Once upon a time (about six months ago), someone typed something into Google, and Google did its best to answer like a helpful librarian with a twitchy eye.
Now, Google has AI. Or rather, Google is AI.
The librarian has been replaced by someone who speaks in long sentences, sounds confident, and might not have a clue what it’s talking about. A bit like a politician, but with better grammar.
The Shift You Probably Missed
AI didn’t arrive with a trumpet fanfare. It crept in like a cat with muddy paws—quiet, clever, and slightly smug.
It began by rewriting search results.
Instead of showing you ten websites with their little blue links, Google started adding a friendly paragraph at the top, often written by something that sounds helpful but isn’t human.
This is called “AI Overviews.” It answers questions before people click.
And that, right there, is the bit you should worry about.
Because if the machine gives the answer…People might never reach your website.
What Does AI Want?
AI wants what Google tells it to want.
And what Google wants is: fast answers, short words, and content that looks like it was written by someone who knows their onions and isn’t trying to sell you a course in how to peel them.
So the AI goes hunting. It finds pages that are clear. Honest. Useful. It avoids waffle. It avoids the hard sell. It skips past sites that hide the answer in paragraph four.
In other words, it doesn’t like marketing fluff.
What This Means for You
It means the same rules no longer apply.
You can’t stuff your page with words you hope will trick Google. You can’t hide the real answer under ten lines of “welcome to our site.” And you definitely can’t rely on a 5-year-old blog post and think you’re still relevant.
You need to give straight answers. Right at the top. You need to speak like a person. Not like a brochure. You need to write things that could be the answer.
If you don’t, AI will find someone else who has.
What You Should Be Doing (Right Now)
Don’t panic. That never helps. Except in Discworld, where panic is often the correct response.
Instead, do what the professional SEO agencies are doing: do the following:
- Check your website like a visitor, not a marketer.
Would you trust it? Can you find the answer in ten seconds? Or are you still scrolling past stock photos of handshakes? - Write like you’re being watched by a bored wizard.
Make it clear. Make it quick. Put the useful bit first. - Cover what people ask.
Look at your own questions, customer emails, even complaints. That’s what people are searching for. Write it down. Put it online. - Keep your content alive.
Old pages fade. Google forgets them. Update your content like you’d water a suspicious-looking plant. Regularly. Or it dies. - Don’t copy AI. Beat it.
If everyone starts using AI to write the same bland paragraphs, you’ve got a chance to stand out just by sounding like a person with a brain.
AI Content Is Everywhere (and That’s a Problem)
Let’s be honest. The internet is filling up with AI-written sludge. It’s like porridge. Grey, warm, and a bit sad.
Why would Google pick you if your content reads the same as 5,000 other sites?
Here’s the secret:
Don’t be bland.
Have opinions.
Answer odd questions.
Be the one who explains something without sounding like a sales robot.
That’s what AI can’t do yet. It can’t care. It can’t know your town. It can’t know what happened when you fixed that roof in the rain with only one ladder and a dog barking at you the whole time.
People remember stories. Even short ones.
And AI can’t tell real ones. Yet.
Local Still Matters
AI might be clever, but it still needs signs.
Make sure your local signals for SEO are solid.
That means your business name, address, and phone number are the same everywhere.
That your site mentions where you work.
That reviews mention local places and real jobs.
AI is lazy. If you don’t give it the clue, it won’t guess.
So Where Do We Go from Here?
Simple.
Write better. Write clearly. If you can’t, hire a freelance digital marketer. Write like someone who does the thing they’re writing about.
And if AI gets better? Fine. So do you.
Because AI doesn’t have a story. Or a point of view. Or when you nearly got stuck in an attic fixing Wi-Fi in your socks.
You have that.
Get it online before the robots catch up.