Is SEO Dead Because of ChatGPT?

SEO is not a thing of the past. In its May 2026 guide to generative AI in Search, Google says ordinary SEO fundamentals also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, because both run on the same search index and the same ranking systems. What has changed since late 2024 is where people get their answer.

The short version

ChatGPT did not kill SEO. Google says the SEO basics carry over to AI Overviews and AI Mode, since they run on the same index. The shift is that people more often get their answer on the results page or inside a chatbot, so you need to put more effort into unique content, give crawlers proper access, and track where your traffic comes from.

How does AI change SEO?

ChatGPT got a search feature in late October 2024, and since February 2025 it works without an account. Google launched AI Overviews in Dutch on May 20, 2025, and AI Mode on October 8, 2025. On March 26, 2026, Google began rolling out Search Live worldwide, which lets you talk to AI Mode using voice and your camera. Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot also show sources with their answers.

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that 57 percent of Dutch adults had used a chatbot at some point in 2025. Among 18 to 25-year-olds the figure was 90 percent, among people over 65 it was 21 percent. How much AI answers matter to you depends on the age of your audience.

To see what this means for your business, start with who your customers are. An online shop for students faces more AI use than a consultancy for pension funds. Ask customers how they found you, in conversations or on your order form, so you have numbers from your own practice next to the national surveys.

When the answer already sits on the results page, people click less. Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 American adults in March 2025. On a results page with an AI summary, they clicked a regular search result in 8 percent of visits. Without a summary, that was 15 percent. They clicked a link inside the summary itself in 1 percent of visits. These are US figures from 2025, so treat them as a rough guide for the Netherlands.

Google explains how an AI answer ends up pointing to your page. AI Overviews and AI Mode pull pages from the regular search index and use the existing ranking systems to do it. They also send several related searches into the index at once, which Google calls query fan-out. For a question about a lawn full of weeds, Google may also search for how to remove weeds without chemicals. If your page is not in the index, or Google may not show a snippet of it, it will not appear in an AI answer.

Can you let ChatGPT write your content?

ChatGPT writes a first draft quickly on topics people search for a lot. A food company could produce a draft about "plant-based diets" or "vegan proteins" in a short time. Google warns that language models can write inaccuracies, because they predict a likely sequence of words and do not look up facts. So check AI text by hand before you publish it, including the title, the meta description and the alt text. If you use AI to produce lots of pages that add nothing for the reader, Google treats that as scaled content abuse, a form of spam.

Since August 2, 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act also applies. If you publish AI-generated text that informs the public on matters of public interest, you have to label it as such, unless a human has reviewed the content or an editorial team controls it and takes responsibility for it. A spelling or grammar check does not count. The European Commission's FAQ explains which topics count as public interest.

So pair ChatGPT with human insight and editing.

A workable split looks like this: AI helps with a first outline, a structure for your article or a summary of your own notes. You add what only you know, such as an example from a client project, an approach that works for you or an opinion. Then someone checks the facts and adjusts the tone so the text sounds like your company. If your policy describes how you use AI, your team also knows what is and is not allowed. For help setting up a process like this, see content and AI.

What is conversational search and how do you respond to it?

Long queries get an AI summary more often. In the Pew data, that was true for 53 percent of searches of ten words or more, against 8 percent of searches of one or two words. Take someone who searches "How do I choose the best running shoes for beginners?" A list of keywords about running shoes will not do. You answer the whole question: the types of shoes, the best brands for beginners and tips for trying them out.

You do not need a separate page for every variant of that question. According to Google, its systems understand synonyms and the intent behind a question, so you do not have to worry about missing long-tail keywords. Creating pages per variant to steer rankings or AI answers falls under the same spam rule as above. Google also says you do not need an llms.txt file or any other AI-specific file for these features, or a text chopped into small pieces.

Use questions as headings when they help the reader follow the text.

A simple approach is to build your answer in two layers. At the top sits the short answer in two to four sentences, so a reader or an AI system can use that paragraph on its own. Below it come the explanation, examples, steps and exceptions. That serves people who want a quick answer and people who want the full story.

Why does unique content come first?

According to the same Google guide, unique content with its own angle probably affects your long-term presence in generative AI search results more than the other tips in that guide. Google calls generic text commodity content and gives "7 tips for first-time homebuyers" as an example. The opposite is a story about why you skipped a home inspection and saved money by doing so.

A travel agency does well to publish detailed travel guides alongside short blogs about popular destinations, with tips, must-see attractions and insider advice for tourists. AI can help structure those guides. The deep knowledge and the added value have to come from you. Google gives the same advice: write down what you know yourself, and do not repeat what others have already said or what an AI model can generate on its own.

What should you focus on to stay relevant?

The five areas below work together. The table shows what you can do for each and where to check it.

