SEO Recycled, AI Deep Dives, SMB Efficiency Gaps, Expert-Led Content

Issue highlight - clarity, data, and contrarian perspectives to sharpen your content strategy.

Jul 30, 2025

Dear Readers,

In today's edition:

AI Search Disrupts SEO: The New Playbook
10 Survival Tactics for SEO in the Age of AI
Debunking the “SEO Is Dead” Myth with Data
AI Deep Research: The Marketer’s Secret Weapon
Authenticity Over Polish: The Power of Expert-Led B2B Content
AI in SMB Marketing: Efficiency Gains and Adoption Gaps
…and more. Enjoy the read!

In today's edition, we're taking another look at yet another 'end of SEO,' along with several other topics. Let's kick off with an insightful report on SEO in the age of AI.

AI Search Disrupts SEO: Brainlabs Data, 200 Countries, and the New Playbook

AI search isn’t nibbling at SEO’s edges, it’s rewriting the rules. Brainlabs’ July 2025 report shows Google’s AI Overviews now run in 200 countries and 40 languages. The kicker? 96% of AI Overview links still come from the top 10 organic results, but click-throughs are plummeting.

Impressions up, clicks down: Marketers see more visibility but fewer site visits as AI answers user queries directly.
Bot traffic overtakes humans: 2024 marked the first year bots outnumbered people on websites.
AI search visitors are 4.4x more valuable than traditional organic, but attribution is a nightmare.
Winning requires “Search Everywhere Optimization”: Brands must build credibility and structure across all platforms, not just websites.

“Impressions are climbing, but clicks are steadily dropping.”

And here's the full report.

So if you want to dig deeper...

SEO Isn’t Dead - But AI Is Changing the Game: 10 Survival Tactics

Google’s search share just dipped below 90% for the first time in a decade. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans have used ChatGPT at least once. The old SEO playbook? It’s obsolete. Here’s what actually works now.

Google now delivers half the referral traffic it did four years ago.
27% of U.S. users report using AI tools instead of search engines.
AI chatbots reached 987 million global users in 2025.

Here are our top tips for now to tie everything up – with the emphasis on ‘for now’:
Extend your reporting to make sure that you understand where you’re appearing. Google is now testing its AI reports in Search Console, for example, and those will be mighty handy.
Create top quality content that’s well structured and visual.
People search using AI Chatbots in a more rambly conversational way versus the abrupt phrases of classic SEO (‘sustainable marketing agency’ vs. ‘can you recommend a sustainable marketing agency that might be able to help me in Europe in English, please?’). So take exact keyword volumes with a pinch of salt when creating content. Instead, consider overall themes and audiences.
Avoid scientific ‘top-of-funnel’ content where people would rather get a quick AI summary that assimilates a load of sources instead of just, like, your opinion. Don’t write a post on ‘how to…’ or ‘what is…’ unless it’s a very special take.
Be creative and tell original personal stories that AI can’t easily replicate. Even better to be a little opinionated, like AI isn’t.
Adopt the Reddit spirit. People search for ‘x + reddit’ because they want a human perspective. Bring a bit of that personality into your brand’s content.
Philosophically, get back to thinking about how people found things before SEO. Consider AI to be like an erudite – if unreliable – friend making recommendations. - Embrace unpredictability. What works today might vanish tomorrow. The relative steadiness of SEO has been rocked.
On the other hand, don’t change too much! Some of the same ‘brand building’ things that work for modern SEO will also help you to be cited by AI.
Simply, make sure AI agents can crawl your site and there are no technical barriers.
Examine your server logs using tools like Screaming Frog. This can give you a deeper view of how AI chatbots are interacting with your content. Standard analytics like GA4 can’t tell you what’s happening when people engage with your content through ChatGPT or Custom GPTs.

SEO’s “Death by AI” Is Overhyped: Data Shows Old Playbooks Still Win

AI search isn’t killing SEO. It’s recycling it.

93.57%: Google’s search share in 2024, dwarfing ChatGPT’s sub-1% (SparkToro).
“Revolutionary” AI tactics? Mostly rebranded SEO - long-tail keywords, multi-modal content, and cross-platform visibility have been standard since 2015.
AI search visitors convert 4.4x better than organic, but traffic volume remains tiny (Semrush, June 2025).
Core SEO skills - content quality, technical optimization, and user intent - remain the foundation. AI just adds new layers: prompt engineering, NLP, and workflow automation.

“SEO professionals remain uniquely qualified to guide companies through the transition to AI-powered search environments.”

AI Deep Research: The Strategic Edge Marketers Ignore

Most marketers waste hours sifting through surface-level search results. DeepResearch AI flips the script, delivering 80%‑complete strategic briefs in under 90 minutes - work that used to take two days.

Go beyond page one: DeepResearch uncovers sources buried past the top 100 search results, including analyst reports and social sentiment from forums like Reddit.
Synthesize, don’t just search: AI aggregates competitor messaging, identifies content gaps, and surfaces emerging trends - no more manual slog.
Prompt like a pro: Structured, goal-driven prompts yield actionable insights. Vague questions get you summaries; specific tasks get you strategy.
Reality check: AI can hallucinate. Always verify sources and context before acting.

“It wasn’t about automating work. It was about surfacing research, case studies and trends past the first page of search results.”

Expert-Led B2B Content: Why Authenticity Outperforms Polish

B2B buyers are tuning out glossy, brand-safe content. They crave real insights from practitioners, not marketers.

Expert-led posts drive results: Informal videos and candid takes from founders or product leads spark thousands of views and direct sales conversations.
Marketers must shift roles: The best teams act as amplifiers, not gatekeepers, helping internal experts turn raw experience into public value.
Proof in numbers: Brands like Lavender and Gong built communities and pipeline by putting subject-matter experts front and center, not behind templates.
Risk pays off: Letting go of total brand control increases trust and engagement, even if it means going off-message.

AI in SMB Marketing: 13 Hours Saved, $4.7K Cut - But Only 23% Go All-In

Most small businesses dabble in AI, but few go deep. A new ActiveCampaign study of 1,000 marketers found:

AI saves SMB marketers 13 hours per week and $4,739 monthly per team.
Only 23% use AI across the full marketing cycle; 82% use it for at least one task.
Power users (15%) are 14x more likely to apply AI end-to-end and save nearly 15 hours weekly.
Transparency pays: 64% of businesses that openly share AI use see very positive customer reactions.

The real edge? Teams reinvesting time savings into strategy and creativity are outpacing larger rivals. Occasional AI use is table stakes - systematic adoption is the multiplier.

B2B Content Marketing Round Up

Discussion about this post