Is SEO dead?

Episode Overview:

“SEO is dead” has been echoing through the halls of digital marketing for more than 20 years. And yet, here we are: still optimizing, still ranking, still relying on search. In this episode, Service Impact host Lance is joined by Stacey Abler, Director of Digital Marketing at Outside Communications, to examine the latest round of speculation on SEO’s relevance in the age of AI—and separate hype from reality.

Key Takeaways:

SEO isn’t dead—it’s evolving.
AI is adding layers, not replacing search. Answer engine optimization and LLM optimization are just the latest focus areas.
Google still dominates. Despite all the noise, Google maintains over 90% of search engine market share.
Schema is more critical than ever. Structured data helps AI and search engines understand your content.
Chunk your content for context. Write so each section of content makes sense on its own.
Conversational search is here. Optimize for natural language and full-sentence queries.
Don’t ditch traditional SEO. Existing strategies still apply; just build on them.

AI isn’t killing SEO. It’s reshaping it.

The search landscape is shifting, yes, but it’s not disappearing. AI features like Google’s “answer engine” and tools like ChatGPT are simply adding new layers to how people access information.

That’s where terms like “answer engine optimization” and “LLM SEO” come into play. These strategies aim to get your content featured in AI-generated responses or large language model interfaces. But at their core, they’re not radically different from the structured, user-friendly content we’ve been building for years.

Schema is more essential than ever

Structured data (schema markup) helps AI and search engines understand what’s on your page. It’s not a new tool, but its importance is growing. From addresses to product data, every piece of your site that can be marked up, should be.

Content structure matters

In a traditional SEO world, a paragraph might rely on the context of the one above it. In an AI-driven world, each paragraph should be able to stand on its own. Content should be “chunked” for context, making it easy for both humans and machines to pull meaning from a single snippet.

Conversational search is the new normal

Searchers are using full questions and natural language—especially in voice and AI environments. That means your content should mirror the way people actually talk and ask questions.

What Outside Communications is doing to enhance search strategy for our clients

SEO strategy hasn’t been thrown out; it’s being enhanced. Outside Communications is doubling down on:

Comprehensive schema usage across pages
Chunked, conversational content blocks
Headers that match user intent and search language
Continued focus on organic rankings and local SEO