I talk to business owners all the time who feel like they’ve missed the boat on SEO. Like it’s some technical thing that passed them by. Or that AI has made it irrelevant.
Here’s the truth: SEO isn’t just still relevant. It’s the foundation everything else is built on right now.
Google has been making some significant moves over the last two months, and if you haven’t heard about them, you’re not alone. Most small business owners are too busy running their businesses to track algorithm updates. That’s exactly why we do it for you. Here’s what happened, and what it actually means for your website.
Google Is Still Where Your Customers Are Looking
Before we get into the updates, let’s start with the number that matters most.
Google holds a 93% market share in the US. That’s not a typo. Despite all the noise about AI replacing search, despite ChatGPT and every other tool grabbing headlines, Google is where people go when they’re looking for a business like yours.
Yes, AI tools are growing. But as of early 2026, they account for less than 2% of total search traffic. AI Mode, the version of Google search powered by artificial intelligence, is used for under 0.2% of searches. Meanwhile, Google just posted record revenues for Q1 2026.
The bottom line: Google isn’t going anywhere. And neither is the need to show up there.
Two Core Updates in Two Months: Here’s What They Targeted
Google rolled out two major Core Updates back to back: one in March, completed April 8th, and another starting May 21st, completed June 2nd.
Core Updates are broad changes to how Google ranks websites. They don’t target a single technical issue. They’re more like a recalibration of what Google considers a high-quality, trustworthy result.
So what was Google recalibrating for?
The March update made something very clear. Sites that lost visibility weren’t necessarily bad websites. They were what one SEO analyst described as “interchangeable intermediary players,” meaning sites that aggregate information, compare options, or serve as a middleman between the user and a real answer. Google is increasingly sending traffic directly to the original source: the specialist, the established brand, the local business with genuine authority.
That’s actually good news if you’re a real business with real expertise. It means Google is trying to reward you, but only if your website actually reflects that expertise.
The Content Quality Bar Just Got Raised
Here’s where it gets really important for business owners.
Google’s head of search communications made a point at a recent industry conference that stuck with me: because AI has made it easier than ever to generate generic content, Google has had to raise its bar for what actually gets indexed and ranked.
Commodity content, meaning generic, widely available content that could’ve been written by anyone, is getting pushed down. What Google wants to surface is content that’s specific, expert, and genuinely useful. Content that only you could write, because it comes from your real experience.
This is exactly what we’ve been telling our clients for years. Your website shouldn’t sound like everyone else’s website. It should sound like you. It should answer the real questions your customers actually ask, in the way that only someone with your experience can answer them.
If your website is full of generic, AI written copy that could belong to any business in your industry, this is the moment to fix that.
Google Is Officially Saying: Just Do Good SEO
In May, Google published an official guide on how to optimize for AI features in their search results. A lot of people in the SEO world ran with the headline “GEO is dead.” GEO being “Generative Engine Optimization,” a newer term some marketers were pushing.
Here’s what Google actually said: you don’t need a separate strategy for AI. You need good SEO.
The guide specifically addressed some tactics that were floating around online and called them unnecessary. Things like special file formats, content chunking specifically for AI, and inauthentic brand mentions. According to Google, those aren’t what gets your content cited by AI Overviews and other AI features.
What does work? Creating unique, valuable content. Building a real web presence. Earning genuine authority in your field. In other words, the same things that have always made SEO work.
AI Is Changing How Google Looks. Not Whether You Need to Show Up.
It’s worth being honest here: Google is adding a lot of AI features. An expanded search box that gives AI-powered suggestions. Search Agents that let users create personalized alerts. An integrated shopping cart. There are real questions in the SEO community about whether these features will reduce the number of people who click through to websites.
We’re watching that closely. And we’re not going to pretend there aren’t real shifts happening.
But here’s what we know for certain: if your website isn’t showing up in Google at all, none of this matters to you in a good way. You can’t lose traffic you were never getting. And you can’t gain visibility in AI features if Google doesn’t recognize your site as a credible source to begin with.
SEO is how you get in the game. Everything else comes after that.
What You Can Do Right Now
You don’t need to understand every algorithm update to benefit from this. But you do need a website that’s working for you.
A few places to start:
- Make sure your website sounds like you. Generic, AI written copy is getting penalized. Specific, experience-based content is being rewarded. If your site reads like a template, it’s time for a rewrite.
- Check whether Google can actually find your pages. Google Search Console is free and will show you whether your pages are being indexed. If they’re not showing up there, they’re not showing up anywhere.
- Invest in content that actually answers questions. Not keyword-stuffed articles. Real answers to the questions your customers are actually asking, written with your genuine expertise behind them.
- Don’t wait out the AI conversation. It’s not going away, and the businesses building authority now are the ones who’ll show up when AI features cite sources.
We helped a local Phoenix accounting firm go from zero Google presence to page one in three months. We’ve done the same for nonprofits and service businesses across industries. It’s not magic. It’s consistent, smart SEO work, the kind that holds up through algorithm updates because it’s built on something real.
Your website should be working for you around the clock. If it’s not, let’s take a look at what’s holding it back. Request a SEO discovery session today.
