A No-BS Information For Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are making daring statements about AI search engine optimization day-after-day.

The issue?

Most of them are half-right at finest.

“search engine optimization is useless.”
“Lengthy-form content material is pointless.”
“AI search engine optimization is simply good search engine optimization.”

Right here’s the reality:

In relation to AI, the reply is never that straightforward.

Are you making an attempt to indicate up in ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews?

Would you like the AI to suggest your model or cite your content material?

Is the mannequin pulling from coaching information or stay net outcomes?

Every of these questions has a distinct strategy.

Attempting to generalize solely causes confusion.

So, let’s skip the hype and get particular.

This information exams at the moment’s greatest AI myths in search engine optimization to uncover what’s true, what’s false, what’s difficult, and what all of it actually means to your advertising technique.

1. True or False: search engine optimization Is Useless

False.

SEO still isn’t dead.

It’s simply more durable than it was once.

AI Overviews are stealing clicks.

Content material quantity has exploded.

And search conduct has fragmented.

However that doesn’t imply search engine optimization is useless.

What’s Really Occurring

The worldwide search engine optimization market continues to be rising at 16.7% a year.

And Google Search itself continues to broaden, in keeping with Exploding Topics.

Additionally, to this point it seems like AI instruments are including to go looking, not changing it.

A Semrush study of 260 billion clicks discovered that Google utilization stays regular — and even will increase — after folks begin utilizing ChatGPT.

That sample is sensible when you concentrate on how folks really use AI instruments.

If you happen to ask ChatGPT for “one of the best e mail advertising instruments,” you’ll get a stable beginning record.

However folks usually nonetheless return to Google afterward to check pricing, learn critiques, or see what others are saying.

Right here’s the catch:

Sticking with conventional search engine optimization alone will not be a protected guess.

Semrush information predicts that, if present developments proceed, AI search will overtake conventional search by 2028.

However even earlier than AI went mainstream, folks had been looking out past Google.

Again in 2022, Google data confirmed that about 40% of youthful customers most popular TikTok and Instagram for native searches.

At the moment, the search journey spans dozens of surfaces: Google, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Amazon, LinkedIn — and now, AI instruments.

search engine optimization nonetheless drives discovery. It’s only one piece of a much bigger visibility puzzle.

The longer term isn’t SEO.

It’s search everywhere optimization — exhibiting up wherever your viewers seems for solutions.

2. True or False: AI search engine optimization Is Simply Good search engine optimization

True. And in addition false.

The basics of search engine optimization nonetheless matter.

However “simply doing good search engine optimization” gained’t get you visibility in AI solutions. That’s one other AI delusion.

What’s Really Occurring

Conventional search engine optimization elements (metadata, structured HTML, schema markup, freshness) nonetheless assist AI techniques discover your pages.

However AI reply engines belief what others say about you greater than what’s by yourself website.

AI analytics agency AirOps discovered that 85% of brand mentions in AI search come from third-party domains, not owned pages.

However that doesn’t imply on-site search engine optimization not issues.

It’s the muse of AI visibility.

AI engines usually tend to cite technically clean, current pages. They search for:

• Metadata (title tags, meta descriptions, canonical tags)
• Freshness alerts (up to date dates, last-modified tags)
• Semantic HTML (clear heading hierarchy, correct use of

  and

  )
• Schema markup

Meaning your rating basis nonetheless issues, however it’s not sufficient.

AI visibility comes from combining:

• On-site readability: Technically optimized, easy-to-parse content material
• Off-site credibility: Model associations constructed by mentions, citations, and knowledgeable recognition

3. True or False: All AI search engine optimization Works the Identical

False.

Entrepreneurs discuss “exhibiting up in AI solutions” prefer it’s one sport.

It’s not.

Google dominates the search panorama a lot that conventional search engine optimization is fairly unified — one platform, one algorithm, one analytics dashboard.

However there’s no single sort of AI visibility and no single playbook for incomes it.

What’s Really Occurring

Each AI platform behaves barely in a different way.

They draw from distinctive information pipelines, weigh off-site alerts in a different way, and credit score sources in their very own methods.

