SEO - Should You Still Invest?

There is no doubt AI is already changing the way people look for information, but people are incredibly bad at predicting the future. So is search really dead or soon to be dead? In the famous futurist manifesto Back to the Future II they thought we would have flying cars in 2015……enough said.

AI & Searching For Businesses

At present AI like ChatGPT is pretty good at finding and summarising general information. Like “give me a one page summary on World War 2” or “Explain how rockets work to a 10 year old.”

What about the question: “Who is the best plumber in my local area?” If you tell ChatGPT where you live it will give you an answer but this information is pulled directly from Google and is based on high ranking companies (websites with good SEO) and businesses with good reviews. 

Personally I would rather go to the source for this type of information. I want to see the best ranking company websites, look at any google reviews and make my decision from there.

Websites, Google Business Profiles and ratings still play a huge role when people are making a buying decision as all of these help to establish trust and credibillity. This is unlikely to change any time soon. 

Investing In SEO

Investing in SEO means that your website and Google Business profile will rank higher. These are key factors when potential customers are looking for a business. Investing in SEO builds up assets that continue to work overtime. People are not ready yet to just take the word of our AI overlords. They want to get a feel for the business by looking at their website and see what other customers are saying about it. Investing in SEO is the only way to stand out here.

The Future

The need for a business to establish trust and credibility won’t change. Boosting your businesses visibility through SEO to establish trust and credibility is still a key way to get new customers. Even the big AI sites themselves still invest in SEO so they can be found.

The exact means and methods of getting reviews and having your website stand out from others may change but the need to won’t. That’s why partnering with a digital marketing agency that is on top of all the latest trends is key. Reach out for a chat and we can go through the latest digital marketing trends and strategies and which is right for your business.

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