1. How do you respond to user intent?

Behind the words in a search query sits a real need, and you have to work out what it is. A sportswear shop gives general information about running clothes plus specific tips and suggestions, depending on the customer's running experience and preferences. Start with the questions customers actually ask you, by email, by phone or in the store, and write the full answer to each. An insurer, for example, answers "Which insurance suits me if I go backpacking around the world?" in plain language, not with a generic description of the policy.

2. How do you make sure AI search engines can read your site?

Check your robots.txt, your firewall and your hosting settings to see whether the crawlers of AI search engines may read your site. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot. Sites that block this crawler do not show up in ChatGPT's search answers, although a navigation link may still appear. GPTBot is a separate crawler for training models, and you set that one on its own. A change in robots.txt takes about 24 hours to take effect. Perplexity has PerplexityBot, which you allow the same way.

If you use Cloudflare, check the security settings too. On July 1, 2026, Cloudflare announced new default settings for AI crawlers from September 15, 2026. Multipurpose crawlers such as Googlebot, Applebot and Bingbot can then get blocked along with them when you block AI training. So choose "Disallow AI Training" in Cloudflare rather than "Block", and check that Googlebot can still get through.

Check Search Console as well. Since late August 2026, Settings in Search Console has an option called Search generative AI, shown for all sites. It defaults to include. If you set it to exclude, your site no longer appears in AI Overviews and AI Mode. According to Google, the setting is not a ranking signal for the rest of Search.

3. How do you use AI in a targeted way?

AI can strengthen your SEO strategy when you use it with a clear purpose. A software company, for example, can have AI produce content about the features in a release. AI quickly explains what those features do, but you still need human input to make the benefits and uses clear and easy to follow.

If you build your own customer assistant as a custom GPT, keep in mind that OpenAI plans to replace custom GPTs with plugins on December 11, 2026. Different sources give different dates for when creating new custom GPTs stops, and it may vary by account or workspace. When you migrate, conversations, custom actions and sharing settings do not carry over automatically, according to OpenAI's migration FAQ (checked on October 12, 2026). Test a migrated assistant with the same questions you gave the old one, because it may answer differently.

4. What should you know about spoken questions and local details?

People can also speak their question to Google, for example through Search Live. "Where can I find the best Italian restaurants nearby?" is that kind of question. For answers about businesses, Google's guide names Google Business Profile as a way to be visible in AI answers and in regular search results. A restaurant chain that wants its locations found easily keeps the details up to date there and on its own website.

5. How do you measure and stay informed?

Google counts traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the regular performance report in Search Console. On June 3, 2026, Google also announced a separate report for generative AI, available to all sites worldwide since August 31, 2026. It shows how often your pages appeared in AI answers, by page, country, device and date. Since February 10, 2026, Bing Webmaster Tools has shown, in a preview version, how often your pages are cited as a source in Copilot and in Bing's AI summaries. ChatGPT adds a utm_source parameter to links to your site, so you can recognize that traffic in your analytics.

Google's Search Status Dashboard lists two core updates in 2026, from March 27 to April 8 and from May 21 to June 2. A spam update also began on September 24, 2026, and the dashboard shows it finished on October 8. Refresh your most important pages regularly and keep them current, because Bing says current, correct content matters for being cited as a source.

Be careful with tools that promise to get you higher in AI answers through GEO or AEO. Google says no external tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems, and that from Search's point of view, optimizing for AI search features is simply SEO.

What can you do today?

1. Write down the five questions customers ask you most often and check that your site answers each one in full.
2. Look in your robots.txt and your Cloudflare settings to see whether the AI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot) and the search crawlers (Googlebot and Bingbot) have access.
3. Open the Search generative AI setting in Search Console and confirm your site has not been excluded by accident.
4. Open the generative AI report in Search Console and note which pages get cited.
5. Search for your own business in ChatGPT and Google and check that the details are right. If you want help with the technical side of your website, see websites.

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO dead because of ChatGPT?

No. Google's guide says ordinary SEO fundamentals also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, because both run on the same search index and ranking systems. What changes is where people get answers, so measuring and unique content matter more.

How do I get mentioned in ChatGPT answers?

Let OAI-SearchBot read your site, make sure your pages contain clear answers, and publish content with its own angle. According to OpenAI, sites that block OAI-SearchBot do not appear in ChatGPT's search answers. A mention is never guaranteed.

Do I need to create an llms.txt file?

No. Google says you do not need an llms.txt or any other AI file for its AI features. If you want to create one anyway, it does no harm, but your time is better spent on good content and crawler access.

Can I put AI-written text on my website?

Yes, as long as a human checks the text and it adds something for the reader. Google treats lots of AI pages with no value as scaled content abuse. Since August 2, 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act also applies, and in certain cases it requires you to label AI text.

How do I measure whether AI search engines cite my site?

Use the generative AI report in Search Console, available to all sites since August 31, 2026. Bing Webmaster Tools shows in a preview version how often your pages are cited in Copilot. You can recognize ChatGPT traffic by the utm_source parameter in your analytics.