Beer With Kyle: Is SEO Dead? (Let's Discuss)
Hey Everyone,
Today I want to discuss something that’s been on many people’s minds lately: Is SEO dead? It’s a bold question for sure, and one worth exploring given the rapid changes in search technology and user behavior (predominantly with the ubiquity of AI).
Before we unpack this big topic, let me introduce this week’s beer.
This Week’s Beer: Whistleboy ICL Ice Cold Lager 🍺
Today’s choice is from Whistle Buoy Brewery, a local favorite in Victoria, BC. It’s their ICL Ice Cold Lager, marketed as "the chillest beer in town." It’s a straightforward lager...light, crisp, and refreshing. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but definitely a solid brew. ABV of 4.8%
Now, let’s jump into the ever-changing world of SEO.
1. The Question: Is SEO Really Dead?
The idea that SEO is dead has been circulating for years, but in truth, SEO is far from gone. It is simply evolving. Recent changes in the way people consume online content, like the integration of generative AI in search engines like Google are starting to shift the SEO landscape slightly.
Google’s AI-Powered Search
If you’ve searched for something recently, you’ve probably noticed Google’s AI overview at the top of the results. This feature provides a concise answer to your query, often eliminating the need to click through to a website.
While this may reduce traffic for simple to medium complexity queries (e.g., “What’s the capital of Canada?”), SEO opportunities still exist for more complex searches where users want deeper information. And people are definitely getting more complex with their search behavior.
For example:
- SEO-optimized sites are still featured below the AI overview.
- Rich snippets, user-generated content (like Reddit and Quora), and detailed articles are increasingly valued for their depth and engagement.
2. Beyond Google: Traffic is Very Much in Abundance
The search landscape is no longer limited to Google. Platforms like ChatGPT, Bing, and even Reddit are becoming sources for information, making it essential to adapt your SEO strategies.
User-Generated Content and Authenticity
Platforms like Reddit and Quora are thriving because people trust genuine discussions and real user insights. This trend highlights the importance of engagement-driven content, something search engines are also prioritizing. People want to see REAL people discussing a topic, with multiple view points.
Decentralized Traffic Opportunities
SEO isn’t the only game in town. As the Internet becomes more decentralized, there are more ways to drive traffic, including:
- Social platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Bluesky)
- Community-driven platforms (e.g., Reddit, Quora)
- AI-driven platforms (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude)
By diversifying your strategies, you are going to be able to tap into a growing number of traffic sources and platforms.
**NOTE: We have Traffic training that you can access on all of these topics right within your Hubs as well, and abundance of classes on these topics (click "Classes" in the header), and daily discussions and video tutorials to help keep you ahead of the curve on all of these topics.
3. Adapting Your SEO Strategy
Key Trends to Watch
- Authenticity Wins: As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, audiences (and search engines) will favor content that feels genuine and human. You can still use AI for you heavy lifting, but polishing the content is always going to remain critical. Remember, we are in an AI assisted world, not AI created.
- Longer-Tail Keywords: Targeting specific, niche queries (e.g., “Is SEO dead in 2025?”) can help your content stand out. The longer tailed keywords are going to capture the more sophisticated searches.
- Visual and Multimedia Content: Integrating visuals, videos, and interactive elements can make your content more engaging and rank-worthy. Youtube and other video platforms are going to continue to have big presence within the search results, and can be an excellent way to "double dip" with your traffic.
The Core Takeaway
SEO isn’t dead, but it’s evolving.
4. Looking Ahead to 2025
In January, I’ll be hosting an expert class on "Thriving in 2025", getting into trends and strategies to stay ahead in the ever-changing online world. Topics include:
- How AI is reshaping search and business strategies.
- The importance of branding in a decentralized Internet.
- Building a diverse traffic portfolio beyond SEO.
I’m excited to share these insights and help you position your business for long-term success. I think it is going to be a must attend event for everyone!
Join in on this discussion!
What’s your take on SEO? Do you see it as evolving or becoming obsolete? How are you adjusting your strategies in response to these changes?
Jump into the comments below and share your thoughts, feedback and experiences. I look forward to hearing from you!
Recent Comments
78
Hi Kyle:
This is an interesting topic which affects everyone in one way or another. For now, I see SEO evolving rather than becoming obsolete. It is true that there are other ways to generate traffic as you outlined. We need to explore these avenues. I look forward to thriving online in 2025!
Thank you for the insights!
Veron
Yeah, it is definitely not becoming obsolete any time soon. But evolving is certainly a good word for it and that has actually always been the case. We need to adjust as things change, and that is how running a business online will always be.
We are going to keep the community on top of things here at WA!
It will not be obsolete any time soon. Totally agree with this. If anything it will expand as AI is being used for search intent. This will mean that SEO will be better equipped to deal with long-tail keywords.
And we all know that we should start with long-tailed keywords to gain a footing and work our way toward the top of the food chain.
We may not be "Googling It" as much as using ChatGPT to "Answer This", but SEO will still be the driving force behind indexing and long-tail keywords are being given new life.
Here is one of those things that I would like to learn for 2025 - How can niche bloggers use AI to discover and rank for highly specific, long-tail keywords?
