Is SEO dead now with AI?

The short answer

No. More people now get their answer from AI, but AI assistants and Google’s AI Overviews build those answers from the same websites, Business Profiles and reviews that SEO has always looked after.

What has changed is the goal: being named in the answer, not only ranked in a list of links. Google says AI Overviews have over 2.5 billion monthly users, and that its AI features are adding to the number of searches overall.

The SEOrted teamUpdated 16 October 20266-minute read

A hand holding a phone with a map search open, on a quiet suburban street

What has actually changed?

Fewer searches end in a click, and more people ask AI first.

01
Google answers with AI first
Google says AI Overviews have “over 2.5 billion monthly active users”, and AI Mode passed 1 billion in its first year (Google, 19 May 2026).
02
Fewer searches end in a click
68.01% of US Google searches ended without a click from January to April 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024 on a different panel (SparkToro and Similarweb, 9 June 2026).
03
The top result gets fewer clicks
When an AI Overview showed, the top-ranking page’s average click-through rate was 58% lower (Ahrefs, 4 February 2026). It’s a desktop study that shows a link, not proof of cause.
04
More people ask AI who to call
Using AI for local business recommendations rose from 6% to 45% in a year (BrightLocal, 11 February 2026, US survey). In Australia, 58% of people aged 14 and over used an AI tool in an average four weeks, and 45% used ChatGPT (Roy Morgan, 2 June 2026).

What hasn’t changed

AI answers still come from what’s published about your business. Google says its AI features are “driving an incremental increase in Search queries overall” (Alphabet, July 2026).

Your Google Business Profile: categories, services, hours and photos.
A page for each service and each area you work.
Reviews, and a reply to each one.
The same name, address and phone number everywhere your business is listed.
Pages that load fast and that search engines and AI crawlers can read.
Real photos of your work, with a line about each job.

Old SEO vs SEO for AI answers

The work is mostly the same. What you measure changes.

The same work, measured two ways
What you do	For Google’s links	For AI answers
Your Business Profile	Puts you in the map results for nearby searches.	Gives an assistant your categories, hours and reviews to repeat.
Service and area pages	A page that can rank for each service and area.	A page an assistant can cite when someone asks about that job in that area.
Reviews and replies	Customers read them before they call.	Assistants draw on them when they describe you.
Details in directories	The same details everywhere back up your listing.	An assistant finds the same facts wherever it looks.
Structured data	Tells search engines what each page is about.	Describes your business as one clear entity.
Measuring	Where you rank, and the calls that follow.	Whether you’re named, where in the answer, and which sources it cites.

This is the work AI SEO covers for a local business.

Red flags

If you hear any of these, ask more questions.

Guaranteed AI rankings

Nobody controls what an AI assistant says. Google’s own advice is that “no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google”, and AI answers are no different.

llms.txt sold as a ranking fix

It’s a small file some sites add for AI tools. It won’t hurt, but Google says there are “no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode” (Google Search Central).

Hundreds of AI-written pages, one per suburb

Google allows AI help, but warns that mass-produced, low-value pages break its spam policy on scaled content (Google Search Central). One useful page per area you really work in is better.

“SEO is dead, buy ads instead”

Google reports its AI features are adding to the number of searches. Ads put you above the free results for as long as you pay. SEO is what gets you into the free results and the AI answer.

Where SEOrted fits

Your SEO team works on both: your listing, pages and reviews for Google’s results, and the same facts AI assistants use when they answer. Every change is checked before it goes live, and you choose what you approve.

If you’re a bigger business with your own marketing team, you’ll probably be better served elsewhere. See what’s included in A$749 a month.

Questions people ask

Is SEO still worth it in 2026?

Yes, for a local business that wants calls from people nearby.

The same work now feeds both Google’s results and AI answers. Google says its AI features are adding to searches, and a growing share of people ask AI who to call (BrightLocal, US survey).

Will AI replace SEO?

No. AI changes where the answer appears, not where it comes from.

Google says there are “no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode” (Google Search Central). The pages, listings and reviews you keep up to date are what the answer is built from.

Do I still need a website if customers use ChatGPT?

Yes. An assistant needs somewhere to read about you, and a customer needs somewhere to go next.

A page for each service and area is what an AI answer can cite, and it’s where the customer lands when they click through or look you up.

Does Google penalise AI-written content?

Not for using AI. It acts on pages made in bulk with little value.

Google allows AI help, but says it is “critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content” (Google Search Central).

How do I know if AI names my business?

Ask the assistants the questions your customers ask, the same way, every month.

Try ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI with a question like “Who’s a good bricklayer near me?”, and note whether you’re named and which sources it shows. How to get your business named in AI answers.