AI Won’t Replace SEOs. But The Lazy Ones Are Toast
The robots aren’t coming for your job. Mediocrity is.
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I’ve officially flipped the switch. #SEOForLunch is no longer a recap of industry headlines. There are already too many of those, and Aleyda and Mark do it best.
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Think about what people only say in DMs, side chats, or after the Zoom call ends.
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Nick LeRoy“Nick’s Take” Is Now the Whole Damn Meal
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Let’s kick off this reboot with a bang.
AI Won’t Replace SEOs. But The Lazy Ones Are Toast
A survey conducted by CNN Business states:
“41% of employers intend to downsize their workforce as AI automates certain tasks.”
Ouch!
Right now, there is a lot of fear that AI is coming for your job. The fear is warranted; the tech sector is being hit hardest due to AI advancements, politics, and economic uncertainty. SEO is not immune to this either.
This week’s #SEOForLunch is sponsored by Semrush.
AI Overviews: What 2025 SEO Data Tells Us About Google’s Search Shift
Google’s rollout of AI Overviews is the most disruptive change to the search landscape since the introduction of featured snippets.
Semrush's deep-dive analysis of 10M+ keywords, including the clickstream data from Datos, reveals how and where Google is changing the rules—and what SEOs, publishers, and marketers need to do about it.
- AI Overviews are on the rise
- Informational content is most likely to trigger AI Overviews
- The number of navigational queries that trigger AI Overviews has doubled since January
Why AI Feels Threatening To SEOs
The fear isn’t just hype. It’s rooted in what we’re actually seeing in the market.
In partnership with SEOJobs.com, Previsible.io launched the 2025 State of SEO Jobs Report, and the data doesn’t lie: SEO job listings are down 28% year-over-year.
Unfortunately, the data reflects what many SEOs already feel… That roles are being frozen, teams are being downsized, and AI is being positioned as the cheaper, faster solution for everything.
It’s appealing to leadership under pressure to reduce costs. But it’s also terrifying if you’ve built your career doing the work AI now claims it can automate (anyone else learn SEO by manually mapping hundreds of 301 redirects?… me neither 👀)
As more AI tools flood the market, many companies are falling for their promises. These companies are not just adopting AI; they’re using it to justify headcount cuts, often without understanding what they’re actually losing in the process.
I believe SEO is in trouble, but not for the reasons you might think…
Survive 2025 and Thrive in 2026
This is my new motto for this year. As we already covered above, companies are going to adopt AI as a fantasy “silver bullet” solution. In the short term, this will impact SEO roles, salaries paid, retainer sizes, and how leadership thinks about investing in long-term strategy. Anecdotally, I’m seeing SEO Director roles on SEOjobs.com that 2 years ago would have $150k+ salaries, now posted in the $90-120k range.
We’re entering an age where, for the first time, the supply of SEO talent has outweighed the demand.
But here’s what no one wants to say:
Most SEOs were already on autopilot, and AI is just speeding up the consequences.
Let’s Be Real: Are You Coasting?
The days of making “easy money” from Google are gone. Their, I said it.
The era of ranking with average content, grabbing a few (possibly paid) backlinks, and calling it a day? Over.
And so is the strategy of using SEO to drive traffic and only then figure out your product or service afterward. That lazy, backward model is dead. You don’t get to “figure it out later” anymore. The bar is higher now, for both content and what users experience after the click. Kudos to the Nerdwallet’s and early SEO adopters of the internet. Nobody can recreate an SEO first company in 2025+. And Glen Allsopp recently wrote about how even NerdWallet isn’t safe from Google’s AIOs that was commented on and confirmed by CEO Tim Chen.
The fear is real, and many in the industry should be scared. We’ve had it easy for a long time.
The barrier to entry in SEO has always been low. Anyone could follow an SOP (or pay someone who knew how SEO worked) and outsource execution at entry-level rates. That made it possible to succeed without ever leveling up your actual skills.
It also created an industry full of “checklist SEOs.”
Easy, scalable, predictable, but rarely strategic.
