Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way businesses approach digital marketing. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini are reshaping content creation, SEO, and audience engagement. But what does this mean in practice for marketing professionals? How do brands strike the right balance between AI-driven efficiency and maintaining authenticity?
In our new Q&A series, we’ll be speaking with a range of experts to get their insights on the impact of AI on digital marketing and SEO. First up is Kevin Indig, a growth advisor who has worked with numerous big-name brands and is a regular contributor to Search Engine Journal.
How are you seeing AI change the way digital marketing is delivered?
AI has become a valuable internal tool, with companies using it to speed up tasks like keyword filtering, content drafting, and campaign evaluation. It increases team productivity and can lead to meaningful efficiency gains. But it’s important to be realistic about what AI can and can’t do right now. It’s not yet a significant source of direct traffic.
That said, there’s growing use of LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini for brand research, and some companies are starting to invest in being mentioned or cited in LLM responses. But those investments are often based on belief, not evidence – because we don’t yet know how much it matters. Research is limited and it will take time to build a clear picture of LLMs’ role in brand discoverability.
Is traditional SEO still relevant in the age of LLMs?
For now, yes. The overlap between traditional SEO and what works for LLMs is still very high, especially when we’re talking about strategies from the last two to three years. So, the fundamentals still apply. But I don’t expect it to stay that way forever. As LLMs evolve and the way people search continues to shift, we’ll likely need new playbooks.
What’s clear is that this is a moving target. Marketers need to stay agile and be ready to adapt as the search environment changes.
What about using AI beyond SEO?
AI is being adopted in other areas, particularly for workflow automation. Tools like AirOps, Make and n8n are helping companies automate time-consuming tasks – things like researching keywords, updating content, evaluating performance, even creating ad creative. It’s not full automation, but you can get 90% of the way there.
There are real efficiency gains on offer. Depending on the size of your team, you might save the equivalent of one or two people. But AI hallucination and legal constraints still present barriers. You can’t fully trust the outputs, and some in-house legal teams are slowing down innovation because of liability concerns. Legal teams in large organisations are often risk-averse, which can hinder experimentation with AI. I’m surprised AI hallucination isn’t talked about more. It’s improving, but it hasn’t gone away.
While personalisation is an exciting use case, adoption has been slow, and the impact limited so far. There’s huge potential, but it’s yet to be realised at scale.
Do you think zero-click search and AI summaries are a threat to visibility?
In a word: yes. We’re already seeing it play out. Clients are experiencing drops in top-of-funnel organic traffic, especially in industries where users are doing more research via ChatGPT or Gemini.
The problem is, even if your brand is mentioned in an AI summary, that’s usually a worse outcome than ranking on a traditional SERP. It doesn’t drive clicks in the same way, and there’s no good workaround. Telling leadership you’re now optimising for impressions instead of traffic is not an easy conversation.
And the summaries themselves? They often get it wrong. That’s a huge risk – not just for accuracy, but for brand safety. Companies are suffering from this shift. If there’s an opportunity here, it’s in rethinking where else you build your visibility, because relying solely on search isn’t sustainable.
In this context, keeping up brand advertising is more important than ever.
How are you thinking about the future of content and customer engagement?
One area that’s under-discussed is format. I think the future of adaptable content lies in repurposing: turning text into video, into audio, into formats that engage in different ways. That shift is already happening, and it’s only going to grow. Being able to respond quickly to trends and turn ideas into high-quality content across formats is going to be a huge differentiator.
There’s also a risk that as automation increases and traffic declines, much of the content companies produce may become less relevant or impactful.
I also think we’re likely to see a rise in AI agents that can act on a user’s behalf. Instead of asking 200 questions to find the right car, your AI agent will know your preferences and give you three tailored options. That’s a fundamental shift in behaviour, and it has major implications for marketing.
If that model becomes mainstream, it will wipe out a huge chunk of today’s search and advertising activity. But it’s still a 50/50 bet. We could just as easily end up with Search 2.0 – better context, better answers, but fundamentally the same user behaviour.
Is it even possible to future-proof your marketing strategy?
Honestly, I don’t think so. There is no safe play right now. Everything is in flux, and the smartest thing companies can do is stay nimble. That means testing, experimenting, staying close to your customers, and avoiding one-way decisions that are hard to reverse.
There’s no green path yet. But if you’re agile and open to change, you’ll be better placed to respond to whatever comes next.
Follow our Search Forward campaign
We’ll be publishing Q&A’s every fortnight with invaluable insights from experts in AI, SEO and digital marketing. Follow us on LinkedIn to stay informed when new Q&A’s are published.
We offer search engine optimisation services to help your business be found by the right audiences. If you’d like to find out more, email me at greg@magentaassociates.co.