For instance, Google’s AI instruments nonetheless echo its rating system.

Originality.AI discovered that many Google AI Overviews come from the highest 10 rating pages.

Different platforms look utterly totally different.

Practically 90% of ChatGPT citations come from pages ranked 21 or decrease in Google.

However for model mentions (solutions that confer with your organization), rating appears to have extra of an influence on ChatGPT.

Manufacturers that rank on web page one in all Google present up extra usually in ChatGPT solutions. Seer Interactive discovered a 0.65 correlation between excessive rankings and model mentions.

In different phrases, if HubSpot ranks on web page one for “CRM software program,” ChatGPT is extra more likely to title it when customers ask for one of the best CRMs.

4. True or False: If You’re Cited by AI, You’ll Additionally Get Talked about

Principally false.

Mentions and citations aren’t the identical factor — and one doesn’t assure the opposite.

• Mentions = when your model seems within the reply
• Citations = when your content material is trusted as a supply

You want each to remain seen long run.

What’s Really Occurring

If you happen to had to decide on, being talked about issues extra within the quick time period.

When somebody asks ChatGPT for “one of the best CRM for small companies,” you need your model to indicate up, even with out a hyperlink.

However long-term visibility compounds while you’re each seen and trusted.

Manufacturers which can be each talked about and cited seem 40% more often in repeat AI searches, AirOps discovered.

And that’s more durable than you may suppose.

In response to Semrush’s AI Visibility Index, fewer than 1 in 10 manufacturers seem in AI solutions as each talked about and cited.

Most solely get one: they’re both talked about with out a hyperlink or cited with out being named.

For example, if I lookup “What’s one of the best HR software program for small companies?” I get the next response from ChatGPT:

Of all of the responses, solely Rippling was talked about as a good selection of software program and cited as a supply.

Getting talked about and cited constantly means taking part in an extended, smarter sport.

To win each, it is advisable form the best way AI techniques discuss your model.

Earn mentions by off-site authority — PR, critiques, credible partnerships — and citations by reliable, reference-worthy content material.

5. True or False: AI Engines Don’t Care About E-E-A-T

It’s difficult.

AI engines are likely to cite pages that look reliable: clear sourcing, seen citations, and credible domains.

In different phrases, they appear for a similar issues as Google’s high quality management brokers: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).

It’s attainable to get short-term wins with content material optimized for big language fashions (LLMs) that skip conventional E-E-A-T.

However in the long run, belief alerts nonetheless matter.

What’s Really Occurring

Google’s AI techniques explicitly reference content material high quality and credibility when selecting what to quote.

Their steering on “useful, dependable, people-first content material” immediately ties to E-E-A-T.

Meaning E-E-A-T alerts nonetheless affect what will get surfaced in AI Overviews.

Outdoors Google, the sample holds.

Completely different fashions differ, however most lean towards higher-quality, extra credible domains.

For instance, a 2025 examine by PR platform Muck Rack discovered that 49% of AI citations got here from trusted information retailers.

It’s not a proper E-E-A-T rating, however it factors in the identical path: engines reward credibility.

There are exceptions, although.

This can be due to the query fan-out course of.

When AI engines use question fan-out, they break one query into many.

If a brief web page or definition solutions a single sub-question immediately, it would get pulled into that particular a part of an AI reply.

Nonetheless, these are situational wins, not a alternative for authority.

And there’s extra nuance right here:

The Muck Rack examine discovered that when questions bought subjective — like asking for recommendation or step-by-step steering — AI fashions pulled extra from company blogs than authoritative information sources.

And SurferSEO additionally discovered that AI overviews often cite community sources like YouTube, Reddit, and Quora.

However, whether or not the LLMs are taking a look at official information websites, company blogs, or neighborhood sources, they constantly most popular credible content material.

Credibility takes totally different kinds. However AI techniques pull from sources folks belief most, whether or not institutional or experiential.

Readability and group make you simpler to quote, however credibility will preserve you there.

Plus, E-E-A-T retains your content material people-friendly in addition to AI-friendly.

