Everything AI demands today, Google has been telling us for years: why SEO isn't dead
How is AI transforming search engine optimisation, and what does it mean for marketers? For the last few years we have heard the same narrative: "SEO is dead." First because of voice search. Now because of LLMs and AI Overviews.
Maciej Kulkowski, an SEO specialist who looks at data rather than emotions, says it plainly: "SEO isn't dead, it has evolved."
And this evolution affects every marketer fighting for visibility in Google, in LLMs and in AI results. This episode of SUURowo o marketingu is a practical guide to how SEO works in 2025: no scaremongering, no hype, no myths.
Watch the conversation (in Polish).
Full episode of the SUURowo o marketingu podcast.
AI Overviews have changed who wins
AI in Google works differently from classic SEO. It doesn't reward the whole page; it pulls out fragments, so-called chunks.
"LLMs don't show the whole page, they extract the part they are interested in." - Maciej Kulkowski
This means you may not be in the top 10 at all and still be cited in AI Overviews. Senuto confirmed this in its research: 20% of pages cited by AI are not even in the top 100 classic results.
For small companies this is an opportunity. For big ones, a problem.
Vanity metrics: AI citations look nice, but they don't deliver
Marketers get excited: "we're being cited by AI!" Except… it doesn't mean anything.
"The click-through rate from AI Overviews is very low. It's a vanity score." - Maciej Kulkowski
Maciej's example: a shop cited hundreds of times for the question "how many ml are in a glass". Zero value. AI Overviews are not a sales channel, but a nice side effect of well-written content.
SEO in the world of AI comes down to one thing: write like Wikipedia
The biggest change? Google and LLMs want content that:
- answers the question immediately,
- is specific, with no marketing padding,
- is easy to process,
- can be taken out of context (every paragraph as a standalone answer).
"It's best to write so that AI can easily extract the information. Wikipedia is the perfect example." - Maciej Kulkowski
This means: a question in the heading, specifics in the first sentences, lists, tables, definitions, short self-contained paragraphs, and no references to other content ("as we mentioned earlier…").
Brand authority matters more than links today
LLMs favour brands. Not only through links, but through mentions.
"Unlinked mentions - mentions of a brand, even without a link - are becoming more and more important." - Maciej Kulkowski
That's why these matter so much: LinkedIn (ranks very high), Reddit, expert articles, media publications and consistent descriptions across all platforms.
A brand has to have a consistent narrative, because AI builds its picture of the brand from what it can find… practically everywhere.
Effective marketing without updating content? Forget it!
Perplexity rewards fresh content. Google still indexes older content, but AI has different priorities.
"Perplexity prefers to show newer content. It's enough to update existing articles and mark it in the heading." - Maciej Kulkowski
Good practice: update once a year, add current statistics, research regularly, and adjust headings to match questions.
Topical authority: write more, and more wisely, than your competitors
One piece of content is not enough. LLMs assess the authority of the whole website.
"One article won't do the job." - Maciej Kulkowski
This means: one pillar page per main topic, dozens of supporting articles, all connected by internal links, broad coverage of the topic, and the use of knowledge graphs and semantic triplets.
Only then does the website look like a source of knowledge rather than a blog.
AI hasn't destroyed SEO
AI has made good SEO even more valuable. That's probably the most important sentence in the whole conversation.
"Everything AI demands today, Google has been telling us for years: write for people." - Maciej Kulkowski
AI doesn't take traffic away from those who write specifically, competently and broadly, update their content, take care of their personal brand and expert authority, and publish regularly on the platforms AI loves (LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Reddit).
Summary: what should a marketer do tomorrow?
- Update key articles: add dates, statistics and expert quotes.
- Rewrite content to the "question → specifics" model, like Wikipedia.
- Build topical authority: a pillar page plus a network of supporting content.
- Publish more often: with AI you can do it cheaper, faster and smarter.
- Put your brand's content in order across the internet: consistent descriptions, up-to-date data, expert authority.
- Monitor AI citations, but don't make them a goal: they are an effect, not a KPI.
The key insight for B2B marketers
We live in a world where you can produce more content and better content at the same time, because AI makes it possible. It is this synergy that will decide companies' visibility in 2025.
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