Work/life balance matters. But let’s be honest: many people have been doing the bare minimum to collect their checks and go home.
AI isn’t going to replace strategic SEOs.
It’s going to expose and eliminate the checkbox ones.
AI Can’t Replace Critical and Strategic Thinking
You’re not really competing with AI for your paycheck. You’re competing with the people who know how to use it better than you.
The real threat isn’t the so-called “Google Killer.” It’s the widening gap between those who casually plug AI into their workflow and those who know how to apply it with purpose.
Anyone can spit out content. Anyone can summarize a SERP. But knowing what to create, why it matters, where it fits in the funnel, and how it drives real business results? That’s not something AI will solve anytime soon.
AI isn’t walking into a leadership meeting and selling a roadmap. It’s not reading the room, challenging assumptions, or getting a skeptical CMO to commit to a long-term strategy. That’s your responsibility. And let’s be honest, most people avoid it at all costs.
But if you lean into the parts of SEO that can’t be automated, like critical thinking, translating, and influencing, you won’t just survive what’s coming. You’ll be positioned to lead.
Here’s how to future-proof yourself in an AI-powered SEO world.
Future-Proof Yourself in an AI-Powered SEO World
If you’re serious about making sure your paycheck isn’t left up to a roll of the dice, it’s time to shift from casual mode to long-game thinking. This is how you protect your role, grow your value, and separate yourself from the coasters and checkbox SEOs who are first in line to get automated.
Double down on strategy.
AI can execute, but it can’t make the hard calls. Learn how to build roadmaps, align SEO with business goals, and defend your decisions to leadership. If you’ve been avoiding the big-picture stuff, this is your sign to lean into it.
I mean, someone still has to tell the robots what to do in the future when they take over. Just make sure it’s you!
Use AI to work smarter, not cheaper.
Don’t just replace your workflows with AI. Enhance them. Let it handle grunt work like outlines, drafts, and data pulls, but put your effort into refining, interpreting, and pushing the work further than the tools can go on their own.
Efficiency is highly valued in today’s society, but AI can’t create something it doesn’t know yet exists. That’s still your job.
Invest in skills AI can’t replace.
Communication. Relationship building. Business acumen. These are the skills that separate high-value strategists from disposable task-runners. If you’re only focusing on AI tools, you’re missing the bigger opportunity.
Think like a business owner, not a tactician.
If you’ve seen my social posts, you know I’m the last person to fall for the “we’re a family” or “think like a business owner” corporate bullsh*t. But if there were ever a time to embrace the business owner mindset, it’s now.
Whether in-house, agency, or freelance, your job is to make your company or client more money. That’s it. Tactical SEO still matters, but the SEOs who understand the business behind the SERP will always get hired first.
Build your defense personal brand.
Everything above can help you keep your job, but let’s be honest, it still might not be enough in the current state of our industry. That’s why you need to play defense.
You may not want to leave your job, but it’s your responsibility to make sure people are fighting to hire you if the decision to leave isn’t yours.
That defense is your personal brand.
Make sure people know who you are, what you care about, and how you think. Share your ideas, not just your case studies. Show your process. Be visible. And no, this doesn’t mean becoming a conference speaker. In fact, I wrote about how I built my personal brand without ever stepping on stage.
So what now? How do you make sure you’re not the one getting left behind?
AI Won’t Replace You. Evolve, Adapt, or Get Left Behind
The SEO industry isn’t dying. It’s evolving. And as it does, it’s going to reward people who adapt… and leave behind the ones who don’t.
If you’re treating AI like a threat, you’re already behind. The real opportunity is in learning how to use it, thinking beyond efficiency, and bringing something to the table that it can’t.
Strategic thinking. Clear communication. Real business impact.
In a down market, the people who stay at the top of leadership’s minds are the ones who keep their jobs. Not the people quietly cashing paychecks and praying they slip under the radar.
You don’t need to outwork AI. You just need to outthink it.
Another week, another algorithm. Keep crushing!,
- Nick