AI search and Google SEO: what actually changes
Much of the old work still counts. What changes is what winning looks like.
If you've paid for SEO before, the fair question is whether this is the same thing with a new name. It isn't, but it isn't unrelated either.
What stays the same
Crawlable pages, accurate details, real reviews, a complete Google profile, pages about one thing each. All of it still matters. Nothing you did properly for search is wasted.
What changes: there's no list
Ranking meant being somewhere on a page of ten links. Someone scrolling might still find you at number seven. An assistant names two or three businesses and stops. There is no position seven. You're named or you aren't.
What changes: they quote you
Google showed a link and let the visitor decide. An assistant reads your page and repeats what it says. That rewards a different kind of writing — specific, direct, immediately quotable. "Competitive pricing" was weak for search and is useless here.
What changes: there's nothing to buy
No ad slot in an AI answer, no placement to pay for. That cuts both ways: a bigger competitor can't outspend you into the answer, but you can't shortcut it either.
What changes: the answer moves
A ranking is fairly stable. An AI answer is assembled fresh each time and varies with phrasing, engine and location. Two people in the same city can ask nearly the same question and get different businesses. That's why a single check is a snapshot, and why we re-run yours every month.
So which should you do
Both, and largely the same work. The difference is emphasis: consistency and quotable specifics matter more than they used to, and keyword rank matters less.
Curious where you stand? Run the free AI visibility check on your own website — it takes about a minute.