Jigar Chandani
December 17, 2025
From the day Open AI launched ChatGPT, there was a sudden shift that businesses didn’t notice. Now, the same shift is the reason why we think SEO is outdated. And so are the companies that provide SEO services.
Today, over 400 Million people use Chat GPT every week and trust it for its reliability. The emergence of AI is visible and clear. But what it means for businesses who want to establish digital presence? And what does it mean for SEO agencies?
At Tikz media, we have turned AI into our biggest Leverage. In fact, we believe SEO is still prevalent and one of the most important things which helps you establish your presence in the digital world, but in a little different way. In this blog, let’s understand what most people missed about AI, does SEO still matter, and what strategies one can use to increase its presence in this changing digital world.
Let’s start with the Basics. Search Engine Optimization, popularly known as SEO, is the process of improving a website’s visibility and ranking on Search Engine like Google & Brave to attract people by making content which is relevant to both users and the search engine.
The Core components of SEO include:
An SEO Agency helps you achieve that with ease. However, this is old. Now, as 2026 is approaching, and AI has emerged, it’s important that we use AI to leverage and increase brand influence. SEO services in 2026, majorly rely on the LLM citations.
And this has changed SEO services on a major level. The dependence on SEO is still broad and strong, but the way people see your brand is changing. Let’s understand what has changed.
As mentioned above, AI has replaced the Google search broadly.
Nowadays, people go directly to chatbots like Perplexity Chat GPT, Grok, Claude, etc. to clear everything in one go. This is popularly known as a Zero-Click Search. The users do not click on any website link, they just open a Chatbot and the Chatbot searches it, gathers relevant information, and gives out summaries that are impactful.
Here’s what fuels this change:
People love convenience. They’d do anything to get a little more comfort. Chatbots are that convenience. All the information clear and visible, just by typing a simple query.
Result: No one wants to open websites and browse for information like they used to.
Business Impact: Brands do not find relevancy via traditional SEO Services
The Chatbots are built and trained on High Quality content, mostly which appears on google search. This lets them scrounge and give a favourable result faster than traditional research.
Result: users now trust AI more than traditional Google search
Business Impact: Brands who provide credible information get cited in chatbots which increases traffic on the website.
This way trust and convenience has shifted towards AI Chatbots and have rewired user persona.
So, what can we do?
The answer is pretty simple. We can leverage AI. But for that we’ll have to understand how AI modules are built, what information do they show in their answers and summaries.
A recent study on 177 million sources that got mentioned in AI search results showed a very specific trend in content that receive citations.
| Type of Content | Share (%) | Citations |
| Comparison List Articles | 32.5 | 57,591,022 |
| Blogs | 9.91 | 17,565,744 |
| Commercial | 4.73 | 8,376,007 |
| Homepage | 3.75 | 6,637,322 |
| Forum/Community | 3.36 | 5,950,684 |
| Wiki/Documentation | 2.73 | 4,835,532 |
| News | 2.1 | 3,723,397 |
| Video Content | 0.95 | 1,680,158 |
| Search Pages | 0.62 | 1,100,989 |
Key Takeaway: Build Comparision List Articles (queries like “Best”, “Top”, “Compare”, “Vs”, “Alternatives”) as the foundation for AI search assets.
Other major findings in the same study mentioned a few tips which you can use for developing more on-page presence that gets clearly indexed in AI.
The findings are as follows:
World of AI searches is not very different than SEO. What we have observed is quite different than what people say about AI searches.
As an SEO Agency, Tikz Media monitors different domains and brands to cut through the noise and increase the presence for clients. And during crucial steps we find several revolutionary tricks which help in increasing AI search citations.
Here’s what exactly we have observed in Off-Page SEO:
Clear author attribution and professional bios help establish trust and authority. Adding an expert byline shows that the content is written by a real, knowledgeable person. A short bio that highlights the author’s role, experience, or credentials further strengthens credibility.
The llms.txt file is quickly emerging as a standard for controlling how AI systems interact with website content. It allows site owners to guide what parts of their content AI models are allowed to access, read, or ignore. Similar to how robots.txt works for search engines, llms.txt gives more control over data usage.
Backlinks from websites that are frequently referenced or cited add strong credibility to your content. When your site is linked from trusted sources that already appear in citations, it signals reliability and authority. This helps search engines and AI systems view your website as a dependable source, improving visibility and strengthening overall trust.
Create content that clearly explains key processes like signing up, qualifying, integrating, or completing actions, using simple step by step flows that can be easily followed or mirrored. Align each explanation with the exact action you want to drive, such as bookings, purchases, or configuration. Support this with structured technical workflows, including APIs for pricing, availability, and transactions, along with webhooks and callbacks for confirmation. The content should directly answer whether the process can be automated, what requirements are needed, and how success is defined.
So, does SEO still matter in 2026?
While we talk about AEO and LLM citations, studies shows that it’s heavily influenced by SEO, just as how a playback singer rather than a live performance.
AI rankings and Google search Rankings both are equally important. Says, Samanyou Garg, the CEO of WhiteSonic.
The answer is yes, but for reasons many businesses overlook.
First, SEO builds discoverability. Whether it is Google, AI overviews, or chat based search, strong SEO ensures your content is visible where people ask questions.
Second, SEO builds trust. AI systems and users both rely on structured, credible, and well optimized content to decide what information is reliable.
Third, SEO builds long term leverage. Paid ads stop the moment you stop paying, but SEO compounds over time, turning your website into a lasting digital asset.
SEO is no longer just about rankings. It is about being understood, cited, and trusted by both humans and machines. Businesses that adapt to this shift will not disappear in the AI era. They will lead it.
To conclude, SEO Services in 2026 is not optional, it is foundational. Visibility, trust, and long term growth now depend on how well your content is structured, understood, and trusted by both search engines and AI systems. Businesses that take SEO seriously today are the ones that will dominate attention tomorrow. This is where the right strategy and execution matter.
Tikz Media as an SEO Agency helps brands build future ready SEO that goes beyond rankings and focuses on authority, clarity, and conversions. If you want your business to be discovered, trusted, and chosen in the next phase of digital search, now is the time to work with Tikz Media and turn SEO into your strongest growth channel.
