SEO that survives the AI search shift

Search in 2026 looks nothing like search in 2022. Google AI Overviews now appear on roughly 25 percent of all queries and on 99.9 percent of informational keywords (Ahrefs, November 2025). Position 1 click-through rate has dropped by 34 to 58 percent on queries with AI Overviews present. AI Mode crossed 1 billion monthly active users at Google I/O 2026. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude now drive measurable referral traffic that converts at 14 percent versus 2 to 4 percent for traditional search.

This is the new search landscape. SEO that worked through 2023 (publish, optimise, build links) no longer works on its own. We build organic strategies that win in classic search, get cited in AI Overviews, and surface in answer engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Technical SEO done properly

Foundations first. Core Web Vitals tuned for Interaction to Next Paint (the metric that replaced First Input Delay in March 2024). Server response time under 200ms. Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile. Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1. JavaScript rendering audited for Googlebot, Bingbot and the new GPTBot and Google-Extended crawlers. Internal linking architecture mapped to topic clusters with at least 3 internal links per important page. Schema markup for Article, Product, FAQ, HowTo, Organization and Person where it earns enhanced results.

Content built for both humans and AI engines

Google’s March 2026 core update was the most volatile on record, and the pattern was clear: thin, scaled, AI-generated content lost. Content with first-hand experience, original data, expert author bylines and clear EEAT signals gained. We write content briefs that demand depth: original research, expert quotes, data tables that AI engines can extract, semantic structure with proper H2/H3 hierarchy, and FAQ blocks that match the way users phrase questions to AI Overviews.

Optimising for AI search

AI Overviews cite specific paragraphs. Cited brands see an 18 percent CTR increase even when overall traffic drops (Digital Applied, March 2026). We optimise content for citation: clear answer-first paragraphs, definition blocks, comparison tables, statistic-rich sections, and explicit attribution structure. For ChatGPT and Perplexity visibility, we run answer engine optimisation (AEO) which means publishing content that appears in their training data and live web index, building citations on Wikipedia and high-authority sources, and maintaining a clean Schema.org footprint.

Link building that does not get penalised

Google’s link spam policies have stayed strict. We build links through digital PR (reactive HARO-style placements through Connectively and Featured), original data studies that earn citations, podcast guesting, and partnerships with complementary brands. No PBNs, no link buying through marketplaces, no scaled outreach to broken-link bait.

Who this is for

Brands with at least a 6-month commitment horizon. SaaS, ecommerce, services and B2B companies wanting compounding organic growth. We do not work with anyone wanting overnight rankings or willing to use spammy tactics.