Is SEO Dead?

I have regularly "Googled" over my entire 2 decade-long professional life, but I haven’t in the past 3 years. This is when Perplexity was launched (Disclaimer: I'm a "​Perplexity Fellow​", but have been their fan much before being chosen for the program).

And like most PR agencies, we used to offer SEO services, but we have intentionally stopped onboarding new SEO clients from 2025. In fact, just last week a client chose to partner elsewhere, because I essentially said:

SEO - at least as we all know it - IS DEAD.

Is SEO dead?

Don't believe me? Here are some statistics:

• 10 years ago, Google returned 1 visitor for every 2 pages scraped

• 10 months ago, Google returned 1 visitor for every 6 pages scraped.

• Today, Google returns 1 visitor for every 18 pages scraped.

• And Google is just beginning to launch "​AI mode​".

  
  

The Rise Of "Agentic AI"

Instead of just pointing to a single webpage, AI agents can synthesize information from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive answer. This means that a page doesn’t necessarily need to be at the absolute top of Google’s traditional search results to be pulled into an AI-generated response. More stats:

• Open AI Search (at launch) returned 1 visitor for every 250 pages!

• It's now around 1 visitor for 1500 pages

• Claude returns 1 visitor for 60,000 pages!!!

So, what is the future of SEO?

The future of SEO isn’t about abandoning the fundamentals, but rather about evolving them to cater to intelligent AI agents and the emergent Agentic Search paradigm. Here’s why you need to prioritize the E-E-A-T method:

• Experience: Showcase real-world experience through case studies, personal anecdotes, and practical examples.

• Expertise: Ensure your content is meticulously researched, factually accurate, and written by genuine experts in the field.

• Authoritativeness: Build your brand’s reputation and authority through consistent high-quality content, industry mentions, and thought leadership.

• Trustworthiness: Foster trust through transparent information, clear citations, and positive user reviews and testimonials. Get brand mentions and citations from reputable sources (hence PR)

There are a quick ways you can do this:

• Start with concise summaries.

• Always utilize headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down complex topics and facilitate easy extraction of information

• Embrace Structured Data and Schema Markup

• Write for Humans: Focus on clear, concise language that is easy to understand.

And the most important being Thought Leadership! Become a go-to resource in your industry by consistently publishing high-quality, insightful content.

The landscape of SEO is no longer about tricking algorithms but about genuinely serving user needs, understood and interpreted by increasingly intelligent AI. The future of online visibility belongs to those who adapt, embrace the nuances of AI, and prioritize true informational utility.