No. The data says SEO is changing shape, not disappearing. Here is what changed, what did not, and what to do about it.
SEO is not dead with AI. AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT draw their answers from pages that already rank well, so the businesses that win in AI search are mostly the ones that won in Google search. What changed is that informational clicks fell, while local and commercial searches, where people need to call someone, still send traffic.
Every few years something is supposed to kill SEO: social media, voice search, apps. AI is the first one with a real effect, because AI Overviews now answer many questions directly on the results page, and tools like ChatGPT answer without a results page at all. Sites that lived on informational articles, the "what is" and "how to" traffic, saw clicks fall even when their rankings held.
That is a real change, and it is the whole basis of the claim. What the claim misses is where AI gets its answers. AI Overviews cite sources, and the sources are overwhelmingly pages that already rank in the top results for the query. The assistants work the same way: they retrieve well-ranked, well-structured pages and summarize them. If your page is not findable the old way, it is not findable the new way either.
Three shifts matter to a business owner.
Fewer clicks on informational searches. If someone wants to know what a furnace tune-up includes, the AI answer may satisfy them. The article that used to get that click gets an impression instead. For businesses that counted article traffic as a result, this looks like a collapse. For businesses that count calls, it barely registers.
Commercial and local searches still send traffic. Someone searching "furnace repair near me" needs a business, not an explanation. The map pack, service pages and ads still get the click, because an AI answer cannot send a technician.
A new set of signals. AI systems favor pages with a direct answer up front, clear structure, consistent business information across the web, and strong reviews. These were always good practice; now they decide whether you get cited. How to rank in AI search covers them, and generative engine optimization explains the term the industry uses for this work.
The foundation did not move. A fast, mobile-friendly site. A page for every service you sell, written plainly. A complete Google Business Profile with steady reviews. Consistent name, address and phone across directories. Links and mentions from real sources. Every one of these still determines who ranks, and ranking still determines who AI cites.
What also stayed the same is that most local businesses never depended on informational traffic in the first place. A dental practice's leads come from "dentist near me," emergency searches and brand searches, not from an article about flossing. For them, the AI change is mostly an opportunity: a chance to get cited by name when someone asks an assistant for a recommendation. The SEO services page shows how the classic work and the AI work fit together.
The AI optimization services page describes this work as a service, and is SEO still worth it with AI assistants addresses the budget question directly.
REALTOP founder Nik Tsoukales on the same question, from the agency’s YouTube channel.
No. AI search systems retrieve and summarize pages that already rank well, so SEO is how a page becomes eligible to be cited. What AI replaces is some of the click on informational queries. The ranking work underneath is the same, with more weight on structure, direct answers and reviews.
Yes, especially for local and commercial searches, where people need a business rather than an explanation. Those searches still send clicks to the map pack and service pages. Informational articles lost clicks, which is why businesses that relied on them feel SEO is dying.
Changed: fewer informational clicks, and new weight on direct answers, structure, schema and reviews because AI systems extract and cite them. Same: fast sites, clear service pages, a complete Google Business Profile, consistent listings and real links still decide who ranks and therefore who gets cited.
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