For several months, a debate has been stirring in the digital marketing world: will artificial intelligence make the SEO profession obsolete? Between ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and the AIs integrated directly into content creation tools, some already imagine a future where you simply enter a query to get a perfectly optimized site. But the reality is much more nuanced.
John Mueller and Martin Splitt, two Google figures, addressed the question during a recent discussion on the Search Off The Record podcast. Their answer is unequivocal: no, AI will not replace SEO. Their explanations are as illuminating as they are reassuring for professionals in the field.
AI and SEO: an inevitable coexistence
The question Martin Splitt asked John Mueller is simple : With the rise of generative AI, is it still worth learning SEO or can we just submit queries to a chatbot?
In response, John Mueller dismissed the idea that SEO could become useless. Indeed, AI can greatly ease some tasks, such as content writing. Platforms like Wix or WordPress are already beginning to integrate AI tools to help site creators draft pages or structure their SEO more quickly.
But John Mueller also points out that these AI tools remain assistantsIn other words, they cannot replace a deep understanding of users' needs nor the ability to build a strategy tailored to each business.
Why SEO remains indispensable according to Google
For John Mueller, the reason is simple: As long as there are websites, SEO will be necessary. Search engines like Google, and even AI chatbots, rely on existing web content to generate their answers. Without well-built sites, there is simply no raw material to work with.
He gives the example of local businesses:
"Maybe a chatbot can mention your business name and explain how to get there. But often, that information comes from a website."
In other words, without an online presence, there is no visibility, even via AI.
In e-commerce, it's even more evident. As John Mueller humorously points out:
"If you want to buy a T-shirt, you don't just want a description explaining how to make your own T-shirt. You want a link to a shop where you can choose designs you like."
For John Mueller, SEO therefore remains essential to allow businesses to exist on the webwhether in traditional searches or in AI responses. And, above all, it's not just techniques or keywords. It's work of listening, analysis, and creating relevant content tailored to users' real needs.
The current limits of using AI in SEO
Of course, AI is advancing rapidly. It can already generate articles, suggest keyword ideas, and even optimize certain technical aspects of sites. But it also has serious limitationsJohn Mueller reminds us that AI operates by producing " the most probable answer " based on the data it has learned. It invents nothing truly new and simply repeats what already exists, sometimes in assembled form.
A funny example cited in the Search Engine Journal article illustrates this well: ask an AI to pick a random number between 1 and 50. It will tend to choose the number 27, because statistically that's the most frequent... even when asked to make a random choice.
In SEO, this can result in a certain uniformityAI can produce passable texts, but without creativity, originality, or the fine-tuned adaptation to a brand or a specific audience. And that's precisely where the added value of a human SEO lies: imagining new angles, understanding users' emotions, and building a bespoke strategy that will work specifically for the company and not necessarily for its competitors.
With AI as the only compass, there is a real risk of repeating the same overused patterns and producing content that is nothing if not generic. Add to that the fact that AI is not free from errors, factual inaccuracies and hallucinations, which can undermine the reliability of content and, by extension, to companies' reputations.
SEO and AI: the future will be collaborative
In reality, the question is not whether AI will kill SEO, but rather how the two will coexistAI will undoubtedly continue to transform the profession: it can help analyze data quickly, write faster, and even spot opportunities the human eye might have missed. That is already what it enables.
But, as John Mueller points out, value creation on the web depends on well-built sites designed for usersAs long as there are companies looking to sell, inform or build loyalty, there will be a need for specialists able to translate those goals into digital strategies. In short, for Google, AI should not replace SEO anytime soon. It is and will remain simply an additional tool in web professionals' toolbox. In short, excellent news for the sector's future!
The article “Will AI replace SEO? Google responds and nuances the debate” was published on the site Abondance.
