I have an unpopular view about AI and Search Engine Optimization, the art of tweaking websites and content to rank higher on Google. In fact, I think there's a murky secret that few want to admit. AI isn’t saving search; it’s sabotaging it.
If you’ve spent even five minutes getting up to speed on how to optimize your websites or e-commerce for search, then I know you have been bombarded with promises that AI will make it easier, faster, and cheaper. After all, tools can now more-or-less automagically spit out articles, advertising copy, predict keywords, and even build backlinks. But it's not good enough. AI corrupts search in such a way that you don't know it's happening unless you follow the numbers closely.
Why? Because the same AI tools that automate content creation are flooding the internet with bland, robotic copy that Google’s own AI is quickly learning to demote.
AI is rejecting AI.
The surrealist André Breton warned of the danger of reaching a comfortable equilibrium. He wasn't speaking of SEO, but his message fits.
Google Wants Uniqueness
The drive to create perfectly optimized content is backfiring. While everyone races to achieve that perfect Grammarly score and ideal reading level, Google's AI has learned to spot content that's too polished.
The truth is that Google's own natural language processing has evolved beyond simple readability metrics. It's now hunting for what we might call uniqueness signals: subtle markers of human authorship that AI cannot (for now) replicate consistently.
In contrast, most SEO experts, in their blind exuberance, won't tell you that those perfectly constructed, AI-optimized articles read like a committee of robots wrote them, mainly because they were.
So, I guess the the irony is delicious: as AI tools become more sophisticated at generating content, Google's emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-E-A-T) has become even more human-centric.
I doubt this is a coincidence; instead, it feels like a deliberate counterweight to the rising tide of AI-generated content. In which case, what can we do?
We need more ego and less SEO.
Text that includes phrases like I learned this the hard way or This contradicts what I used to believe seems to consistently outperform generic 10 Tips for... pieces. Why? Because they contain something AI can't fake: genuine growth and learning. Those brief and sometimes intrusive admissions have the mark of authenticity.
Where's the proof?
To see what I mean, look at Reddit's growing dominance in search results. Google increasingly favors discussion-based content over polished articles because authentic human interaction is harder to fake than perfect prose.
The experience of several of my clients backs this up: pages with active comment sections and genuine community engagement see longer average session durations and lower bounce rates than static content, regardless of how well-optimized that static content might be.
I predict surprises
In a year when most people predict chaos, I think I will hold out for the power of surprises. SEO may yet prove to be a ship that refuses to sink, but I think it's fated to be ignominiously ignored. I expect that Google's algorithm will start explicitly favoring content that surprises users. Not just informs them: surprises them.
After all, surprise is one of the few things AI still struggles to generate consistently. LLMs are really good at compiling information, but their default output is the lowest common denominator of blandness. AI rarely challenges assumptions or presents novel or contrarian perspectives.
There's an opportunity here for you, fellow humans.
Question your industry's best practices. Most people know them anyway; if they're proven to be best, they're already dull. Instead, present controversial (but well-supported) viewpoints and perhaps compare those to best practices. The fun lies in taking creative risks that an AI would never consider and making that work.
AI isn’t replacing SEO experts - it’s replacing lazy ones
For years, SEO was a game of shortcuts: keyword stuffing, templated meta descriptions, and chasing the latest algorithm updates.
AI has exposed an awkward truth in that game: generic content dies faster than ever. The same tools promising to automate your way to #1 are flooding search results with robotic sludge, perhaps hoping to win their prize by sheer numbers.
So the future of SEO belongs to rebels: writers who dare to publish flawed, opinionated, unoptimized stories and to the brands building communities, not just backlinks.
Write like a human.
Break a few algorithmic rules.
And let the machines scramble to catch up.
Reminds me of something published about Facebook's algorithm a few years ago, creepily labeled "optimal degree of novelty." Their research showed that the stickiest, most attractive content was something BOTH familiar AND unfamiliar. Seems that our brains want a hit of "i recognize that" with a chaser of "how weird!"
The irony indeed. I guess we will see this more often in places where we use AI to write something and want AI to interpret and summarize