Marketing and creative leaders say Google’s biggest ever search overhaul could accelerate a major shift away from keyword-heavy SEO and back towards authority, trust, PR and long-term brand building.
The debate emerged during a Prolific North partners discussion this week following Google’s announcement that it is transforming Search into a far more AI-driven experience, with users increasingly kept inside Google’s ecosystem rather than clicking through to websites.
The changes, revealed at Google I/O, include expanded AI Overviews, conversational “AI Mode” search and the ability for Google to generate direct responses, summaries and actions within search itself.
For publishers, agencies and brands, it potentially represents one of the biggest shifts in digital discovery since Google launched in 1998.
But while some parts of the industry have responded with warnings that “SEO is dead”, several agency leaders are arguing the reality is more nuanced – and, indeed, positive.
Malcolm Slade of Leeds-based digital agency HUB said the changes announced by Google were less a sudden disruption and more the continuation of a long-running trend.
“Google has been moving towards zero-click traffic for a long time,” he said. “Google Shopping was a move towards that. Cinema listings, currency conversions, weather, trending topics — increasingly Google has wanted to keep users inside its own ecosystem.
“I don’t think it’s as catastrophic as people seem to think. SEO has been declared dead probably 21 times in the 21 years I’ve been doing this.”
Instead, Malcolm argued the shift could reward businesses with genuine expertise, authority and differentiation while making life harder for lower-quality “gaming the algorithm” tactics.
“What these systems are increasingly looking for is consensus and authority,” he said. “It’s all right you saying you’re the best, but what you really need is other people telling the world you’re the best – and that’s where PR becomes invaluable.”
He added that many businesses had spent years creating content “solely for the purpose of ranking” rather than focusing on genuine value or business impact.
“LLMs have already seen every version of ‘top 10 hay fever tips’ ever written,” he said. “They don’t need another slightly rewritten version of the same thing. What they’re looking for now is fundamentally new information, expertise and insight.”
The discussion also pointed towards what some see as a resurgence for PR, thought leadership and earned media after years of dominance from performance marketing and short-term SEO tactics.
Jo Taylor of Brand XYZ said AI-driven discovery systems increasingly reward businesses that can demonstrate authority and originality.
“Thought leadership has always existed, but I think PR is having a big resurgence at the minute,” she said. “Whether it’s SEO, AEO or GEO, these systems are looking for authority. They’re looking for brands that have something genuinely different to say and can provide evidence of that.”
She argued that many businesses were now having to think beyond rankings and clicks and instead focus on how they are understood by AI systems themselves.
“If somebody asks an AI tool for the best purpose-driven facilities management company in the UK, your authority signals and thought leadership have to support that,” she said. “It can’t just be generic service-page content anymore.”
Others suggested the changes could further blur the boundaries between SEO, PR, branding and broader marketing strategy.
Miles Dagnall of Manchester’s Edison Media said brands were already being advised to strengthen their “entity presence”, invest more heavily in digital PR and rethink how content is structured for AI extraction and discovery.
“There’s still not a huge amount of client awareness yet,” he said. “But for the clients asking the right questions, now is the time to get ahead.”
The discussion also touched on a possible revival for more traditional and physical marketing channels as audiences become increasingly overwhelmed by AI-generated digital content and notifications.
Fiona Robinson from Print.com said physical media could become more valuable precisely because it now faces less competition for attention.
“There are definitely signs of people turning back towards more traditional methods because they feel more trusted and permanent,” she said.
She pointed to examples including direct mail and printed materials regaining cut-through as digital channels become more saturated.
“One example somebody gave us recently was being on holiday at Butlins,” she said. “They silenced all the app notifications because there were too many of them, but there was a leaflet left on the table all week and they kept picking it up and reading it.”
Jo said Brand XYZ had increasingly been recommending physical mailers and tactile brand experiences to clients this year. “There’s almost an anti-digital movement happening at the same time,” she said. “People are looking for things that physically stand out and feel different.”
Despite the rapid changes, contributors stressed that many of the core principles behind effective marketing remain largely unchanged despite all the hyperbole.
“The businesses doing really well are the ones with a genuinely holistic approach,” Malcom said. “They’re investing across PR, SEO, social, TV, out-of-home and brand. When you rely entirely on one channel, that’s when things become dangerous.”
