Milivoje Krivokapic 
Heard that search is changing? Old news. It’s already changed.
AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and countless “AI-first” tools have reshaped how users interact with information. Some marketers are sounding the alarm: if users can just ask AI, do they even search anymore?
It’s sparked a rising question across the SEO community and client calls: is SEO dead?
Let’s bust that.
The Myth: Search Is Dying Because of AI
We get it. It feels like things are moving fast, and they are. Traffic patterns are shifting, click-through rates are changing, and Google is rolling out updates at breakneck speed.
But jumping to the question “is SEO dead” skips the part where users still turn to search engines every day, millions of times. They’re just doing it in new ways.
The myth stems from the rise of AI answers replacing traditional links. If an AI tool gives a perfect summary, does that mean your content no longer matters?
Not even close.
The Truth: Search Isn’t Dying. It’s Just Changing Shape.
Search isn’t disappearing. It’s diversifying.
Yes, AI Overviews are reducing some clicks (up to 60% stats say). But those summaries depend on well-optimized, crawlable content to work. Without your content, AI has nothing to summarize.
Google’s own documentation makes it clear: AI Overviews pull from high-quality, indexable pages. ChatGPT’s summaries and Perplexity’s citations? Also built on live search data.
So instead of asking, is SEO dead, ask this: What kind of SEO wins in an AI-driven SERP?
It’s the kind that answers questions clearly, earns trust fast, and feeds the engines powering both links and summaries.
Why It Matters
Ignore SEO now, and here’s what you risk:
- Losing visibility in AI Overviews that do credit content sources
- Missing traffic from longer-tail queries that AI still struggles with
- Falling behind competitors who adapt their SEO to new formats
- Giving up on discoverability right when your audience needs clarity most
Search is fragmenting across Google and AI platforms. But every one of them relies on structured, optimized content.
The question “is SEO dead” ignores the real shift: it’s not less SEO. It’s smarter SEO.
What We Recommend
To stay competitive in this new landscape:
- Structure content to answer questions quickly (clear H2s, bullet points, TL;DRs)
- Use schema markup to help engines extract and display your info
- Target longer, natural-language queries, how users speak to AI
- Build trust with original, expert-led content
- Track AI visibility, not just blue-link rankings
- Track impressions, citations, and branded search growth, not just click volume
This is the era of AI-assisted search, not AI-replaced search. That means AI isn’t killing search. It rewards the SEO pros who know how to adapt.