Is SEO Dead in 2026? I’m a guest on one of my absolute favorite podcasts of all time — Ambitious — and I am still slightly in disbelief about it.
If you know me, you know I almost never listen to hour-long podcast episodes. An hour is precious! I’m a mom, I write for a living, and I cannot listen to podcasts while I work, so if I’m giving you 60+ minutes of my life every single week, you earned it.
And yet, I have rarely missed a single episode of Ambitious the week it aired.
Kate Perkovic, the host, is incredible.
She prepares like no one else, asks genuinely smart questions, and makes episodes that are incredibly actionable without ever feeling surface-level. This podcast is the epitome of going deep, not wide.
Which is honestly why I was a little nervous to be a guest.
(Like… she does not let you skate by with vague answers. As she should.)
The episode itself is about SEO in the age of AI. We talk about search, Pinterest, long-term visibility, and what actually still matters right now.
Kate is also brilliant when it comes to scaling businesses in a sustainable way, and I’ve even quoted her on my own podcast before, so being invited on felt genuinely surreal.
Also, small but delightful detail, I’m episode #111, and the episode is an hour and 11 minutes long. I don’t know what that means exactly, but the numerology is absolutely numerology-ing, and I refuse to ignore it.
I’ve already gotten messages from people sharing what stood out to them from the episode, which makes it even more special (that does not always happen after a guest episode!). I’m just… really proud of this conversation, and really honored to have been invited into Kate’s space.
If you’re into thoughtful, no-BS conversations about business growth that actually respect your time and intelligence, I promise you that this one’s worth a listen (and this podcast is worth the subscribe). I have the links below but you can keep reading for a summary if that’s more your style!
Table of Contents
In this episode, I’m joined by Kara, who is an absolute genius when it comes to all things SEO. One of the biggest questions people are asking right now is: what happens to SEO in this age of rapidly evolving AI? It feels like things are moving faster than we can keep up with. And naturally, people are wondering what that means for getting discovered online.
In this episode, Kara and I dive into all of that and more. We talk about how SEO is not actually dead, it’s just changing, and how understanding SEO (and even GEO) is key to understanding how people discover your work today.
We also explore EEAT as a framework and why experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness are now crucial for visibility on Google. Kara shares the three essential foundations everyone needs to be discoverable online right now: how to optimize your website, how to build strategic backlinks, and how to create blog content—what that really looks like in today’s ecosystem.
She also shares a surprising stat that completely blew my mind: businesses with blogs on their website convert at 13 times the rate of businesses without them. We talk about how Pinterest functions as a true top-of-funnel platform for many businesses and why it plays such a powerful role in discovery. Kara also explains why the “information-as-value” era is essentially over… and what’s replacing it.
Finally, she breaks down what it realistically looks like to plant seeds online when you want to be discovered through search engines like Google or even AI-driven tools.
If you’re someone who’s been wondering, What’s happening with SEO? What does this mean for my visibility? How do I get discovered in an AI-driven world?—this episode is packed with insights you’ll want to take notes on.
So without further ado, let’s get into today’s episode.
How long have you been using SEO as a core part of your marketing?
I first started dabbling in SEO about seven years ago for my own wedding business, and I’ve been doing it professionally for other business owners for about five years now.
What Is SEO?
First of all, SEO might be the clunkiest term ever—it literally just stands for search engine optimization. At its core, it means optimizing what you have on your website so your business can be found online.
Now, we’re even seeing conversations about social media acting as its own search engine. But fundamentally, SEO is about making sure your content and your business are positioned in a way that allows people to find you when they’re searching.
Yes, there are tactics involved, like using certain keywords, and I’m sure we’ll get into that. But at its foundation, SEO is simply about putting your business in the best possible position to be discovered online.
Do you have to blog or use Pinterest to have good SEO?
SEO can actually look like a lot of different things. A lot of people immediately think of blogging, but what I always say is that it really depends on your business and your industry.
A good starting point is to look up the main keyword you want to be found for—something like “marketing coach” or “website designer.” If the businesses ranking at the top are consistently publishing blog content, that’s a strong sign that you likely need a blog or some form of regular, long-form content.
That content could also be a podcast or YouTube videos, as long as it’s being linked back to your website. All of that helps support your ability to be competitive in search results.
What are you seeing as the most effective or leverageable tools for getting discovered?
I’m seeing a lot of people, especially going into 2026, say, “Okay, this is the year I finally pay attention to my SEO.”
