SEO Is the Backbone of AI-Assisted Search

It’s not uncommon to read that AI has replaced search engine optimization (SE0) and that Google is “dead.” However, this projection of its demise is misinformed.

?Google currently processes more than 8.5 billion search requests daily, or approximately 6.3 million Google searches every minute.

?Overview

?Using an AI tool like ChatGPT or Google Bard to find information doesn’t create answers out of thin air. AI relies on massive amounts of data to "learn" and answer your questions. Most of this data comes from content optimized for search engines -- content that follows SEO principles.

?If your website, blog, or article is well-optimized, it signals to both traditional search engines and AI tools that your content is valuable, relevant, and worth including in their results. For example:

• Writing content using the right keywords (like "best retirement strategies") helps AI recognize and retrieve your content when someone asks a related question.
• If your content is organized with clear headings, titles, and meta descriptions, AI can quickly understand what your page is about.?
• AI favors content that comes from trusted, high-quality sources. A strong SEO ranking signals credibility and helps AI prioritize your work.

?If you’re not following good SEO practices, AI tools are much less likely to "see" your content—and neither will the people searching for it.

This connection between SEO and AI highlights why SEO is not optional. ?It’s the key to being included in traditional search engines and AI-generated results.

AI datasets rely on on SEO

AI models, like ChatGPT, are trained on extensive text data from across the web. This data originates from content optimized for search engines.

SEO principles—like strategic keyword use, metadata inclusion, and readability—ensure that AI systems can interpret, categorize, and prioritize this content.

SEO content uses keywords to signal relevance for specific queries. AI models leverage these signals to match user intent with appropriate answers.

Titles, headers, and meta descriptions improve content accessibility, helping AI models understand and rank information.

For example, if someone searches for "best investment strategies," ChatGPT’s ability to generate a response is influenced by content optimized around this term.

SEO structures content

SEO involves structuring content to make it more accessible to search engines and improving its utility for AI-assisted search tools. Features such as schema markup, alt text, and well-structured headers help AI identify critical information quickly.?

• Schema Markup: This HTML-based format helps AI understand relationships within data, like FAQs, product reviews, and step-by-step guides.
• Alt Text and Accessibility: Optimized image descriptions ensure AI can process visual data, making search results richer.

?AI tools often deliver these enhanced search experiences directly from SEO-driven data structures.

AI relies on SEO

Search engines and AI algorithms prioritize content that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness—principles central to SEO. By ranking high-quality, authoritative content, search engines contribute to the pool of reliable information that AI models use.?

• Authoritative Sources: AI prioritizes content from sites with strong domain authority, often established through effective SEO strategies.
• Content Depth and Freshness: AI tools favor comprehensive, updated content, a hallmark of good SEO practices.

Keyword rankings matter

ChatGPT and similar AI systems interpret user prompts based on patterns observed during training, much of which involves SEO-driven keyword strategies. Optimized content bridges the gap between user intent and the language AI understands.

• Semantic Search Capabilities: AI recognizes keywords, related phrases, and contexts directly, which results from evolving SEO practices like natural language processing (NLP).
• Long-Tail Keywords: These specific, conversational phrases dominate user queries, particularly in voice and AI-powered search. SEO’s focus on such keywords enhances AI’s ability to deliver precise results.

?The value of SEO is increasing

?As AI evolves, so does its reliance on SEO-driven content. Innovations like voice search, mobile-first indexing, and zero-click searches have expanded SEO's role in shaping how AI processes and presents information.

• Voice search and conversational queries: SEO adapts to how users phrase spoken questions, training AI systems to process conversational language effectively.
• Featured snippets and direct answers: AI tools often pull responses from content optimized for featured snippets, a product of advanced SEO strategies.

?By anticipating trends, SEO practitioners guide how AI develops its search capabilities.

?SEO is the backbone of AI search

AI and ChatGPT searches wouldn’t exist without SEO-optimized content. SEO ensures that content is discoverable, structured, and aligned with user intent, laying the foundation for AI-assisted tools to provide meaningful responses. As AI and search technology evolve, SEO will remain the backbone, shaping the future of digital information retrieval.

If you want to delve deeper into this topic, check out these sources:

• Moz: The Importance of SEO
• HubSpot: SEO and AI in Digital Marketing
• Smartling: Is AI good for SEO? How AI is shaping the future.
• Hubspot:? How Search AI will revolutionize the Future of SEO, according to HubSpot’s SVP of Marketing.
• CMSWire:? Will AI-Powered Search Engines Ultimately End Traditional Search?

Dan Solin is the President of Evidence Based Advisor Marketing (“EBAM”), a digital marketing agency serving financial advisors.? EBAM’s services include coaching (using the proprietary “Solin Process”) to convert more prospects into clients, website design, video production, content marketing, cutting-edge SEO campaigns to create a steady flow of qualified leads, and using AI in marketing. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the Smartest investing book series.