”
My 250,000-Word AI Content Experiment
Let me be transparent: I’ve written over 250,000 words of content with AI tools. That’s roughly 500 blog posts’ worth of material. And I use AI daily in my work.
But here’s what most people miss about AI content: it isn’t about replacing human expertise. It’s about amplifying it.
Google has confirmed they don’t penalize AI-generated content if it’s useful and original. A massive Ahrefs study of 600,000 pages found no correlation between AI usage and lower rankings. And there’s a big caveat: 82% of top-ranking content combines AI efficiency with human expertise.
In my experience, the sweet spot is using AI to handle the heavy lifting-research, first drafts, structure-while I bring the human elements: two decades of experience, real client stories, and insights you can only get from doing this work day in and day out.
When I’m coaching clients on content strategy now, I tell them: “AI is your research assistant and writing partner, not your replacement.”
What I’m Seeing with My Coaching Clients
The coaches and consultants I work with are in a pretty unique spot. They’re not Fortune 500 brands with massive content teams-they’re often solopreneurs or small teams trying to compete for attention in crowded niches.
The good news? AI has actually leveled the playing field for them.
I’ve got clients who went from publishing one blog post a month (because writing was such a struggle) to publishing weekly content that actually ranks. Their secret? They’re using AI to get past the blank-page problem while infusing their content with their own experiences and methodologies.
But there’s a clear divide: the clients who embrace AI strategically are pulling ahead, while those who resist it or use it poorly are falling behind.
The New Game: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Here’s where things get really interesting. I’m shifting my coaching focus from traditional SEO to what researchers are calling Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
Instead of chasing keyword rankings (even though they still matter), I’m teaching my clients to become the trusted source that AI climbs to for answers in their niche.
This means:
- Structuring content for AI consumption: Clear headings, bullet points, concise answers to specific questions. Tell your content to a very smart, very literal research assistant what you want it to do.
- Backing everything with data: Fluffy, opinion-based content is done. AI models love citing concrete stats, research, and original data. If you’re making a claim, you’d better have the receipts.
- Building consistent authority: This isn’t about gaming the system-it’s about genuinely becoming the go-to expert in your space. When AI decides which sources to cite, it’s looking for brands that consistently demonstrate expertise.
- Diversifying beyond Google: My clients aren’t just optimizing for Google anymore. They’re optimizing for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI platforms. The future of discovery isn’t limited to Google.
What I’m Telling Scared Business Owners
I get it. Change is scary, especially when your business depends on organic traffic. But I’ve been through algorithm updates, mobile-first indexing, Core Web Vitals, and every other “SEO is dead” moment over the past two decades.
Here’s what I know: the fundamentals haven’t changed. Google still wants to serve helpful, trustworthy content to users. The delivery mechanism is changing, but the core mission remains the same.
What’s different now is that shortcuts don’t work anymore. You can’t keyword-stuff your way to the top. You can’t outsource generic content to the lowest bidder and expect results. AI has raised the bar for what counts as “good enough.”
Check out this infographic on SEO in the age of AI
My Honest Take on Where This Is Headed
After 20+ years in this business, I’ve learned to spot the difference between temporary disruptions and permanent shifts. This AI transformation? It’s permanent.
The coaches and consultants who will thrive in the next decade are the ones who stop fighting this change and start using it to their advantage. They’re using AI to amplify their expertise, not replace it. They’re focusing on building genuine authority in their niche rather than chasing algorithm hacks.
Most importantly, they’re remembering that SEO has always been about one thing: connecting the right people with the right information at the right time. AI is just changing how that connection happens.
If you’re a coach or consultant reading this, my advice is simple: embrace AI as your partner, double down on what makes you uniquely valuable, and focus on building real authority in your space.
The brands that adapt fastest will own the next decade of search. The question is: will that include yours?