AI search is growing, but SEO fundamentals still drive most traffic

Generative AI is everywhere right now. It dominates conference agendas, fills LinkedIn feeds, and is reshaping how many businesses think about organic search. 

Brands are racing to optimize for AI Overviews, build vector embeddings, map semantic clusters, and rework content models around LLMs.

What gets far less attention is a basic reality: for most websites, AI platforms still drive a small share of overall traffic. 

AI search is growing, no question. 

But in most cases, total referral sessions from all LLM platforms combined amount to only about 2% to 3% of the organic traffic Google alone delivers.

Despite that gap, many teams are spending more time chasing AI strategies than fixing simple, high-impact SEO fundamentals that continue to drive measurable results. 

Instead of improving what matters most today, they are overinvesting in the future while underperforming in the present.

This article examines how a narrow focus on AI can obscure proven SEO tactics and highlights practical examples and real-world data showing how those fundamentals still move the needle today.

1. Quick SEO wins are still delivering outsized gains

In an era where everyone is obsessed with things like vector embeddings and semantic relationships, it’s easy to forget that small updates can have a big impact. 

For example, title tags are still one of the simplest and most effective SEO levers to pull. 

And they are often one of the on-page elements that most websites get wrong, either by targeting the wrong keywords, not including variations, or targeting nothing at all.

Just a few weeks ago, a client saw a win by simply adding “& ” to the existing title tag on their homepage. Nothing else was changed.

Keyword rankings shot up, as did clicks and impressions for queries containing that keyword.

This was all achieved simply by changing the title tag on one page. 

Couple that with other tactics, such as on-page copy edits, internal linking, and backlinking across multiple pages, and growth will continue. 

It may seem basic, but it still works. 

And if you only focus on advanced GEO strategies, you may overlook simple tactics that provide immediate, observable impact. 

2. Content freshness and authority still matter for competitive keywords

Another tactic that has faded from view with the rise of AI is what’s often called the skyscraper technique. 

It involves identifying a set of keywords and the pages that already rank for them, then publishing a materially stronger version designed to outperform the existing results.

It’s true that the web is saturated with content on similar topics, especially for keywords visible in most research tools.

But when a site has sufficient authority, a clear right to win, and content freshness, this approach can still be highly effective.

I’ve seen this work repeatedly. 

Here’s Google Search Console data from a recent article we published for a client on a popular, long-standing topic with many competing pages already ranking. 

The post climbed to No. 2 almost immediately and began generating net-new clicks and impressions.

Why did it work? 

The site has strong authority, and much of the content ranking ahead of it was outdated and stale.

If you’re hesitant to publish the thousandth article on an established topic, that hesitation is understandable. 

This approach won’t work for every site. But ignoring it entirely can mean passing up clear, high-confidence wins like these.

3. User experience remains a critical conversion lever

Hype around AI-driven shopping experiences has led some teams to believe traditional website optimization is becoming obsolete. 

There is a growing assumption that AI assistants will soon handle most interactions or that users will convert directly within AI platforms without ever reaching a website.

Some of that future is beginning to take shape, particularly for ecommerce brands experimenting with features like Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. 

But many websites are not selling products. 

And even for those that are, most brands still receive a significant volume of traffic from traditional search and continue to rely on calls to action and on-page signals to drive conversions.

It also makes little difference how a user arrives – via organic search, paid search, AI referrals, or direct visits. 

A fast site, a strong user experience, and a clear conversion funnel remain essential.

There are also clear performance gains tied to optimizing these elements. 

Here are the results we recently achieved for a client following a simple CTR test:

Brands that continue to invest in user experience and conversion rate optimization will outperform those that do not. 

That gap is likely to widen the longer teams wait for AI to fully replace the conversion funnel.

AI is reshaping search, but what works still matters

There is no dispute that AI is reshaping the search landscape. 

It’s changing user behavior, influencing SERPs, and complicating attribution models. 

The bigger risk for many businesses, however, is not underestimating AI but overcorrecting for it.

Traditional organic search remains the primary traffic source for most websites, and SEO fundamentals still deliver when executed well. 

• Quick wins are real. 
• Higher-quality content continues to be rewarded. 
• User experience optimization shows no signs of becoming irrelevant. 

These are just a few examples of tactics that remain effective today.

Importantly, these efforts do not operate in isolation. 

Improving a website’s fundamentals can strengthen organic visibility while also supporting paid search performance and LLM visibility.

Staying informed about AI developments and planning for what’s ahead is essential. 

It should not come at the expense of the strategies that are currently driving measurable growth.