We know that other algorithms can be pretty unstable, and what’s interesting is the difference between how Google and AI evaluate content. Traditionally, Google focused heavily on website authority—what information you had on your site that supported you being the best result for a given search.
AI, on the other hand, looks much more at your entire digital footprint. That doesn’t mean you can just exist on Instagram, but it does mean that when your business shows up consistently across multiple platforms, you’re more likely to be seen as an authority.
Google is actually shifting in this direction too. They’ve started incorporating things like YouTube into Google Search Console. Overall, algorithms are creating a more holistic picture of your brand, but your website still typically sits at the center of that ecosystem.
So essentially, the more places you’re consistently talking about the thing your ideal client is searching for, the more likely you are to show up when they search.
Is SEO Dead in the Age of AI Search?
Honestly, people have been saying SEO is dead for my entire career—so about five years now. That’s probably why I didn’t take it very seriously when I first started dabbling seven or eight years ago.
But it has shifted significantly, especially with AI. I was looking at some stats recently: in 2022, Google had about 5.5 billion searches per day. By 2025, that number was close to 17 billion.
Yes, more people are stopping at AI overviews, and the exact numbers are always changing, but estimates say around 60% of searches may end there. That said, when you zoom out, people are searching more than ever. We have information at our fingertips, and we’re using it constantly.
Would I start a purely informational blog in 2026? Probably not. But if you’re using content to support your business—especially in industries like web design, coaching, or consulting—AI can only take someone so far. Eventually, people want the next step, and as long as they’re looking for that, there will always be platforms trying to connect them with real experts.
If someone doesn’t want to just create surface-level informational content, what does depth actually look like now? For your clients, what does it mean to move beyond “quick answers” and become the next step people are looking for?
Yeah, that’s really the million-dollar question. One of the biggest buzzwords I’m hearing right now is “thought leadership,” and people want a shortcut to becoming a thought leader—but it doesn’t work like that.
One of the biggest shifts I’m seeing is the importance of actually having conversations with your audience again. There’s so much AI-generated content out there, and while more isn’t always better, depth still matters. You can’t just publish a 600-word surface-level piece either.
What helps people stand out now is creating content that’s fresh, relevant, and rooted in firsthand experience—and making it clear that you’re still actively engaging with real humans. Both Google and AI have explicitly said they prioritize content created by authors who have direct experience with what they’re talking about.
That’s a direct response to so many people using AI to write about things they’ve never actually done.
There have been some early reports, and this is still fairly new, but traffic coming from ChatGPT is starting to behave a lot like referral traffic. People are spending more time on websites, almost as if they were personally recommended.
In many cases, that traffic is actually less “cold” than traditional Google search traffic. Whether it’s right or wrong, we tend to feel like ChatGPT really understands what we’re looking for. So when it recommends someone, there’s already a level of trust built in.
It’s kind of wild, considering it’s a robot—but instinctively, we treat that recommendation as, “This is probably the right person.”
Does Volume of Content Matter? Or Does Consistency with SEO Matter More?
I actually don’t think consistency matters as much as people think. Fresh, relevant content is definitely prioritized, but high-quality content matters more.
And yes, we always say “quality over quantity,” but you do still need a meaningful amount of content. I don’t want to dismiss that. You can’t just publish one or two great blog posts and expect results. So there does need to be some volume.
That said, do you need to blog once a week for the rest of your life? No. You can absolutely build what I call a “capsule blog” around your core ideas. You can update and tweak those pieces over time, especially if you serve multiple ideal clients.
For example, you might have one core blog geared toward business coaches and another geared toward website designers. Is the foundational content wildly different? Not really—but there are intentional tweaks that help each piece speak directly to a specific audience.
Another major shift we’re seeing—really, that everyone is seeing—is how much more specific searches are becoming. People aren’t just typing in three vague keywords anymore. They’re essentially giving Google—or ChatGPT—their entire backstory and saying, “This is exactly what I’m looking for.”
And in that sense, it’s actually incredibly exciting for small business owners. There has never been more opportunity for someone to be searching for exactly what you offer. You’re no longer just competing for something broad like “marketing consultant”—you’re showing up for highly specific, high-intent searches.
Does that mean the person creating the content or marketing also has to be extremely specific in the language they’re using?
I think algorithms are incredibly sophisticated now. We’re seeing some sensationalized takes—similar to “SEO is dead”—like “keywords are dead.” And it’s true that content doesn’t need to include an exact keyword over and over again for algorithms to understand what you’re talking about.
