10/20/2026
You could rank #1 on Google and still be completely absent from an AI-generated answer.
That's an interesting problem for companies that have spent years investing in traditional SEO.
People are increasingly searching through conversations. Instead of typing a few keywords, they're explaining their problems, describing what they need and asking AI to help them make decisions.
And that changes what your content needs to accomplish.
Having the right keywords on a page doesn't necessarily mean you've answered the question a buyer is asking.
Businesses need to think more carefully about the actual questions their customers have, the context behind those questions and whether their content provides a clear, useful answer.
Traditional SEO still matters. But rankings alone can't tell you how visible your business is becoming across AI-driven search.
In this clip from The Best SEO Podcast, Matthew Bertram and Carol Larson of Marketstorm discuss how conversational search is changing discoverability and why businesses need to rethink the relationship between keywords, content and customer intent.
The full episode also explores the messy middle of the buying journey, attribution and how marketing influences decisions long before the final click.
Watch the full conversation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq7M-mMiv5k