6. True or False: Content material Recency Issues Even Extra for AI Visibility

Principally true.

Protecting content material updated has at all times been best-practice search engine optimization.

And it’s additionally necessary for AI visibility on a lot of the public platforms.

However the relationship between freshness and visibility isn’t one-size-fits-all.

What’s Really Occurring

Seer Interactive discovered that just about 65% of AI bot visits go to content material revealed within the final 12 months.

I checked this out for myself utilizing ChatGPT. I requested the question:

Then, I requested:

And it returned:

The earliest useful resource was from 2023.

(It didn’t discover a date for the Airtable and RevvGrowth articles as a result of they weren’t “seen within the header.”)

Lastly, I requested why it selected these sources to reply the query.

It returned:

However there’s some variation in how necessary recency is.

Seer Interactive discovered that freshness issues most in fields like finance, HR, and tax, the place outdated information loses credibility quick.

In journey, the window is broader.

Evergreen guides (“finest locations for weekend metropolis breaks”) nonetheless carry out, however common updates assist keep visibility.

And in vitality, for instance, relevance usually beats recency. Instructional, evergreen pages (“inexperienced vs. renewable vitality”) proceed attracting AI hits years after publication.

Even educational content material in slow-moving niches can carry out lengthy after it’s revealed.

Seer discovered AI bots nonetheless visiting decking tutorials written 10–15 years in the past — proof that high quality evergreen content material can nonetheless maintain its floor.

7. True Or False: Lengthy-Type Content material Is Pointless to Create Now

False.

Many entrepreneurs are making a easy mistake:

They hear “AI prefers quick solutions” and conclude “AI prefers quick content material.”

AI is extra seemingly to make use of or cite content material that’s structured so it’s simple to grasp.

However that’s not about size. That’s about construction.

What’s Really Occurring

AI techniques don’t skip lengthy items.

They skip messy items.

Content material passages with clear headings helps fashions scan, interpret, and extract the suitable snippets.

There’s nothing to say your content material must be quick.

Instance: Ask ChatGPT for “one of the best sources to study search engine optimization,” and also you’ll usually see Backlinko talked about.

These guides are deep, not temporary.

They’re cited as a result of they provide an entire reply in a format each people and fashions can observe.

Lengthy-form content material additionally compounds your odds of being talked about.

AI visibility is a chance sport.

The extra your content material earns human dialogue, the extra seemingly it’s to look when AI solutions a query.

And people don’t rave about shallow content material.

Individuals share and reference the items that educate them one thing new: frameworks, analysis, comparisons, tales.

Chopping them down for AI solely strips out the context that makes your model reliable.

8. True or False: You Ought to Skip the ToFu Content material Now

False.

This is likely one of the most persistent AI myths in content material advertising.

“If AI solutions every thing, why trouble with top-of-funnel (ToFu)?”

However ToFu content material nonetheless issues. It simply has a brand new job.

Prior to now, you possibly can publish an enormous information like “What Is SEO?” and watch it climb the rankings.

These broad, academic posts drove visitors as a result of folks needed to click on by to study.

Now, AI Overviews and huge language fashions reply those self same questions proper on the outcomes web page.

However that doesn’t imply top-of-funnel content material is useless.

It simply means it’s working in a different way.

What’s Really Occurring

ToFu content material isn’t the visitors engine it as soon as was.

However it nonetheless powers two issues your advertising ecosystem will depend on: consciousness and authority.

ToFu Builds Consciousness

ToFu content material helps new audiences uncover your model, even when they don’t click on.

When somebody searches “What’s the finest time to ship advertising emails?” and sees your model title in a featured snippet or quick abstract, that’s nonetheless visibility.

It’s like a digital billboard.

Individuals won’t go to your website straight away, however they’ll begin to acknowledge your title the following time they see it.

The extra constantly your model reveals up round key trade subjects, the extra acquainted it feels to your future patrons.

That consciousness pays off later after they’re evaluating distributors or deciding who to belief.

ToFu Earns Credibility

Google and AI techniques each reward depth of protection.

They search for manufacturers that designate a complete subject — not simply their very own product.