That said, keyword research is still hugely important. We have to be mindful of what people are actually searching for. You see this all the time in marketing—people branding themselves as something super abstract like a “unicorn marketing specialist.” But if no one is searching for that, it’s hard to get discovered.
Where it’s changed is that you don’t need to repeat the exact keyword eight times in a blog post anymore. And what’s really interesting is how AI works compared to Google. Google historically evaluated your website as one core piece of authority. But with AI, around 90% of recommendations are actually coming from positions 21 and beyond—page three or later.
Those pages would never see the light of day in traditional Google search, but because people are asking incredibly specific questions in ChatGPT and other AI models, there’s now an opportunity to show up for very niche, high-intent searches. And that really aligns with what you talk about on this podcast—going deep and meeting people exactly where they are.
What is the lifecycle of investing in SEO? For your clients, what does traffic look like one year out, two years out, or even longer?
That’s honestly my favorite thing about SEO. If you’re starting from scratch, I always recommend blending in some trend-based content—things like “2026 trends” posts. Those won’t last forever, but they can bring in traffic now.
At the same time, you want foundational content around what you actually do in your business. Those pieces can easily last three years, and then you just update them. That kind of longevity is huge.
In my wedding business, I still get leads every single month from Google. The majority of leads come from search—and I’ve published about 12 blog posts in five years. We built a solid bank of content and update it occasionally. It’s not about recreating content constantly.
We’ve been trained to chase these short dopamine spikes—I post something, I get applications. But very few people stop to ask, Do I want to play this game for the next 10 years?
Totally. And to your point about needing to be everywhere, I think people are starting to see Instagram more as a nurture tool than a pure growth tool.
People might find you on Google or ChatGPT, but then they vet you. No one is hiring someone for $10,000 or $20,000 just off a website. They’re going to check your podcast, your Instagram, maybe YouTube—depending on the industry.
There’s never been more advantage to having a holistic presence.
If someone is feeling burned out by social and wants to start planting longer-term seeds, what does that look like? How are people repurposing content effectively for SEO?
We can repurpose so much. In my business, I’m not writing brand-new blog posts every week from scratch. I publish a weekly podcast episode, and that becomes a full blog post—not just show notes, but a 3,000-word post based on the transcript.
I also publish one YouTube video a week, which becomes another blog post. So my site gets two new blog posts weekly, and turning them into blogs is a small amount of extra work compared to creating the podcast or video itself.
YouTube is discoverable on its own. Podcasts, not so much. A lot of people assume podcasts are searchable, but for the most part, listeners find them because you tell them about it.
What I see instead are download spikes when podcast episodes rank well on Google. Someone finds the blog, listens to the episode, and then stays in my orbit—which is ultimately the goal.
How should someone think about Pinterest if they’re considering SEO in 2026?
You definitely don’t need Pinterest for SEO, but there are huge advantages to including it.
For one, pins are showing up more and more in AI overviews. And visually, a pin is often more compelling to click than a text-based source link. If someone wants to go deeper after an AI overview, they’re naturally drawn to the visual result.
Pins also show up in Google Image Search. And beyond that, I think people massively underestimate how many users are on Pinterest. The platform is still growing month over month. They’re at around 600 million monthly users, so it’s not a small platform by any means.
Another big benefit is backlinks. Backlinks are a major factor in how authoritative your website appears. With Pinterest, your boards support your website links, and each individual pin points back to your site. All of that strengthens your authority.
Pinterest also has about 12 core content categories, and business is one of them. One example I like to give is that searches for investment apps are up over 600% this year. That kind of search doesn’t end with just information—people want to download something, buy something, or take action.
If you have content that supports that next step—like “Here’s what you need to know before using your first investment app”—Pinterest becomes a powerful entry point. There’s a misconception that Pinterest is just pretty photos, but that’s not how people actually use it.
I actually attended a marketing conference last year with major brands and the Pinterest spokesperson talked about how much the platform has grown since she became CEO and how diverse the user base is—Gen Z, millennials, and even older generations who are returning because of how curated the experience has become.
Exactly. Pinterest is a true top-of-funnel platform. No one is converting from a single pin. You’re not nurturing someone there—you’re simply getting them to the next step.
Your goal is to move them somewhere else: your website, your email list, your podcast, your offer.
And one thing I’ll add is that Pinterest is one of the few platforms actively committed to being a positive place on the internet. I think people are craving that, and they’re coming back because of it.
