Organic growth in the AI era: SEO isn’t dead, but it’s radically different

These insights come straight from our recent live course with Alex Birkett, co-founder of Omniscient Digital, where we tackled the hard truths and evolving tactics of organic marketing in the AI-driven landscape. Alex’s expertise brought clarity on how marketing teams need to pivot to remain visible and relevant, focusing on proprietary data, credibility, and strategic visibility beyond traditional SEO.

Traditional SEO as we knew it – fighting for keywords and backlinks – is gone. We’ve moved beyond Google’s top ten blue links into a landscape reshaped by AI, shifting consumer behavior, and an explosion of content. Your organic growth playbook needs a fundamental rewrite.

Google traffic, especially top-of-funnel (TOFU) traffic, is flat or declining. HubSpot, once a powerhouse with 10 million monthly visits, now hovers around 1.2 million, driven down largely by losing irrelevant topics like “famous quotes” – easy SEO grabs, but worthless for serious business impact.

BUT, organic still matters deeply. While pure traffic numbers dip, leads and revenue from organic search often remain stable or even rise. This paradox is the new normal.

AI changed the game

Platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Claude aren’t niche experiments – they’ve entered mainstream usage. Instead of Googling questions, users directly query AI tools. These platforms don’t just repackage search results – they synthesize content into crisp, concise answers. The implication: if you’re playing a volume game with average, undifferentiated content, you’re losing ground.

People now search everywhere – YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and LinkedIn – all powered or enhanced by AI. Brands need to think “search everywhere optimization,” meaning your content needs visibility across every relevant platform. This demands understanding not just keywords, but how people phrase queries across channels.

Three forces reshaping organic growth

There are three major forces reshaping the future of content:

1. Content explosion
AI has slashed the cost of content creation, flooding the internet with AI-generated “book report” content. Easy-to-answer queries get auto-summarized, pushing generic content into obscurity.

2. Quality threshold increase
AI raises content quality bars. Google’s AI Overviews and other LLMs effortlessly produce summaries. Winning organic visibility now demands net-new information – original data, fresh insights, or novel angles.

3. Reduced friction
AI reduces friction for users accessing content. Brand mentions and reputation increasingly influence AI-powered answers, driving visibility more than traditional SEO backlinks.

What marketing teams must do to stay relevant

1. Shift focus to proprietary data

Information gain – the unique value provided beyond what already exists – is your new competitive advantage. Create and distribute original data-driven insights: market surveys, unique datasets, and customer intelligence studies. This “original data advantage” makes your content irreplaceable in the eyes of AI tools and human searchers alike.

2. Credibility over keywords

To thrive in the AI-driven landscape, be the credible source, not just the keyword-rich source. AI models prioritize trustworthy brands that consistently deliver high-value, accurate content. Your expertise must be evident not just through your content, but through citations and mentions across reputable sources.

3. Brand mentions are the new backlinks

Brand mentions are the currency of trust in the AI world. AI doesn’t just count links – it weighs contextual mentions and citations from credible sources. This “surround sound SEO” strategy means actively managing your brand’s visibility across influential industry platforms and niche communities. Each mention strengthens your visibility and credibility in AI-generated results.

4. Optimize for visibility in AI

Perform regular AI visibility audits. Understand how different AI tools and LLMs perceive and represent your brand. Tools like Peak.ai or Profound can help identify visibility gaps. When you spot weak points, proactively address them with targeted content or outreach strategies.

5. Redefine TOFU content

Generic top-of-funnel (TOFU) content is dead. Replace it with targeted, differentiated content aligned precisely to user intent. Every piece of content should deliver a clear, measurable information gain. Be specific. Be actionable. Solve problems better than anyone else.

Your new organic growth playbook

Here’s your action plan to build organic visibility in the AI era:

• Audit your AI visibility: Understand how your brand is mentioned in AI-generated answers. Identify where competitors appear and you don’t.
  
• Focus on proprietary data: Generate original research, publish niche insights, and become the definitive source on key topics.
  
• Maximize credibility: Consistently produce authoritative content. Drive mentions and citations in relevant contexts.
  
• Refine your brand gravity plan: Regularly audit visibility, address citation gaps, and iterate based on market feedback.

AI visibility is a strategic asset

Your goal is simple yet challenging: become the obvious choice in every relevant search context. Achieve ubiquity in areas critical to your ideal customer profile. This is more than SEO – this is brand strategy for the AI age.

Organic growth isn’t going away. It’s evolving. SEO has shifted from keywords and backlinks to credibility, context, and quality. Marketing teams must adapt rapidly, prioritizing proprietary insights, comprehensive visibility, and AI-aligned brand strategy. Embrace the new rules, or fade into irrelevance.

The choice – and the future – is yours to shape.