The rules of search are being rewritten. In conversations with SEO experts, one message echoed: SEO isn’t dying, it’s evolving. As Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity reshape how people discover brands, being the answer has replaced being on the SERP.
“It felt like a rollercoaster.” That’s how Hidde van den Berg, SEO Lead at eRocket, described the past year.
One moment, agencies were celebrating steady growth. Next, Google’s AI Overviews began swallowing clicks whole. Organic traffic dropped overnight, in some cases by as much as 30 percent. eRocket’s own site saw a similar dip. Clients called in panic. Teams scrambled to explain what had changed. But as the dust settled, one truth became clear: SEO is not disappearing; it is evolving. SEO now includes ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and even TikTok, a new search landscape where brands are not ranked; they’re mentioned.
In this new ecosystem, being the answer has replaced being on the SERP. Traditional SEO measured success in clicks and positions. Today, agencies want to know where their brand is mentioned, in which prompts, and why competitors appear when they don’t. A phrase surfaced in nearly every conversation: “We need a Search Console for AI.” Marketers are asking for transparency. They want to understand how large language models perceive their brand, when and how it is mentioned, and what content influences AI answers.
At OnRadar, they’ve already started tracking AI traffic in analytics. “We even got our first lead through ChatGPT,” said Marcus, a small but telling signal. For Dave at Clickables, measurement itself is the challenge: “We want to know how visible we are in LLMs the same way Search Console shows clicks.” The future of SEO is no longer about ranking higher; it’s about being included in the answer of AI.
Across all conversations, one message stood out: AI hasn’t replaced SEO; it is changing it. eRocket is adapting by focusing even more on intent instead of keywords. “We’ve moved from keywords to questions,” Hidde explained. “We structure content so AIs can actually read it, literal questions in headers, short answers, structured data, summary lists.”
Charbel Raffoul from StudioHawk agrees. “It’s an evolution, not a replacement,” he said. Agencies should adapt their playbooks, rather than rebuilding them from scratch. Cody Stewart from Imprint Digital notices the same trend. “Clients are panicking about AI visibility, but the fundamentals still matter: authority, clarity, and quality.” And Marcus from OnRadar added, “We want to report on prompts the same way we report on keywords.”
Most agencies have tested the new AI ranking tools like RankShift, Profound, or Peec. Few trust them completely. The common frustration is that the data feels thin and disconnected from what users of ChatGPT or other answer engines are really asking. They can see mentions and citation sources on tracked prompts, but not the conversations with context that ChatGPT users have.
If there’s one thing agencies agree on, it’s that raw data means little without context. “Nine out of ten times, the advice tools give is just not relevant,” one SEO lead said. What agencies want is not more metrics, but meaning. They ask for three things above all:
As Clickables put it, “Don’t tell us to do X, show us why others succeed.” That shift, from instruction to explanation, could define the next decade of marketing analytics. The winners will be the tools that make patterns visible, not just the number of mentions.
Despite the rise of automation, the people behind the screens are more important than ever. At Extendure, teams use tools like n8n and AI assistants to handle repetitive work such as updating meta titles or drafting product descriptions. But every output is still reviewed, edited, and refined before publication. “Clients expect us to move faster now that AI exists,” one specialist said, “but faster doesn’t always mean better.” AI helps with volume, but there’s always a human required for judgment and decision-making. AI is another tool in the creative process for most marketers. “You can get an idea, but in the end, a human still needs to look at it.”
Automation might accelerate production, but strategy, empathy, and storytelling remain human work.
Every expert we spoke with agreed that SEO’s core purpose hasn’t changed. It’s still about helping people find what they’re looking for. What’s new is where that discovery begins.
The next evolution will center on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), understanding how, when, and why AI systems surface a brand in their responses. Being visible in this new space requires more than rankings or backlinks. It requires trustworthy insight into how these systems perceive your brand, in which prompts your brand is mentioned, and what content drives authority.
“We used to chase rankings,” one agency said. “Now, we’re chasing relevance, one answer at a time.”
Start real-time brand tracking across AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Understand how your brand is mentioned and optimize for more visibility in AI search.