I always say Pinterest is where people go when they want something in their life to change—planning a wedding, getting healthier, starting a business, rebranding, launching something new. It’s an action-oriented platform.
Have you seen cases where someone ranks well or gets discovered, but the conversion doesn’t happen because what comes next isn’t clear or compelling?
Oh, absolutely. That happens all the time—on every platform.
One thing I want to clarify, though, is that Pinterest users do take action. Research consistently shows that Pinterest users spend more money than users on other platforms. Around 85% of regular pinners have made a purchase based on what they found there.
Where things break down is usually on the website experience. Many people build websites assuming only their Instagram audience will visit. But cold traffic from Pinterest or search needs a completely different experience.
If someone clicks a pin and lands on a blog, is it immediately obvious that you’re a business? Or does it feel like an industry Wikipedia page with no clear next step?
So would you recommend that anyone leveraging SEO should intentionally design their ecosystem to welcome cold traffic just as much as warm traffic?
Yes—100%. And not just your website, but your individual blog posts.
I always start blog posts by introducing the topic and who I am. Within the first couple of paragraphs, it’s clear what the next step is—working with me, reading another post, signing up for my podcast, joining my email list.
People skim. You have to make it obvious.
Pinterest is rarely a middle- or bottom-of-funnel platform. If people aren’t converting, it’s usually because the middle-of-funnel pieces are missing.
We’re also seeing longer buying cycles across industries. Someone might find you on Pinterest, then later come across you on Instagram, and eventually purchase there—while thinking Instagram was where they found you.
In reality, that first touchpoint often gets forgotten. Pinterest, search, and SEO are quietly doing a lot more work than people realize.
Okay, 2026—I don’t want to rely on social media alone, and they’re curious about SEO, where do they even start? If you were designing an ideal “success plan” for 2026, what would you recommend people prioritize first?
The very first place I would start is your website. A lot of people want to skip straight to blogging or Pinterest, but your website is where people actually convert.
At the bare minimum, your site needs to be set up to capture traffic—clear messaging, clear offers, and your main keywords included in the core pages. Optimizing your website has the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time, and it supports everything else you do.
The second thing I’d focus on is backlinks. Look at where your website is currently linked—or not linked. If your Instagram still uses a link-in-bio tool instead of your website, or your LinkedIn doesn’t link to your site, that’s an easy fix.
Then look at external platforms. In the wedding industry, for example, there are directories like The Knot or WeddingWire. Many industries have free directories. Getting those links pointing back to your website helps establish authority and gives you a strong foundation.
Next, I would start blogging—but in the smartest, lowest-lift way possible. If you already have content, like a podcast or YouTube videos, start by turning that content into blog posts.
Repurposing is very low effort compared to creating something new from scratch, and it’s something a team member can often help with. If you do that consistently for about three months, you’ll already have a solid base of content.
From there, you can layer in additional blog posts that are more specific to your services. Podcasts don’t always align perfectly with what you sell, so that’s where strategic blogging can help. Later on, you can add platforms like Pinterest or expand YouTube—but the key is starting small and building momentum.
People say, “I’ll just use AI to write my blogs” or “I’ll use AI for my captions.” So what’s your perspective? Is AI something people can fully hand off blog writing and SEO to—or where does the human touch still matter?
Yeah, I definitely think AI can do a lot, but you can’t just copy and paste.
There have been a lot of SEO tests where people create brand-new websites and flood them with AI-generated content. What tends to happen is the site rises in search results really quickly and then drops dramatically.
That’s because platforms ultimately care about how humans interact with content. Humans just don’t engage with AI content the same way. Google has said they’re not penalizing AI content, but rankings are still based on EEAT—experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Experience is the newer part of that. Google used to focus on expertise, authority, and trust, but now they also want to know if the author has firsthand experience with the topic.
AI can’t provide lived experience. Google and AI tools have both said they prioritize content written by people who are actually doing the work.
Big companies are investing heavily in this. Google is using platforms like Reddit to understand how humans actually talk. Adobe recently acquired SEMrush for about $1.9 billion. SEO isn’t going anywhere—it’s becoming more human.
AI is great for a first draft, but right now it’s critical to have a human rewrite it, add insight, and fact-check it.
I had a client who was using AI to turn podcast episodes into blog posts, and someone pointed out that something in one of the blogs wasn’t correct. And they were right. That kind of thing can really damage trust fast.
When Google talks about “experience,” what does that actually mean? Is it about the experience someone has consuming the content, like time on site, or something else?
