The online world is moving into a radically different direction, from the way people search to the way people work and make money.
An ever increasing number of people use AI tools on a daily basis and the primary use cases are currently:
- Searching for information.
- Working more efficiently.
If your business is heavily dependent on Google search traffic – or, if you’re an SEO responsible for driving said traffic – this development may seem scary.
For SEOs in particular, it’s a double whammy.
People are abandoning Google and they’re searching with AI tools instead.
Simultaneously, by now the same AI tools are probably better at SEO than most SEOs.
A lot of SEO tasks that used to be done manually and required some level of human expertise are now reduced to nothing more than busywork.
How are you going to beat something that can deliver a service that is probably 80% as good as yours at a fraction of the costs?
Sure, that last 20% is why we still need SEOs.
But rather than viewing AI tools as a threat, SEOs and businesses alike should view them as an opportunity.
There’s no other choice but to embrace them really – they’re not going away.
In fact, the current AI developments present a unique opportunity for SEOs to not only leverage AI to improve their own service offering, but to pivot into becoming AI experts.
I will admit that for a long time – too long – I wasn’t fully convinced myself and, while I did use the tools, I didn’t see just how big this was going to be.
That has changed.
I now believe we are entering the most exciting times ever in terms of technological advancements and the speed at which it is happening is crazy.
Those who act first – now – will reap the benefits.
We are Still Early in the AI Adoption Curve
Let’s take a step back first… Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re too late and you’ve missed the boat.
You haven’t.
I live in a bubble where everyone around me is all over AI – especially those I meet in a professional context and do business with.
They’re not just searching with it – they’re actively testing and building new AI tools and software. Visit any SEO conference or networking event and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
SEOs have been trying to figure out how to best leverage AI tools for a few years already.
But it is easy to get stuck in that bubble and think everyone is like that.
They’re not.
When I ask personal friends, random people at a bar, and even existing clients about AI, most of them have heard about AI tools – you might as well live under a rock if you haven’t – but very few are actually using them actively.
Also consider that freelance platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr are still filled with jobs like data entry, translation, and article spinning – and businesses are paying for it.
AI can already do 90% of those tasks at 10% of the costs, but here we are.
So I repeat:
We are still early in the AI adoption curve.
Businesses and people alike are slow to adopt new technologies, especially in the corporate world.
It doesn’t take much to position yourself as an AI expert to people who know less than you.
Just testing out all the different tools and being able to speak confidently about what they can and can’t do – based on actual experience – is enough to be ahead of the curve.
Get on it now, so you’re there when the businesses catch up and need expertise.
Why SEOs Are Uniquely Positioned to Make the Leap Into AI
SEOs possess a skill set that is suited incredibly well to become the AI experts of the future.
If there’s one thing I know about SEOs is that they’re tinkerers.
We love figuring out how things work.
We love using tools to create efficiencies.
We are analytical, we have strong pattern recognition skills, and we love playing with variables until we get the desired outcome.
We have been reverse-engineering search engine algorithms since the invention of search engines.
We love tricking the tools into doing what we want them to do. We love breaking things.
While I don’t necessarily recommend that last one, the point is that SEOs have an existing skill set that translates very well into using, optimizing for, and even building AI tools.
Especially while we’re still in the early stages of AI where humans are still required to get the most out of it.
And I’m not even primarily talking about using the tools to optimize your SEO workflows.
Do that too, obviously, but use your skills to go beyond that.
Here’s some of the things you can do with AI that will provide tremendous value both to yourself and your clients:
- Automate processes for clients – not just the content they publish.
- Build custom tools and even SaaS solutions that address specific client needs.
- Consult clients on how to use AI effectively within their organizations.
SEO and content agencies who embrace AI are implementing fully automated AI content generation workflows for their clients as we speak.
I have seen some of the content quality these workflows produce, and I am impressed. It is amazing.
Learn how to do things like that.
Things You Can Do to Get Started with AI Today
If you haven’t used AI at all before, I recommend doing the following 3 things to get started.
Create an AI generated article and publish it
Use the free version of Claude or ChatGPT and tell it to write an article for you.
It has to be a real article you’ll publish on your own website – simply because that will teach you to double check and read the tool’s output carefully.
I assume you don’t want nonsense or low quality articles on your site. Neither do your clients.
Side note: You do have your own site, right? If not, learn why you should.
The first version of the article your AI tool generates will probably suck, and so will the second version.
This teaches you the art of prompting.
You’ll start refining your prompts and learn that this is one of the most important AI skills to have. You’ll pick up on what works and what doesn’t.
Build an AI automation workflow
Use the free version of Make.com or a similar tool and create a simple automation that takes an input (such as from a Google Sheet), uses an AI tool to do something with it, and creates an output (such as a Google Doc).
For example:
Have Make.com check a Google Sheet in which you’ve added information about an article you want to write.
It then leverages ChatGPT to write the article and creates a Google Doc in a designed Google Drive folder for you to review.
Spend a few hours learning about the other things Make.com and related tools can do in combination with AI.
This teaches you to think about what can be automated for both your own business and your clients and how you can save time and costs.
Build a calculator using an AI coding tool
This may seem scary if you don’t know how to code – it certainly did to me – but it is surprisingly easy to create something useful.
Check out the SEO conferences ROI calculator I made for my SEO conferences site.
I did this with the free version of Lovable.dev, an AI coding tool.
Sure, it’s a very simple calculator and creating this is peanuts for an actual developer.
But with zero coding experience, I would not have been able to create this myself without first spending dozens of hours learning.
This teaches you what is possible with AI tools and how you can leverage them to enhance your existing skill set.
It will help you think outside the box and take an AI-first approach. And it will help you add value to your clients by creating useful tools for them.
Embrace AI Tools and Get Ahead
AI isn’t the future – it’s already here. And while many industries are still catching up, SEOs have a unique advantage in leading the way.
Our ability to adapt, experiment, and optimize puts us in the perfect position to not just survive but thrive in an AI-driven world.
The worst thing you can do is ignore it. The best thing you can do is embrace it, experiment with it, and position yourself as an expert before the rest of the market catches up.
Start small – write an AI-generated article, build an automation workflow, create a simple AI-powered tool.
The more hands-on experience you get now, the more valuable you’ll be in the near future. Because make no mistake – this shift is happening fast.
The SEOs who take action today will be the ones shaping the industry tomorrow.
