AI SEO vs Traditional SEO: What Has Actually Changed?

About This Episode

AI SEO and traditional SEO share most of the same work. What changed is that a page published today can get cited by Gemini within about three hours.

In this episode of SEO On-Air, host Koa Kauwe sits down with Dean Steinman (Presentation Multimedia), Julian Barkat (Egg to Apples), and Jeff Collins (JLC Launch Digital) to discuss which SEO tactics genuinely changed for AI search and which ones just got renamed.

The panel explores what they actually do differently now. Julian points to structure over volume, since content not written in a question or FAQ format never enters an LLM’s consideration, and describes reverse engineering how a model explains a brand in order to reshape it. Dean reframes local search as a three-headed monster where local sits first, AI second, and organic third by conversion rate, noting nobody scrolls past the maps pack. Jeff brings the e-commerce view, where the traffic share from AI is still small but the intent arriving through it is far further down the funnel.

They also discuss why tracking AI traffic accurately is still guesswork, the branded queries filter in Search Console, why nobody on the panel is producing content at volume, the fabricated reviews and invented service areas that appear when AI output goes unchecked, whether SEO can survive as a standalone service, the limits of AI website builders, and how agencies will evolve over the next five years.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

– Which AI SEO tactics genuinely differ from traditional SEO

– Why content without a question or FAQ structure never gets cited

– How fast Gemini and Google pick up newly published pages

– Why local, AI, and organic now rank in that order by conversion

– Why AI traffic converts better despite lower volume

– Why tracking AI referral traffic is still largely guesswork

– How to use the branded queries filter in Search Console

– Why formatting beats publishing at volume

– What happens when AI content ships without human oversight

– Why SEO no longer works as a standalone service

Whether you’re an agency owner, SEO professional, e-commerce marketer, or local business owner, this episode provides actionable insights into structuring content for LLMs, reading the traffic data you can actually trust, and deciding what an agency should be selling next.

Because the sites that win in AI search won’t be the ones publishing the most pages.

They’ll be the ones a machine can read without having to guess.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction to SEO On-Air & Meet the Guests

04:55 What Feels Different in Content Production Right Now

06:09 Is Organic Traffic Actually Declining?

09:03 Local, AI & Organic: The Three-Headed Monster

11:17 Why Tracking AI Traffic Is Still Guesswork

16:15 AI SEO Tactics vs Traditional SEO Tactics

22:46 Why Formatting Beats Publishing at Volume

24:17 When AI Content Ships Without Human Oversight

29:40 Is SEO Still a Standalone Service?

39:37 How Agencies Will Evolve Over the Next Five Years

Three agencies, three verticals, one shared answer about what actually changed.