Yeah, good question. Google does look at user experience metrics, but when I’m talking about experience here, I mean the author’s experience with the subject matter.
They want to know that the person writing is actually in it—doing the work, talking to people, and not just summarizing information they found online.
So do you think Google interprets that more through surface-level credibility—like accolades or features—or more through the depth and amount of content someone has around a topic across the internet?
I think it’s a mix of things, but one of the easiest ways to infuse experience into what you’re creating is honestly just good storytelling. Not like ChatGPT storytelling—but saying things like, “I was sitting down with a coaching client,” or “I coach for X, Y, Z, and this came up.”
What about trustworthiness?
Yeah, I think a big part of it is how consistent their brand or business is.
For example, with software companies, you have places like Trustpilot where people can leave reviews. Google is absolutely looking at how many reviews your Google Business profile has. So if testimonials or reviews haven’t been a priority, that’s something to think about.
And when I say consistency, I don’t mean blogging twice a week. I mean that what you’re saying on Google matches what you’re saying on Instagram, which matches what’s on your website. There’s alignment across platforms, and that makes the brand feel stronger.
Another thing is the age of your domain and website. That’s not something you can fast-track, but if you don’t have a website right now, now is definitely the time to get one up.
What are the through-lines you can make sure exist everywhere you show up? Because if you’re just creating content quickly with AI but everything is all over the place in terms of beliefs and perspectives, that can actually be detrimental, even if you’re technically being “consistent.”
AI sounds really good, right? You’re going to laugh, but as a business coach, I was scrolling Threads and saw a ChatGPT coaching prompt. The post said something like, “Run this through ChatGPT, then take it to your coach to strategize.”
And I was like, okay, what the heck—I’m curious. I believe in human coaches, but I wanted to see what it would say.
And honestly, it gave me a plan that sounded really convincing. It wasn’t bad. But my human experience kicked in, and I could tell, this wouldn’t actually work. It just talked in circles.
So in some ways, people starting businesses now are really lucky to have AI. But on the other hand, it can be a huge detriment. ChatGPT—and honestly Instagram too—can convince you that you’re being productive, give you dopamine, and make you feel like you’re doing the work, when sometimes the slower wins are what actually build something sustainable.
Right now, marketing is full of quick wins, but those quick wins trap people in that cycle. So if someone is listening and saying, “Okay, I want to commit to SEO—not just for Google, but for AI, ChatGPT, all of it,” what’s the honest expectation they should go in with?
Yeah. I usually tell people six to twelve months, depending on the industry.
If you’re a local business—like a local wedding photographer—six months can be realistic. If you’re a website designer who can work globally, it’s more like twelve months to two years.
Not that you don’t see wins before then, but to actually see ROI compared to what you’re putting in, it can take a year or more.
And the early wins look different. Before you see ROI in your bank account, your blog post has to rank. It might start on page 20—there’s no ROI on page 20. Then it moves to page 15, and you’re like, okay, something’s happening. Still no ROI.
Then one post starts doing well. Then another does. Those wins stack before you ever see consistent traffic.
Once you have traffic, then you can optimize for conversions. Before that, you don’t really know how people will take the next step.
So realistically, one to two years. But if you blog once a week, after two years you have over 100 posts.
In the early stages, the wins have to be things like, “I published this blog, sent it to my email list, and made content from it.” Those are the wins you hold onto—until you start hearing, “I found you on Google.”
If someone has no blogs on their site right now, how does someone from TikTok or Instagram who might want to invest with them use their website to warm up?
I was actually just thinking about a stat I read recently—businesses with blogs on their website convert at a rate 13 times higher than businesses without blogs.
And honestly, I hate to say this as someone who’s a writer, but it doesn’t even really matter if people are reading every word. The fact that the content is there matters.
People skim. They double-check. Very few people read every blog before hiring you. They might skim one or two, then head to your services page or Instagram to warm up further.
Most of us aren’t reading word by word, but having blogs increases trust and makes people more likely to convert.
What I take from this is that SEO is absolutely not dead. If I had to summarize it in one line, I’d say: SEO isn’t dead, it’s just different. So if someone’s listening and thinking, Okay, I’m curious… where do I learn more or reach out to you?
Yeah, for sure. The easiest place to find me is thekarareport.com. I also have a weekly podcast called The Kara Report—naming is not my strength.
I also have a private podcast on my website called Build It Once, Get Found for Months, where I walk through my entire process step by step. That’s a great place to start.
