An SEO School Shuts Down
1. Google Updates
Google Updates is one of the reasons cited for the decline of the content site model. Here’s the candid part: If the Google updates killed your publishing site, that’s kind of the red flag that there’s something about the SEO that needs examination.
2. AI Content
The other reason cited by the SEO school is the "AI content tsunami." I’m not sure what they mean by that because the phrase can mean a lot of things. Does it refer to Google getting overwhelmed by AI content spam? There’s been a lot of that in the early part of 2024 and the latter part of 2023.
3. Dramatic Changes To The SERPs
The third reason for the decline of the content model is the dramatic changes to Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Now this, this is a valid reason, but not for the reasons most SEOs think.
Dramatic Change Is The Status Quo
This is what I mean when I say that when you’ve been doing SEO as long as I have then you come to expect change and roll with them. The problem is that the SEO industry tends to settle into a specific way of doing things and search engines pass them by and that’s when SEOs say things like, "I’m doing everything right but Google isn’t ranking me anymore, it’s unfair."
SEO Is Now AEO?
Someone started a discussion with two sentences that said AEO is the new SEO and that ChatGPT was quickly becoming the leading search engine, inspiring well over a hundred responses. The discussion is in a private Facebook group called AI/ChatGPT Prompts for Entrepreneurs.
Conclusion
The truth is that dramatic change is the status quo in the world of search engine optimization. The most successful SEOs are those who are able to adapt to these changes quickly and effectively.
FAQs
Q: What is AEO?
A: AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization, which is a new term for AI-based search optimization.
Q: Is AEO a thing?
A: No, AEO is not a thing, according to the discussion in the private Facebook group. Many observed that ChatGPT uses Bing’s index, so if you’re doing "AEO" for ChatGPT, you’re actually just doing SEO for Bing.
Q: What is the future of SEO?
A: The future of SEO is in adapting to the changes in search engine algorithms and user behavior, particularly the rise of AI-powered search engines.
Q: What are the key takeaways from this article?
A: The key takeaways are that dramatic change is the status quo in the world of SEO, and that SEOs need to adapt to these changes quickly and effectively to remain successful.
