From Threat to Treasure: AI Tops SEO Concerns and Opportunities

In a recent report by Search Engine Journal, State of SEO 2024, generative AI is both the biggest threat and the biggest opportunity for SEOs.

Despite the concern over AI as a disrupting force in the SEO space, most SEO professionals regard AI as a mainly positive addition to the SEO toolbox.

In this blog post, we dive into some of the interesting and most important points from the latest State of SEO report and provide insights into how the findings could impact you.

Strap in!

This is the first report where SEOs have been asked about the state of SEO after the introduction of ChatGPT and the proverbial tsunami of AI-powered features and tools that have followed.

Generative AI is the biggest disruptor and concern

Search Engine Journal has gathered data from 3,890 SEO professionals to provide insight into our field's latest developments. Between Google updates, changes to SERPs, and a world in crisis mode, disruptions to SEO performance could come from any number of places.

However, according to the respondents, the most significant disruptions in SEO performance come from generative AI, followed by E-E-A-T and Trusted Sources, with Automation with tools rounding up in third place.

• 21 % Generative AI
• 13.5 % E-E-A-T & Trusted Sources
• 10.7 % Automation with Tools

With ChatGPT, Google's Search Generative Experience, and AI chat being integrated into everything from Bing to SnapChat, it's hardly surprising that SEOs view generative AI as the most significant disruptor.

However, the disruptive nature of generative AI is also reflected in the major shifts expected to happen in the overall SEO industry.

In the report, Search Engine Journal frames these shifts as concerns from the respondents, and interestingly, three concerns are effectively tied for the top position.

Competition for talent, Google updates, and Generative AI were all selected by about the same number of respondents.

However, if we dig a little deeper, a slightly different picture forms from the data.

Looking at the concerns, or the SEO industry shifts, ranked by experience, one group stands out in the comparison: SEOs with between 2 and 4 years of experience.

This group views "Competition for Talent" as the biggest concern. Their concern is probably related to their job security and how they need to compete directly with others for positions.

Every single other group in the report views Generative AI as the cause of the most significant industry shifts.

This is perhaps understandable as 81.5% of the respondents say Generative AI already has impacted their SEO to some extent - With 57.2% saying it has impacted their SEO "somewhat" and 24.3% saying "significantly".

With AI already impacting SEO, the concern about how it could impact the future of SEO is not a great leap. In fact, it can't be considered a leap – more like a small step in the same direction.

Majority of SEOs are optimistic about the potential impact of AI

Yes, you read that right: Generative AI is expected to cause a great shift in the SEO space, but most SEOs feel positive about the potential impact of AI.

In fact, 72.4% believe generative AI and/or Machine Learning will help their business, with 31.8% of the respondents saying AI will "help a lot" and 40.6% saying it will "help a little".

Even though it is possible to both fear change and acknowledge its potential, there could be a different explanation for this duality: AI being viewed as the biggest cause of shifts in the SEO industry doesn't actually mean the respondents view that shift as something inherently concerning.

Of course, the number of SEOs proclaiming the death of SEO whenever a Google update goes live could suggest otherwise, but judging by the questions and context of the report, disruption and shifts aren't necessarily bad.

Which is supported by the fact that a large number of SEOs, 68% to be exact, expect to automate tasks and invest in AI-powered services moving forward.

Clearly, SEO professionals are looking to AI to help solve problems and lift the burden of time-consuming tasks. Like automating certain tasks:

• 13.3% Getting the most out of generative AI
• 11.1% Content generation
• 10.7% Content audits
• 7.5% Schema/Structured data

Automating generative AI and content generation with software are top priorities for many SEOs the next year.

What Does the Report Mean? You Might Want to Invest in AI too

Looking at the results from the Search Engine Journal survey, it is clear that SEOs will leverage AI to produce and enhance content, and they are willing to invest in AI-powered software to do so.

This means that a majority of SEOs will be looking to create even more content that is highly optimized, and they are looking for ways to automate SEO processes.

In short: More content, heavily optimized, faster

The question is: How will you respond?

If you are like the majority of SEOs, you too are about to take that next step to automate content generation or at least let AI do the heavy lifting.

However, this requires finding the right AI-powered SEO tool.

There are plenty to choose from, each with strengths and weaknesses, and depending on what features you need, you might want more than one.

Of course, I highly recommend you take a look at our AI-powered tool: SEO.ai

It has content generation built into it, along with three keyword research features and SEO optimization capabilities to enhance your content and rank it against competitors.

Other than that, I would suggest you check out this recent interview with Bastian Grimm, an internationally acclaimed SEO expert and AI enthusiast. He has some great inspiration for different AI-tools you might want to try.