SEO is dying. Will your business survive this change?

Traditional SEO doesn’t work anymore. Buyers now use LLMs to find new products and make purchasing decisions without even landing on your website.

And hence, organic traffic is dropping day by day. In fact, Gartner predicts search engine traffic will drop 25% by 2026.

Whether you realize it or not, this shift is already affecting your business. So, the big question is: are you ready for what’s coming? Because there’s a big opportunity here for businesses that adapt quickly. And those that don’t, will soon disappear.

Let’s understand how search is changing, why you should optimize for LLMs, and how to adapt using B2B intelligence tools like Expertise AI.

Why traditional SEO is dying?

Search has evolved significantly in the last two years. Traditional strategies like keyword optimization, building irrelevant backlinks, and creating thin content don't work anymore. Here are some of the big changes that are killing traditional SEO:

1. Buyers want direct answers: Users don't want to scan a list of blue links, click one of them, and read the full content to find the information they need. They now want direct, comprehensive answers to their queries. Therefore, LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are becoming the primary way people access the web.

2. Search is becoming conversational: Buyers don't prefer searching for clunky two-word keywords like "best CRM". They now search full, conversational queries like, "I'm running a B2B SaaS startup with under 15 employees, which CRM would be best for us?"

3. Searches lead to zero clicks: The above shift has encouraged Google to offer AI overviews in 200+ countries, which provides an AI-summarized answer to user queries at the top of search results. This means users can find answers directly within the search results page without visiting your website. The result? 60% of searches on Google now end with zero clicks.

4. Search is now multi-modal: It used to be only text. But now, more and more users are using voice and image prompts to search. In fact, over 20% of people worldwide already use voice search. Soon, it’ll also include video prompts.

So, you're no longer the first point of contact. AI is. And your job is to optimize your content so that your brand gets cited in AI responses. This brings us to the new optimization strategy: LLMO.

What is LLMO, and how is it different?

LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimization. Marketers also refer to it as GEO or Generative Engine Optimization. It's the process of optimizing your content for LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, Claude, etc.

Unlike traditional SEO, which focused on ranking higher in search results, LLMO involves getting more citations in AI answers. Here, your goal is to be the trusted source that LLMs refer to. So, you don’t care about keyword rankings anymore. Instead, you track these metrics:

AI citation frequency: How frequently LLMs mention your site
Entity mention velocity: What's the rate at which your website is mentioned in LLMs
Zero-click value: What's the business value of the impressions you gain in zero-click searches
Cross-platform consistency: How many major AI platforms mention your website

Since users now search complex questions and expect personalized answers, context is more important than keywords. You need to know what those search terms are and create content that provides a comprehensive response. We’ll discuss how to do it in the following sections.

A study by Microsoft Research found that people prefer using LLMs over traditional search engines. On average, participants rated LLMs 4.41 out of 5, while the traditional search got only 3.10. No wonder, LLMs are the future of search.

Why is this change good for you?

A Semrush study predicts that LLM traffic will be more than traditional search by 2028. This shift is a great opportunity for businesses that want to reach more people and grow their brand. Here's why:

1. LLMs don't use complex ranking algorithms like Google yet. You can increase visibility on LLMs just by creating relevant, credible, and structured content. This means startups and small businesses can compete without investing tens of thousands of dollars in SEO to outrank big players.

2. Most brands haven't adapted to AI search yet. And your competitors are probably relying on traditional search traffic. If you start implementing LLMO, you can easily outperform them.

3. You can reach people earlier in the buyer journey, as LLMs are mostly used for research-stage queries. If your content gets mentioned in AI answers, you demonstrate your expertise. This helps you increase brand awareness and build authority.

How to adapt to this change fast?

To be honest, there are no fixed rules for LLM optimization yet. Because we’re still in the early stage of this major shift. But that doesn't mean you're stuck. Tools like Expertise AI can help you move quickly.

Expertise AI is a smart inbound AI SDR that engages your website visitors and helps them find what they need. It increases site engagement by generating prompts based on visitors’ scroll depth, time on the page, or the page itself. Then it generates hyper-personalized microsites for each visitor query, showing unique content, graphics, and CTAs.

Here's how it helps with LLMO:

1. Discover what people are asking

Since Expertise AI agent chats with every website visitor, it gives you real-time insights into their most common questions, problems, and goals. This data is precious as it helps you understand your audience clearly.

You no longer need traditional keywords, as you know the exact search terms your audience uses. This helps you identify what buyers are likely searching on LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude. These can be queries like:

How does your product compare to a competitor?
Can your product help with a specific problem?
What do other users say about your product?
Is your product good for a business having over 50 employees?

You understand your buyers’ pain points and discover how they actually talk about your product. The best part? You can also see which companies are browsing your site in real time, along with heat scores that indicate their level of interest.

2. Turn those queries into web pages

Once you identify what your audience searches, you can create content to target them. Expertise AI can automatically generate pages for the most common queries with clear answers, visuals, and CTAs. These pages are indexable, which means:

LLMs can crawl and cite them
You increase visibility on Google for voice and long-tail searches
Visitors see content tailored exactly to their intent.

This way, you not only optimize for LLMs but also improve user experience by being super relevant. So, if you want to turn search queries into conversions, start your free trial of Expertise AI. The sooner you adapt, the greater advantage you gain.