It’s 2025, and everywhere you look, people are asking the same question: "Is SEO still worth it in the age of AI?" With chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini providing direct answers, some fear SEO is becoming obsolete. But let’s flip the script—I see a future where SEO is more important than ever!
As an SEO e-commerce specialist, I’ll focus on the commerce side of things, but trust me—this applies to SEO as a whole.
💬 Chat Engines vs. Search Engines: The Real Battle
AI is everywhere, but when it comes to search, most people think of AI as ChatGPT. That’s missing the bigger picture. The real question isn’t whether AI is "killing" SEO—it’s whether users prefer chatting over searching.
The answer? "It depends." (Classic SEO, right?)
For now, AI-powered chat engines shine in some areas but struggle in others. Here’s where things stand:
🏆 Where Chat Engines Dominate: Top-of-Funnel Research
AI chatbots crush it at the research stage. People love the conversational, instant-response format when gathering information. That’s why we’re seeing a rise in longer, more detailed queries—Google even reported that searches with five or more words are growing 1.5x faster than shorter ones.
But here’s the catch: While chat engines are great for answering questions, they’re not as effective at selling products—and that’s a massive problem for monetization.
💰 Chat engines are expensive. Running ChatGPT alone reportedly costs over $700,000 a day and burns 10x the energy of a Google search. These platforms need to make money, and ads are the obvious next step.
Perplexity is already experimenting with ads, and OpenAI recently launched a ChatGPT search engine—clearly gearing up for monetization. But Google, with its 25+ years of data, still has the upper hand where it matters most.
🔥 Where Search Engines Still Win: The Money-Making Stages
Chat engines struggle in the middle and bottom of the funnel, where users are ready to compare, evaluate, and buy.
Here’s why:
🔎 Chat engines can’t crawl like Google—they’re years behind in indexing modern websites.
📉 They lack the depth of Google’s shopping and comparison tools.
🛍️ Consumers still love the discovery process!
A recent Intellias poll found that 71% of U.S. shoppers want a mix of AI automation and human interaction when shopping. People don’t just want answers—they want control, exploration, and choice. That’s why search engines remain king when it comes to shopping and commercial intent.
🚀 The Future of SEO: Adapt and Thrive
SEO isn’t disappearing—it’s evolving.
Yes, informational searches may decline, but:
✅ New AI-driven search platforms will emerge, creating new SEO opportunities.
✅ Google’s landscape may become even more competitive, making organic SEO more valuable than ever.
✅ Blogs might take a hit, but other types of content and discovery methods will rise.
For SEO to truly die, two things would need to happen:
1️⃣ Users would have to abandon search engines entirely (not happening).
2️⃣ Marketers would have to shift ad budgets massively to chat engines (which will take time).
The reality? SEO professionals aren’t going anywhere. We just need to do what we do best—adapt, innovate, and stay ahead of the game. 🚀
What do you think—will chat engines change how you approach SEO? Let’s discuss! 👇
