Does SEO Still Matter for AI Search? (ChatGPT & AI Overviews)

23 Oct 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:24

In this YouTube discussion, Jason Berkowitz and a co‑host explore whether traditional SEO remains relevant in the era of AI‑driven search and conversational overviews such as ChatGPT and Claude. They debate the uncertainty surrounding AI search—its rapid evolution, misinformation, and the question of whether marketers should even be optimizing for it now. The conversation highlights that successful SEOs historically thrive by constantly adapting, and that this adaptability will be tested as AI platforms reshape discovery. They argue that strong SEO fundamentals—high visibility, digital PR, and link building—still boost a brand’s presence in AI‑generated answers, because the more a brand appears on the web, the more likely it is to be cited. The speakers also touch on future possibilities like direct purchases within AI platforms (akin to a rarely used Google Shopping model) and stress the need for technical preparations (e.g., robots.txt, llms.txt) to ensure content is indexable by large language models. Overall, the video presents a pragmatic, cautiously optimistic view: while the AI search landscape is uncertain, evolving SEO practices and technical readiness remain essential for marketers.

Overall, I think there probably is going to be a world where you can, very similar to Google Shopping, which nobody really uses, make a purchase directly in a platform without visiting a website. But I think that would also require a big shift in consumer behavior.
So, I mean, there's a lot of randomness, there's misinformation, there's just so— I think the key phrase here is we don't know. Right? It is so new and evolves so quickly. Rather than ask, you know, how do I optimize for AI? I think a better question is, should I even be thinking about it? Right? Is this even a current ongoing concern?
Concern? No. Thinking about it? Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it's beneficial to have a pulse on the changing landscape of technology. The best SEOs that have been around, if you knew SEOs 15 years ago that are still absolutely killing it today, It's because they have the trait of evolving and adapting and accepting. And the older we get, the more stubborn we get, and the willingness to adapt and evolve decreases significantly. So things are changing right now and things are going to continue to change, but the swiftness of a great SEO will be put to the test in their willingness to adapt and evolve, and other marketers as well. So, Having it as a concern, maybe not being aware of what's taking place. Absolutely. Because also there's a lot of data to show that really good SEO just helps with really good visibility in these platforms, in AI mode, in AI overviews, ChatGPT, Claude. So when you think about like, oh, the more times your brand appears on the web, you're more likely to be more favorable in these AI platforms. Okay, cool. Digital PR and link building. Same thing. Really good SEO now from like any correlations that people are seeing is, is just good SEO with these platforms.
Yeah. So we know, all right, the one-time things that we could do is just like general SEO stuff, robots.txt, make sure we've not excluded robots because that's how OpenAI will access the site. If you're technical, you could do this llms.txt thing. You know, it's like 20 minutes of screwing around if you have to do the research. It's not a big deal. Probably doesn't do anything, doesn't hurt anything either.