Want to future-proof your content from AI taking over search in 2026?

Surfer built a system that now brings in a quarter of their new customers directly from AI platforms.

The strategy is simpler than you think… and you can start implementing it today.

Here's the complete playbook: 👇

Step 1: Track what actually matters

Stop obsessing over Google rankings alone.

Start tracking these AI search queries:

• Problem queries ("how to improve SEO rankings")
• Category queries ("best AI SEO tools")
• Comparison queries ("X vs Y")
• Alternatives queries ("best alternatives to X")
• Integration queries ("X for content teams")

Create 2 or 3 prompts for each category that a real buyer would type if they were shopping in your space.

Test them weekly across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Step 2: Earn the missing mentions

AI loves citing Reddit, LinkedIn, and editorial roundups.

If competitors show up in "best of" lists but you don't, reach out and fix it.

Sometimes it takes one email. Other times, a small sponsorship fee.

The ROI compounds for years because AI keeps citing those same sources.

Cyrus Shepard (16+ years experience, former head of SEO at Moz) just revealed that AI optimization now makes up 30% of his consulting work.

That was 0% in January.

By December? He's predicting 70-80%.

Here's the full playbook he's using with clients right now:

1. Audit your content by type (some will survive, some won't)

E-commerce and service-based content is holding strong.

Informational blog content is getting destroyed.

According to Cyrus: "If you can write the article with AI without any proprietary knowledge, that's exactly the content seeing declines."

Run through your site and separate content into three buckets:

• Transactional (product pages, service offerings) - these are safe
• Informational with unique data (case studies, original research) - these can survive
• Generic informational (standard blog posts anyone could write) - these are dying

Focus your energy on buckets one and two. 2. Add proprietary elements AI can't replicate

Cyrus is telling every client the same thing: your content needs something AI can't generate.

Examples that work:

• Webinar libraries with actual expert insights
• Human interviews with industry leaders
• Custom graphics showing your specific data
• Proprietary information from your business (manufacturing specs, internal processes, client results)
• Firsthand experience with photos and specific details

One of his attorney clients added "expert in X, recognized by Y" statements directly on their homepage.

Near-instant improvement in AI Overview citations.

The AI could parse that expertise signal immediately.

Google's Head of Search just revealed what's actually happening to organic traffic.

And it's not what most SEO experts are telling you.

Here's what Liz Reid said about the future (and how to prepare for it):

Liz Reid has been at Google for over 20 years and now oversees Search during its biggest transition ever.

The Wall Street Journal just interviewed her about AI, traffic, and the future of search.

Here's what every SEO needs to know from that conversation: 1. AI Overviews aren't killing Google's revenue (but they ARE changing user behavior)

Liz Reid confirmed that ad revenue with AI Overviews has been "relatively stable."

Here's why: some queries get fewer ad clicks, but AI Overviews cause people to search MORE overall.

The math works like this:

Most queries don't show ads anyway. Your "who's the parent of this celebrity" searches never had ads before, they don't have ads now.

Commercial queries still convert. If the ads are for shoes, you still need to buy the shoes. AI Overviews help with research, users still click through to purchase.

Lower barriers increase search volume. When people believe they can get answers quickly and reliably, they ask more questions overall.

Google Lens proved this model. Users now photograph things they'd never have bothered describing with text. Those extra searches compensate for lower click-through rates.

The lesson: AI Overviews reduce friction, which increases total search volume, which balances out the revenue equation.

OpenAI analyzed 1.5 million ChatGPT conversations and found something critical for your business.

24% of all chats are now information-seeking, up from 14% just a year ago. (source: Search Engine Journal)

With 700 million weekly users sending 2.5 billion messages daily, that's a massive audience researching products and services right now.

When someone asks ChatGPT "best email marketing platform for e-commerce stores," they get 2-3 direct recommendations with reasoning.

No scrolling through 10 blue links. No comparing multiple sites.

If your business isn't in that answer, you're invisible to that searcher.

Here's how to fix it: 🧵👇 So what does ChatGPT actually site?

NP Digital ran dozens of product research queries to find out. The pattern is consistent:

- Industry publications with real evaluation criteria (Forbes, TechRadar, authoritative niche sites)

- Review aggregators with structured data (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot)

- Community discussions where real users share detailed experiences (Reddit, Stack Overflow)

What doesn't get cited: promotional content, thin affiliate articles, or obvious sales pages.

I’ve increased AI traffic by up to 2300% for clients. Here are 10 factors that get your content cited in AI search:

1. Clear subheadings that describe exactly what's coming next

No vague "Introduction" headers.

AI tools scan headers to understand content structure.

Descriptive headers make it easier for LLMs to pull relevant sections. 2. Define concepts in your own words before expanding on them

AI prioritizes self-sufficient content.