A Search Engine Land analysis of 8,000 AI citations discovered that AI techniques repeatedly pull from in-depth, trusted sources, not surface-level articles.

In case your website solely has bottom-of-funnel pages like “Why Select [Your Product],” algorithms see a slim view.

However while you additionally publish foundational explainers and academic content material, it reveals that your model understands the complete panorama.

That issues for AI visibility too.

9. True Or False: You Ought to Publish 10x Extra Content material with AI

False.

In concept, extra content material ought to imply extra visibility.

In follow, that’s not what’s occurring.

Groups really feel strain to publish sooner as a result of AI makes manufacturing simpler.

However quantity isn’t the identical as attain.

Most scaled AI content material dies in search earlier than it ever earns authority.

What’s Really Occurring

Graphite, an AI progress company, discovered that AI-generated articles overtook human-written ones in late 2024.

However progress has stalled since then.

Perhaps as a result of entrepreneurs have discovered a easy reality:

These posts rarely show up in Google outcomes or AI citations, as Graphite’s analysis reveals.

AI content material could also be sooner and cheaper, however it’s not being seen.

Publishing in bulk can provide a quick visitors raise.

Extra listed pages imply extra impressions — for a second.

However that progress hardly ever lasts.

Google’s March 2024 Core and Spam Updates cracked down on scaled content material.

AI platforms appear to be taking the identical strategy. They reward unique perception and authority, not sheer output.

10. True or False: Excessive-High quality Content material Is All You Must Seem in LLMs

It’s extra difficult than that.

Many entrepreneurs assume that in the event that they merely create nice content material, AI instruments like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini will routinely floor it.

However “nice” isn’t sufficient.

Excessive-quality content material is a requirement. It’s what will get your pages seen, crawled, and trusted within the first place.

However visibility in AI search will depend on one thing greater: how constantly your model is referenced and acknowledged throughout the net.

What’s Really Occurring

LLMs generate responses utilizing two information sources:

• Coaching information: The static dataset the mannequin was educated on months (or years) in the past
• The stay net: Actual-time crawling and retrieval from listed pages, like Google AI Overviews or Perplexity

Every system rewards a distinct sort of visibility, and every treats “high quality” in its personal manner.

Coaching-data techniques reward model affiliation.

When a mannequin depends on its coaching information, it attracts on patterns it has already discovered.

That features which manufacturers are constantly related to which subjects.

In case your model’s title and theme seem collectively throughout hundreds of credible pages, that affiliation turns into a part of the mannequin’s long-term reminiscence.

For instance, Canva is strongly related to “easy design.” So, in case you ask ChatGPT “What’s the easiest design program?” it’s most likely going to reply Canva.

That’s how manufacturers construct “semantic possession” of an concept.

Over time, these associations grow to be the mannequin’s defaults, a sturdy moat that rivals can’t simply displace.

High quality nonetheless issues right here.

It determines whether or not folks learn, share, and cite your work — the human behaviors that create the alerts AI later learns from.

In the meantime, web-indexed techniques reward construction and authority.

When an AI system depends on stay net information, the method seems extra like search.

Fashions retrieve pages in actual time, parse construction, and extract concise, factual snippets.

On this surroundings, “high quality” means readability, construction, and credibility.

For instance, if somebody asks an AI software “finest CRM software program for small enterprise,” the mannequin pulls from pages that appear like sturdy search outcomes.

On this case, that will most likely be record posts with clear headings, comparability tables, and reliable sources.

A messy weblog with out construction or citations wouldn’t make the reduce.

Degree Up Your search engine optimization Technique for AI Visibility

You’ve seen the myths. You perceive the fact.

Now, right here’s what to truly do about it.

The excellent news? You don’t must blow up your whole SEO strategy.

Most of what you’re already doing nonetheless works.

You simply must broaden the place you’re trying and what you’re measuring.

Begin Measuring What You Can’t See

Your analytics are mendacity to you by omission.

When somebody discovers your model by ChatGPT and visits you three days later, it reveals up as direct visitors or a branded search. Zero attribution to the AI point out that began the journey.