This question could be quite helpful as AI continues to dominat the landscape of Search.
MrDon
Hey Kyle, seeing UGC got me curious:
Do you think leveraging WA's comments/engagement would help with improving website that lost a lot of traffic?
The idea to update + use a bunch of comments to show Google that there's human activity on the website and to hopefully climb back up.
My only concern is the low quality comments that used to drive me crazy in the past and having have to decline a big % of comments submitted.
Yeah, it can certainly help with many things. It can lead to more trust, as you actually are showing your readers that there is an active voice and support behind your website.
It can lead to more comments, engagement breeds more engagement.
It can also lead to better rankings, and Google has made it clear that it will pull content from anywhere, including from comments on websites and forums. That is why you are seeing UGC platforms like Reddit and Quora with a lot of popularity, because Google is looking for the MOST relevant and helpful result, and often times they have to go to these platforms to find this relevance.
Low quality comments are of course not ideal, and if someone is using the platform here to offer you low quality comments, you can disapprove those. For the most part, they are very good. ;)
Exactly my thoughts! Guess I'm going back to those old ways with the comments haha. Thanks for sharing, Kyle!
Comments can certainly have an impact and quality comments/responses can now rank as Google pulls results from anywhere, it is just after the most relevant and helpful content for a given search query.
The people who are asking if SEO is Dead, are those that have been on the web forever.
SEO in the sense that "we" veterans have come to know the word, is DEAD. Static SEO no longer exists. We can not follow any real signposts to get the #1 ranking as in years past.
But is it really Dead?
When ChatGPT arrived on the scene, I was among the first to pronounce Google Dead.
The Death of Google - Google Search Is Dead! The Largest Casualty of the AI Revolution Google is a trillion-dollar empire. They are not going down without a fight. Their claim to fame is SEO as we understood it, and their ability to catalog content intent quickly, and to serve it up correctly. AI changed all of that. Google is flooded with AI "canned spam" that no longer adds to the topic. AI simply regurgitates topics into new iterations, new ways of saying the same thing.
Gone are the days of Google "Getting it Right" and serving SEO up on a platter. Google has resorted to using what we post on Reddit, Quora, and Medium. IF it is there it MUST be right, right? After all, it is what people are talking about.
The truth here is that If all 2.9 million WA members were to post and comment on Reddit, that "That SEO is DEAD" we can in fact affect the algorithm, and Google will prominently display that SEO Is DEAD.
There is a shift in trust, away from Google and its sponsored content leading to the displayed results. Googling it is a hard habit to break. We have "Googled If" for so long, that we nearly have it ingrained in our DNA. Google will continue to serve up content because of this.
As such, SEO is not Dead, SEO has evolved. Google is still good at cataloging intent. What will save Google, will be its ability to recognize "new content" that adds to topics versus reformatted content. As bloggers, we need our SEO keywords to tell Google, we have added to this topic. Your vision of SEO needs to evolve with Google's direction.
As new generations "grow up" with AI, Google will be left at the altar as a sacrifice to the Gods of Technology. Their primary function will be to catalog everything and feed it to the bots. In order for Google to remain dominant it is important to have everyone using Gemini above all of the other bots.
But Are You?
What is your preferred Chatbot?
Or Do You Still "Google It" for answers?
The future of SEO is in your answer.
MrDon
The Amazing Niche Master finds profitable niches where you least expect to find them.
I agree with what you have said here. i|It’s just not the same beast we used to know. Back in the day, SEO was more predictable based on what we knew about it then, and it is more predictable based on what we know about it now. It evolves though, and we have to evolve if we want to keep it up and benefit from it.
You could check off a list of tactics and watch the rankings roll in. But now? It’s way more dynamic, especially with AI continuing to shake things up.
But Google isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (their pockets are way too deep, and they have very bright minds over there), rather they’re adapting like everyone else. And they certainly are on top of the AI world, not sure if you ahve used NoteBook LM, but that is a brilliant platform that exhibits their AI capabilities (and gives us laypeople some awesome tools).
They’ve got to sort through mountains of AI-generated content, figure out what’s real and valuable, and serve it up in ways people trust. That’s where we, as creators are going to come in.
The key now is adding something new to the conversation. Whether that’s unique insights, fresh takes, or engaging formats like video or multimedia, it’s about being more human and authentic. AI can spit out a lot of content, and fast. But is it really helpful and engaging to the end user. We need to polish our content, make it our own, and make it awesome. GPT cannot do a good job of that alone, but can speed it up.
ChatGPT and various AI platforms are simply tools, not replacements. People still want context, and different opinions, and to feel like they are in control of finding the content they want and determining which content is good and what is not.
So yeah, SEO isn’t dead. It’s evolving, and those willing to evolve with it will still find lots of opportunities in this landscape.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights, it definitely sounds like you have given this topic lots of thought as well. :)
Thanks, Kyle,
I was not familiar with Notebook but will check it out at my first opportunity. At first glimpse, it appears to be a better version of Perplexity's assistant which does not search outside the realm of resources.