When you explain terms upfront, LLMs can cite your definitions without needing external sources.

Kevin Indig just tested 35,000 backlinks across 1,000 sites to see what AI search engines actually care about.

What he found breaks every rule we learned about link building.

Here's what actually works in 2025 and beyond:

Finding #1: You need to hit a minimum authority level first

According to Indig's research in Search Engine Journal, having some authority helps you show up in AI results.

But here's the thing: small gains don't matter much.

You need to reach a certain level before AI starts mentioning you consistently.

Think of it like a video game. You need to level up to a certain point before you unlock the next stage.

And here's what really matters: getting links from DIFFERENT websites.

This isn’t exactly breaking news, but it’s worth repeating because too many people still miss it.

One link each from 10 websites beats 100 links all from the same 2 websites.

AI cares about how many different places are talking about you, not just how many total links you have. Finding #2: "Nofollow" links work just as well

You know those links that are supposed to be "less valuable"? The ones marked "nofollow"?

According to Search Engine Journal's analysis, AI treats them almost exactly like regular links.

The data:

- Regular links: 0.504 correlation score
- Nofollow links: 0.509 correlation score

ChatGPT and Gemini actually prefer nofollow links slightly MORE than regular links.

This is huge because nofollow links are easier to get.

Guest posts? Check.
Social media mentions? Check.
Forum discussions? Check.

If you've been skipping these because they're "nofollow," you've been leaving wins on the table.

After running thousands of SEO audits for clients…

I've perfected a 10-step process that consistently uncovers traffic wins worth millions.

Here's the exact framework (steal it and run it on your site today):

Step 1: Crawl Setup That Actually Works

Download Screaming Frog (worth every penny for serious SEO).

Critical settings most people miss:

• Uncheck resource links to speed up crawls
• Enable near duplicates detection
• Connect Google Analytics 4 and Search Console APIs
• Add PageSpeed Insights API for performance data

This setup gives you actionable data instead of overwhelming noise. Step 2: Internal Linking Quick Wins

Export your crawl to Google Sheets and filter for two killer opportunities:

• Pages deeper than 3 clicks (poor crawl depth)
• Pages with fewer than 5 internal links

These pages are invisible to Google. Simple internal linking fixes can push them from page 10 to page 1.

I've been doing SEO for 16 years, and I still see people making the same basic mistakes with on-page SEO.

Most think they need 500 backlinks to rank. Wrong.

You can rank with fewer links if you nail your on-page structure.

Here's how to build sites that Google actually understands:

1. Start with your supporting pages first.

Stop thinking about your money pages first.

Start with your supporting pages. (Kyle Roof calls this the reverse silo approach)

Your blog posts and service pages do the heavy lifting, not your homepage.

Build from the ground up, not top down.

Your supporting pages should only exist for one main purpose: to send authority to your money page.

Don't link these pages to multiple service areas or random other pages.

They link to each other and funnel everything to the page that makes money. 2. URL structure matters way more than you think.

The more folders you put between your target page and your domain, the harder Google has to work.

Skip the /blog/ and /page/ nonsense.

Put important pages closer to your root domain.

You don't need to chase every new AISEO “hack”.

The 80/20 of AI search comes from doubling down on SEO fundamentals.

Here's what actually works for AI visibility in 2025:

1. Get mentioned across the web

AI picks up brand mentions, with or without backlinks. Focus on:

- Industry "best of" lists
- Customer reviews and case studies
- PR coverage and media mentions 2. Create content AI loves to cite

Ahrefs’ analysis shows these content types dominate AI citations:

- "Best" content: 7.06% of AI traffic (comprehensive buying guides work well)
- How-to guides: 6.35% of AI traffic (step-by-step tutorials with clear outcomes)
- "Top" lists: 5.5% of AI traffic (data-backed rankings and comparisons)
- Product comparisons: 4.88% of AI traffic ("vs" content addressing specific use cases)

The biggest SEO wins don’t come from “secret hacks.”

Here's what happened when we fixed 4 fundamental issues for a data platform client:

190% jump in AI traffic. 84% increase in organic sessions. All in 4 months.

Copy this exact framework we used for your own site:

1. Make Your Internal Links Actually Crawlable

Their main location pages used JavaScript for navigation. Google couldn't follow the links.

The fix:

- Replace JS-only navigation with proper HTML tags
- Check every important internal link loads without JavaScript
- Test crawlability using "Fetch as Google" in Search Console

Result: Pages that were invisible became discoverable overnight. 2. Reclaim Lost Authority from Broken Backlinks

High-authority sites were linking to pages that no longer existed. Pure waste.

The process:

- Export all 404 URLs with referring domains from Ahrefs
- Map each broken link to the most relevant live page
- Set up 301 redirects to preserve domain authority
- Prioritize redirects from high-authority domains first

This step alone recovered months of lost ranking power.