{"id":17150,"date":"2025-07-23T05:07:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/17150\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T05:07:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:07:25","slug":"potential-seo-clients-may-want-to-discuss-ai-search-and-chatbots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/17150\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential SEO Clients May Want To Discuss AI Search And Chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a post on social media about so-called hustle bros, and one on Reddit about an SEO who lost a prospective client to a digital marketer whose pitch included a song and dance about AI search visibility. Both discussions highlight a trend in which potential customers want to be assured of positive outcomes and may want to discuss AI search positioning.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\n

Hustle Bro Culture?<\/p>\n

Two unrelated posts touched on SEOs who are hustling for clients and getting them. The first post was about SEO \u201chustle bros\u201d who post search console screenshots to show the success of their work.<\/p>\n

I know of a guy who used to post a lot in a Facebook SEO group until the moderators discovered that his Search Console screenshots were downloaded from Google Images. SEO hustle bros who post fake screenshots are an actual thing, and sometimes they get caught.<\/p>\n

So, a person posted a rant on Bluesky about people who do that.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he posted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much of SEO is \u201cchasing after wind\u201d. There\u2019s so many hustle bros, programmatic promoters and people posting graphs with numbers erased off to show their \u201csuccess\u201d.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has Something Changed?<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s John Mueller responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if it has changed over the years, or if it\u2019s just my (perhaps your) perception that has changed.<\/p>\n

Or maybe all the different kinds of SEOs are just in the same few places, rather than their independent forums, making them more visible?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mueller might be on to something because social media and YouTube have made it easier for legit SEOs and \u201chustle bros\u201d to find a larger audience. But I think the important point to consider is that those people are connecting to potential clients in a way that maybe legit SEOs might not be connecting.<\/p>\n

And that leads into the next social media discussion, which is about SEOs who are talking about what clients want to hear: AI Fluff.<\/p>\n

SEOs Selling AI \u201cFluff\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a post on Reddit where an SEO shares how they spent months communicating with a potential client, going out of their way to help a small business as a favor to a friend. After all the discussions the SEO gets to the part where they expect the small business to commit to an agreement and they walk away, saying they\u2019re going with another SEO who sold them with something to do with AI.<\/p>\n

They explained<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSEOs Selling AI Fluff<\/p>\n

After answering a bunch of questions via email over 3 months (unusually needy client) but essentially presales, it all sounds good to go and we hop on a kickoff call. Recap scope and reshare key contacts, and tee up a chat with the we design agency. So far so good.<\/p>\n

Then dropped.<\/p>\n

Clients reason? The other SEO who they\u2019ve been chatting with is way more clued up with the AI technicals<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to know what crystal ball AI mysticism they were sold on. Maybe a \u201ccosine similarity audit\u201d, maybe we\u2019ll include \u201cschema embeddings analysis\u201d within our migration project plan to make sure AI bots can read your site. Lol cool whatever bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Mueller responded to that person\u2019s post but then retracted it.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, a lively discussion ensued with three main points:<\/p>\n

Is AI SEO this year\u2019s EEAT?
\nSome potential clients want to discuss AI SEO
\nSEOs may need to address AEO\/AIO\/GEO<\/p>\n

1. Is AI For SEO This Year\u2019s EEAT?<\/p>\n

Many Redditors in that discussion scoffed at the idea of SEO for AI. This isn\u2019t a case of luddites refusing to change with the times. SEO tactics for AI Search are still evolving.<\/p>\n

Reddit moderator WebLinkr received eight upvotes for their comment:<\/p>\n

\u201cYup \u2013 SEOs been like that for years \u2013 EEAT, \u201cSEO Audits\u201d \u2013 basically people buy on what \u201cmakes sense\u201d or \u201csounds sensible\u201d even though they\u2019ve already proven they have no idea what SEO is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike EEAT, AI Search is most definitely disrupting visibility. It\u2019s a real thing. And I do know of at least one SEO with a computer science degree who has it figured out.<\/p>\n

But I think it\u2019s not too off the mark to say that many digital marketers are still figuring things out. The amount of scoffing in that discussion seems to support the idea that AI Search is not something all SEOs are fully confident about.<\/p>\n

2. Some Clients Are Asking For AI SEO<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most important insight is that potential clients want to know what an SEO can do for AI optimization. If clients are asking about AI SEO, does that mean it\u2019s no longer hype? Or is this a repeat of what happened with EEAT where it was a lot of wheels spinning for nothing?<\/p>\n

Redditor mkhaytman shared:<\/p>\n

\u201cLike it or not, clients are asking questions about AIs impact and how they can leverage the new tools people are using for search and just telling them that \u201cNobody knows!\u201d isn\u2019t a satisfactory answer. You need to be able to tell them something \u2013 even if its just \u201cgood seo practices are the same things that will improve your AI citations\u201d.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. AI Search Is Real: SEOs Need To Talk About It With Clients<\/p>\n

A third point of view emerged: this is something real that all SEOs need to be having a conversation about. It\u2019s not something that can be ignored and only discussed if a client or prospect asks about it.<\/p>\n

SVLibertine shared:<\/p>\n

\u201cBattling AIO, GEO, and AEO may seem like snake oil to some, but\u2026it\u2019s where we\u2019re headed. Right now.<\/p>\n

To stay relevant in our field you need to be able to eloquently and convincingly speak to this brave new world we\u2019ve found ourselves in. Either to potential clients, or to our boss\u2019s bosses.<\/p>\n

I spend almost as much time after work staying on top of developments as I do during the day working. \u2026That being said\u2026 SEO fundamentals absolutely still apply, and content is still king.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncertainty About Answer Engine SEO<\/p>\n

There are many ways to consider SEO for AI. For example, there\u2019s a certain amount of consensus that AI gets web search data from traditional search engines, where traditional SEO applies. That\u2019s what the comment about content being king seems to be about.<\/p>\n

But then we have folks who are using share buttons to raise visibility by getting people to ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity about their web pages. That\u2019s kind of edgy, but it\u2019s a natural part of how SEO reacts to new things: by experimenting and seeing how the algorithmic black box responds.<\/p>\n

This is a period similar to what I experienced at the dawn of SEO, when search marketers were playing around with different approaches and finding what works until it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s something to be aware of: there are times when a client will demand certain things, and it\u2019s tempting to give clients what they\u2019re asking for. But if you have reservations, it may be helpful to share your doubts.<\/p>\n

Read about Google\u2019s ranking signals:<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s Quality Rankings May Rely On These Content Signals<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured Image by Shutterstock\/Asier Romero<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a post on social media about so-called hustle bros, and one on Reddit about an SEO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-17150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}