So that you’ll must:

Monitor the oblique alerts.

• Rising branded searches whereas natural clicks decline? That could possibly be LLM discovery.
• Direct visitors holding regular regardless of fewer Google clicks? Identical factor.
• Gross sales calls the place prospects say “discovered you thru AI”? You’re getting cited.

Use devoted AI monitoring instruments.

Choices embrace Peek.ai and ZipTie.Dev. For extra complete options, Semrush Enterprise AIO is an effective possibility, particularly in case you want full-funnel visibility and superior reporting.

Construct Authority in Neglected Areas

Construct authority within the long-tail areas the place AI techniques are already mining for solutions.

Decide one slim subject and personal it utterly.

Not “e mail advertising” — suppose “e mail deliverability for SaaS firms sending 100K+ messages month-to-month.”

To know the kinds of prompts your viewers makes use of in LLMs, use the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit.

It surfaces actual prompts from a big database and organizes them by search intent.

Publish a number of angles: newbie guides, superior ways, case research, and customary errors.

When AI techniques search for experience on that particular subject, you need your model to dominate the dialog.

Get Cited The place Your Opponents Already Are

LLMs pull from knowledgeable clusters: teams of authorities that constantly seem collectively.

Right here’s methods to be a part of that circle:

• Visitor submit strategically: Goal websites that already cite your rivals in AI solutions
• Take part in knowledgeable roundups: Even with out a backlink, these mentions feed the associative net that LLMs study from
• Present up in communities: A considerate Reddit remark or detailed LinkedIn submit can carry quotation weight

Create Content material Value Citing

Be structured, not quick.

Use clear headings that reply sub-questions immediately.

Chunk every part in order that it may stand alone.

Keep E-E-A-T alerts. Expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness nonetheless matter, particularly for Google’s AI instruments.

However pair them with clearly scoped content material that AI techniques can simply learn and reuse.

And preserve it recent. Replace stats, examples, and screenshots commonly.

Get Your Groups Working Collectively

Getting cited in AI solutions is a staff sport.

The inspiration begins with three groups working in sync:

• Builders make your website technically accessible — clear crawlability, correct structured information, recent metadata
• SEOs construction content material so AI can extract it — clear heading hierarchies, scannable paragraphs, strategic schema markup
• Content material groups create data price extracting — real experience, unique insights, common updates

Let Your Neighborhood Construct Your Authority

When clients share your insights in Reddit threads or LinkedIn feedback, they’re creating quotation pathways that AI techniques uncover and worth.

Create frameworks and unique analysis folks need to reference.

Present up the place your viewers hangs out.

Contribute real experience in boards and communities.

Each considerate reply associates your model together with your core subjects.

Don’t Abandon What’s Working

Natural search stays a major visitors driver — about 44% of visits in the U.S. in Oct 2025, in keeping with SE Rating.

So it’s a good suggestion to maintain up your best-practice on-page search engine optimization habits.

Hold optimizing website construction. Repair technical points. Construct backlinks from credible domains.

Consider LLM optimization as an growth technique, not a alternative.

Concentrate on Affect, Not Simply Site visitors

Conventional search engine optimization measurement focuses on clicks and conversions.

LLM visibility measurement focuses on affect created.

Monitor metrics that matter for long-term affect:

• Visibility rating modifications throughout totally different LLM fashions
• Branded search progress (the downstream impact of AI discovery)
• Market share shifts vs. rivals in AI solutions

While you see visibility will increase, correlate them with branded search spikes in Google Search Console (GSC) to estimate actual enterprise influence.

AI search engine optimization: Belief Information Over Hype

LLMs are evolving quick. So are the principles that form visibility.

That’s why myths about AI don’t maintain up.

The reality is extra nuanced.

So don’t chase each new “AI search engine optimization hack.”

Comply with entrepreneurs whose opinion you already belief.

Then take a look at, monitor, and adapt primarily based on what really strikes the needle to your model.

Wish to go deeper?

Take a look at our full AI Search Strategy Guide and learn to get your model each talked about and cited.