Is SEO dead now that AI answers the question?

Covent Market Amber

No. Google's May 2026 AI search guide says SEO still applies, because its AI answers draw on its search index. Clicks changed: in Pew Research Center's March 2025 U.S. study, people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits with an AI summary, 15% without. Summaries appeared on 53% of ten-plus-word searches, but 8% of one- or two-word searches.

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What changed: fewer clicks when an AI summary answers first

Something did change, and it has been measured. Pew Research Center followed the Google searches of 900 U.S. adults during March 2025. When an AI summary appeared, they clicked a regular link in 8% of visits; when there was no summary, 15%. The links inside the summary were clicked in 1% of visits, and people were more likely to end their browsing right there: on 26% of pages with a summary, against 16% without.

Those figures are American, from one month, and from before Google brought AI Overviews and AI Mode together into one experience. I could not find a Canadian study like it. Pew saw a summary on 18% of searches that month, and that is a snapshot: I have found no newer independent figure for the share of searches that get an AI answer, and no current one from Google. What you can see now is your own side of it, in Search Console; more on that below.

It applies here too. Google began rolling out AI Overviews in Canada in October 2024, without French at the time, and AI Mode in English in August 2025. What Google announced next is U.S.-only so far: at I/O in May 2026 it said Search would gather prices and availability with direct links to book with the provider, and that for select categories such as home repair, beauty and pet care, people could ask Google to call businesses for them, which can happen without anyone visiting the business's website. I have found nothing saying it is available in Canada. If it arrives, my guess is that the phone number, hours and prices on your Google Business Profile will count for even more.

Which searches lose clicks, and which still bring calls

Pew found that longer, question-style searches were far more likely to get a summary: 53% of searches of ten words or more and 60% of searches starting with question words such as who, what, when or why, against 8% of one- or two-word searches. Google makes a similar point in its own words: someone after a quick fact may be satisfied without clicking, while people who want to dig deeper or buy something keep clicking through. It also concedes that traffic is shifting, down for some sites and up for others.

Pew did not look at local searches on their own, so this is my reading of its length figures rather than something it measured:

“How often should a furnace be serviced” is a long question, the kind most likely to be answered on the results page
“Emergency plumber” is two words, the kind that rarely got a summary, and the person typing it needs someone at the door; a paragraph cannot clear a drain
“Dentist open Saturday” is short and ends in a booking, while “how often should I get my teeth cleaned” is a question a summary can settle without a click
“What does a backwater valve do” may get its answer in the summary; your page can still be one of the links cited, but fewer people will open it
A site that lived on general how-to articles will feel the change most; one that earns calls from people ready to hire, likely much less

AI answers are built on search, not instead of it

Google's May 2026 guide to optimizing for its AI features describes how they work. When someone asks a question, Google's ordinary ranking systems fetch pages from its search index, often through several related searches run at once, and the AI writes its answer from those pages and links to them. From Google's side, the guide says, what people call AEO or GEO is still SEO.

To be one of those links, a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in ordinary results with a snippet, and the site has to be included in Search Console's generative AI setting, which it is by default. So the foundation has not moved: pages that can be crawled and indexed, load quickly on a phone and are each clearly about one thing.

ChatGPT works on a similar principle. OpenAI says its search features use a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to surface websites, and its help centre says ChatGPT search also sometimes works with other search providers, naming Microsoft among them. A site that search engines cannot find or read is very unlikely to be linked or quoted in AI search answers.

What a local business should do differently now

Less than the headlines suggest. The basics have not moved: a complete Google Business Profile, which Google's 2026 guide names as a way to show up in AI answers, a page for each service and a steady flow of reviews, all covered on the local SEO page. What is new is that you can check some of the AI side yourself:

Open the Generative AI performance report in Google Search Console. It shows how often links to your pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country and device. It counts impressions only, not clicks, and it does not appear until a site has had enough of them. Google says it reached all websites by August 31, 2026
In the same account, check Settings, then Search generative AI, and make sure nobody switched the site to excluded
In the ordinary Performance report, compare impressions with clicks on your question-style pages over several months. Impressions holding while clicks fall looks like the pattern Pew describes; that is my reading, not something the report tells you
Measure search by calls, form fills and direction requests, not visitor counts. Google itself suggests looking at conversions, including people looking up your business, rather than clicks alone
Make sure your robots.txt file and your host are not blocking AI search crawlers; the page on showing up in ChatGPT shows how to check

The limits of the evidence, and of anyone selling SEO

Pew's figures are one month of U.S. searches from 2025, and Google's figures are Google's own, not independently checked. Nobody outside Google decides where you rank, and nobody outside OpenAI decides whether ChatGPT names you. Google's 2026 guide tells site owners to be careful with outside tools that promise rankings or claim to use Google's internal metrics, since none of them can see into its ranking or AI systems.

If you want to know where your site stands, the free site audit runs Google Lighthouse on mobile and desktop, checks Core Web Vitals and compares the site with your Google Business Profile. Repairs are quoted afterwards. For a new site, local SEO and AI search optimization are included in every build, from $499 one-time with free hosting, and with no ranking promise attached.

Who is saying what about AI answers and clicks; Google's figures are its own and not independently checked

What is claimed	Who says it
Links inside the AI summary were clicked in 1% of visits	Pew Research Center, independent; 900 U.S. adults, March 2025
Total organic clicks from Google to websites were relatively stable year over year	Google, August 2025
Google sent slightly more quality clicks than a year earlier	Google, August 2025
AI features in Search send billions of clicks to websites every week	Google, July 2026 earnings call
AI Overviews has more than 2.5 billion monthly users	Google, May 2026
Site owners can see their own impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search Console	Google, all websites as of August 31, 2026

Questions people ask

Is SEO dead in 2026?

No. Google's May 2026 guide to its AI features asks whether SEO is still relevant and answers yes, because AI Overviews and AI Mode pull their links from the same index and ranking systems as ordinary results. What has changed is how often people click through once a summary has answered a simple question.

Is SEO dead because of ChatGPT?

No. When ChatGPT answers from the web, it is searching: OpenAI says it uses its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, sometimes alongside other search providers, plus a rough idea of the user's location to show nearby businesses. So the groundwork is the same: let the crawler in, be indexed in Bing as well as Google, and keep your details consistent. The page on showing up in ChatGPT has the steps.

Should a small business still pay for SEO?

Pay for the parts you cannot do yourself, and judge them by calls. A Google Business Profile and asking for reviews are free, and yours to do. What is worth paying for is a fast site with a page per service and real prices, written so Google and an assistant can quote it. Walk away from anyone who guarantees a ranking or an AI mention.

Do I need llms.txt or special AI markup?

Not for Google. Its May 2026 guide says Google Search ignores llms.txt files, and that you do not need to chop pages into small chunks, rewrite them for AI or add special schema to appear in its AI answers. Structured data is still worth having for rich results. Other AI services may read llms.txt; Google says having one neither helps nor hurts you in its search.

Should I block AI from my website?

Only if you are prepared to be left out of AI answers. Excluding the site in Search Console's generative AI setting removes its links and content from AI Overviews and AI Mode, though not from ordinary results. Blocking OAI-SearchBot keeps you out of ChatGPT search answers apart from navigational links. For a local business that wants to be found, I would leave both open.