I concur with you that Google's pockets are deep, and they have very bright minds over there. But no amount of money will keep me from using a superior product elsewhere.
Do you routinely use Gemini? I see that ChatGPT is your choice.
I appreciate your update on The Notebook.
Just remember - People vote with their feet.
Don
As time passes, websites will become more and more like a headquarters for our business.
The secret will be a mix of many ways to drive traffic to the 'headquarters.'
We can still have our articles there along with our affiliate links. The difference is that the traffic will come from several different sources.
I think Social Media will be one of the biggest, in the future.
Thanks again for another interesting "Beer with Kyle."
Cheers,
Richard
Richard,
I saw this reply and had to follow, we seem to be on the same page.
MrDon
The Amazing Niche Master
That is a good analogy, and I do think you are right. We have our home base, which is our website, and from there there are many platforms and technologies that we will be able to leverage to drive visitors and consumer to our brand.
Social media is continuing to grow, and it is very much distributed as there are many platforms you can leverage to create a full time business (and you can thrive with just one of them).
2025 is going to be another year of change, but also another year where there is a lot of stability in existing traffic strategies and approaches. Where there is people, there is opportunity and the internet has 5.5 BILLION active users. :)
Hey Kyle. Thank you for the on to about SEO. I believe SEO will slow down a bit in the approaching years, but will not die out. However, if they continue to screw people with the ranking and make it much harder to rank, more people will take their business elsewhere and either use SEO very minimally or not use google and just focus on getting traffic from social media sources like Facebook or Instagram. I am currently focusing on more Social media traffic rather than SEO.
I agree with you as well, people will not slow down though. Google may get less reach, but based on their history, they are pretty proficient in adjusting to change and we are going to see them do the right things that continue to attract people to their search engine.
I still use Google all the time for searches, and I use AI all the time. My AI use tends to be more for conversational and longer drawn out conversations, when I am educating myself on a topic. Google I still use for lots of research side activities, reviews, etc.
Thanks Kyle for great information on SEO. I have not used SEO before so I can't comment on it's effectiveness or viability. I've pretty much used ads from sfimg and posted them on social media sites. The results have been mediocre with hits, but unfortunately no conversions.
As I indicated in my profile, I'm not very well experienced with all that is available on the internet or ecommerce tools, but WA will be a solution to remedy and boost my knowledge and skills. Anita Alicea
No worries Anita, you can speak to your experience and it sounds like you have developed a pretty good foundation of knowledge that we are going to help you build on here within WA.
If you need a hand with anything at all as you do move forward, just reach out and we will be more than happy to give you a hand. You are going to become skilled in strategies like SEO before you know it here, we teach it all! :)
Thank you Kyle for your encouraging reply. The WA platform has many parts and it may take me a bit of time to find and understand everything , set up my business and enjoy smooth progression and profitability.
At your own pace Anita. You are making some good progress already, and if you need a hand with anything at all moving forward, don't hesitate to ask. :)
Awesome Kyle :)
SEO is here to stay, even as you say with user content ranking.
Plus, using more advanced pictures with AI generation is optimisation in my opinion.
Especially if the pictures have a touch of human imagination, such as art or craft or handwritten text.
I love that WA provides the opportunity to have Site Comments, it is a huge benefit, and I am grateful.
That Beer Advent hahaha what a nice idea, enjoy :)
Kind regards
Erica
SEO is definitely here to stay, but it will continue to evolve like it has. People's behaviours have changed, and people will find information in many different ways.
As good as GPT and AI platforms are, I still know of very few people in the 40+ demographic that use it. They all still use Google.
And yes, the beer advent is fun ever year. We have had a group of friends that have done this for the past 8 years or so. You have a wonderful weekend Erica! :)
Hello Kyle, great vlog today. I have been a member of WA for 5 1/2 months and I can only say that I've learned more about SEO than I ever thought I would. In fact, before joining I had no idea what SEO was. I just want to say thank you guys for all your hard work and your dedication to the training. Blessings.
Congratulations on all you've learned so far! That's amazing. Wishing you a great year ahead.
So awesome to hear Walter, you are definitely going to be able to become very proficient in SEO here at WA...or any traffic model for that matter.
There is so much opportunity out there on the internet, and there are many ways to get reach, and generate revenue.
Wonderful to hear about the advancement of your high value skill sets, you should be proud of what you have accomplished thus far. ;)
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Hey Kyle, man you drink more craft beer now than I do. LOL If I didn't have a near death experience in August 2023, I'd still be drinking one every other day, but now I'm down to twice a month and I'm cool with that.
As for SEO, I never saw it becoming outdated because everyone still searches Google, the other search engines and smart devices. That's not going to change for the foreseeable future. Keywords, Keywords and Long Tail Keywords.
I remember when I started here in 2013, it was all about keywords and the long tailed variety, mainly because voice search was coming into its own with the advent of smart devices like smart speakers.
We humans are always going to be asking questions and in a conversational tone. "Alexa, I have a question." Then that question becomes a long tailed keyword, which Alexa uses SEO to find a relevant answer.
So I agree with you. SEO is not dead, only evolving as it always has. Thanks for your insight Kyle. Have a great weekend.