Hot take: AI traffic is booming—and SEO is scrambling to keep up. Sessions from LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini are exploding, and in some niches we’re already seeing AI-driven visits show up in analytics. 🔥
What that really means: SEO isn’t dead—it’s becoming AI-native. Keyword mashes and clickbait won’t cut it. AI systems pull answers directly from your content. If your answers aren’t structured, you’re invisible.
The shift (no sugarcoating)
- Rankings are no longer the only scoreboard. Being cited is.
- “Longer post” ≠ “better post.” Chunkable, skimmable, schema-backed sections win.
- “We published it” ≠ “it can be used.” Machine-readable first, pretty second.
Ship this in 30 minutes (3 quick wins)
- Add a “TL;DR + bullets + proof” block at the top of one high-intent page. Make it cite-ready (short, factual, attributable). Schema: FAQPage or HowTo for that block.
- On your About/Team pages: add Organization + Person schema, sameAs links to your socials, author bios, and a clear “What we’re known for” paragraph. Models latch onto entities, not just keywords.
- Allow reputable crawlers (e.g., GPTBot, Perplexity) in robots.txt. Keep sitemaps clean. If you’re using an llms.txt, point it at your best “source of truth” content.
Track the right scoreboard
Stop staring only at “google / organic.” Create an “AI Referrals” view: watch for sources like perplexity.ai / referral, you.com / referral, phind.com / referral, arc.net / referral, and branded direct hits to your Answer Cards. Pair that with server-log monitoring for LLM crawlers—referrals ≠ crawlers, but both matter.
What I’m not doing anymore
- ❌ Writing 2,000 words to bury a 2-sentence answer
- ❌ Publishing pages without schema
- ❌ Chasing 100 micro-keywords with identical intent
- ❌ Measuring success only by rankings
The Takeaway - The future doesn’t just visit your site—it cites you. Brands that adapt now win discovery without the click.
Want my full Answer Card template + schema checklist?
Reply SIDECAR and I’ll send it.
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Amber
Your Trusted SEO Sidekick
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