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AI-SEO Is Changing Everything in 2026 | Neil Patel | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: AI-SEO Is Changing Everything in 2026
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Core Theme
The search landscape is rapidly evolving with AI, meaning traditional SEO strategies are becoming insufficient. To maintain visibility and drive conversions in 2026 and beyond, businesses must adapt by focusing on topical authority, author credibility, AI-optimized content, structured data, and a continuous workflow that prioritizes AI visibility metrics.
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Most searches in 2026 will be answered
by AI before anyone clicks on your site.
That means [music] your traffic could
tank even if you're ranking number one
right now. But here's the good news. I'm
Neil Patel and I've been [music] doing
SEO since 2001. I survived Panda,
Penguin, Rank Brain, Fur, and every
other major shakeup Google's thrown at
us. And every single time, the people
who adapt early typically [music] come
on top. So today I'm breaking down the
five strategies you need to rank and
stay relevant in this new AI power
search role. Let's dive in. Strategy
one, focus on entities and topical
depth, not just keywords. Here's
something that might surprise you. If
your traffic's been dropping even though
you're doing SEO, right? This is
probably why. A recent study analyzed
over 1,500 Google search results and
found no consistent correlation between
keyword density and ranking. [music] In
fact, higher ranking pages actually had
lower keyword density on average.
Another study by WLDM, ClickStream,
[music] and Searching Journal looked at
over 250,000 search results and found
[music] that topical authority is now
the strongest onpage ranking factor,
even stronger than domain traffic. So,
what does that mean for you? Google's AI
isn't just looking for pages that
mention a keyword 20 times. Is looking
for pages that demonstrate real
understanding how ideas connect, relate,
and build on each other. Think about it
like this. You're in a meeting. It's
easy to tell who's just throwing around
buzzwords versus who actually knows
their stuff, right? AI works the same
way. It spots surface level content
instantly and rewards the people who
show genuine expertise. Here's how to
actually do this. One, build topical
depth. Create one pillar page, let's say
the complete guide to running shoes, and
[music] link to subtopics like best
running shoes for flat feet, trail
running shoes, and how cushioning
prevents injuries. That interlinking
[music] signals to Google that you fully
understand the topic. It makes you the
trusted authority and boosts the
rankings for all the related pages. Two,
use semantic variety. Tools like Surfer
SEO and [music] Google's NLP API show
you the related concepts and entities
Google connects to your topic, brands,
[music] locations, techniques, people.
Weave those naturally into your content
so AI naturally understands [music] the
full context of what you're talking
about. But there's one layer of
authority most people [music] completely
overlook. Without it, your content will
always struggle to get visibility.
Strategy two, build author and brand
authority. E A T for AI. Most marketers
tell you to make good content. And
that's fine advice, but have you ever
noticed that even your best content
sometimes gets zero traction? Here's
why. Average content from an authority
outperforms great content from a nobody
almost every time. There's actually a
famous psychology study where people
were twice as likely to follow
instructions when a person giving them
wore a doctor's coat, even when they
weren't even an actual doctor. A's
algorithm mimics the same human bias.
They rank and quote content from
recognized authorities because trust
reduces risk for both the platform and
the user. Google's a overviews and
perplexity don't just ask what does this
page say? They ask who said it and can
we trust it. The same way you wouldn't
trust medical advice from some random
dude on the internet. AI is hesitant to
promote content from someone unverified
with no credentials. Number one, show
your experience. Add author bios,
credentials, and firsthand stories.
Google's AI looks for realworld proof
that you know what you're talking about.
Don't just say you're expert. Prove it
with case studies, results you've
gotten, specific examples from your
work. Two, earn brand mentions. Get
featured on podcasts, blogs, or even
news outlets. Even [music] unlin
mentions strengthen your authority
footprint. And here's something
interesting from our data. When
companies get cited in news or industry
specific sites, they see [music] a
massive boost in how often AI platforms
quote them. When we looked at what gets
cited most, it's blogs and getting cited
on news or industry specific sites. This
is all versions of blogging, right?
Three, be consistent. [music] Align your
author name, bios, and tone across every
platform. YouTube, LinkedIn, your
website. AI is looking at all this to
determine if you're legit. But here's
the problem. Even if you build that
authority, [music] it won't matter if AI
can't find and quote your content in the
first place. Strategy three, optimize
for featured and summarized results.
Number one ranking blog posts are losing
traffic right now because people aren't
searching the way they did 4 years ago.
AI is answering their questions before
they even click on a site. And here's
what everyone gets wrong. They look at
their analytics and say, "AI isn't
driving traffic." Yeah, no crap. But you
know what? AI is driving conversions. We
ran a study with companies investing in
both traditional SEO and AI
optimization. The AI platforms weren't
driving even 1% of the traffic. But look
at the conversion numbers. AI was
responsible for 9.7% revenue in B2B
companies and 11.4%
in BTOC companies. You're not going to
get the traffic you're looking for from
AI platforms, but the conversion rate is
insane. And here's why. Most people use
AI platforms for top of funnel research.
When we looked at the data, majority of
LLM users aren't even researching
products or services initially, but
certain percentages are researching
products and roughly 14% or more are
actually purchasing. Some in store,
[music] some directly on the website. In
B2B, we're seeing mainly direct on the
website. It's a huge conversion channel.
It doesn't even [music] show up in the
data because people do research on
platforms before they even click or go
to your website. Think about AI powered
search like a conversation, not a search
engine. When someone asks a [music]
question, a doesn't list websites
anymore. It quotes them. If your content
answers the question directly and is
easy to parse, it becomes [music] the
exact line AA lists for its summary.
Here's how to make that happen. Number
one, write like you're answering a
question. For example, the question
could be, "What's the best SEO tools for
beginners?" The answer could be Uberys,
Hrefs, SEM Rush, and Google Search
Console. They're easy to use and scale
as you grow. That format makes it
[music] effortless for AI to lift your
content. Two, structure for scanners.
Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and
subheadings. If a humans can skim it, AI
can summarize it. We're seeing that AI
platforms love content that's well
structured more than anything else.
Three, target people also ask. Those
questions often feed AI summaries. Each
[music] one is a chance to earn a
citation. And when you get cited, you're
not just getting traffic, you're getting
high intent users who convert. Now, if
you want to get included in Google's AR
view specifically, [music]
they're citing facts and comparisons.
More than anything else from what we're
seeing, that's where to focus your
attention if you really want to get
included. Getting AI to quote you is
only half the battle, though. If your
content [music] isn't easy for AI to
read and understand in the first place,
it'll skip you no matter how good you
are at answering questions. Strategy
four, feed the machines. Structured data
and AI friendly content. Here's
something most marketers don't clearly
understand. A doesn't automatically pick
the best content. It skims just like
humans do. If a reader would click away
from your page, a will skip it too and
site someone else instead. Imagine
walking into a massive library. Most of
the books are just random piles of
pages. No titles, no chapters, no
structure. But the one book that stands
out has a clear table of contents, clean
headings, and quick summaries. You need
one answer fast. Which book [music]
would you pick? AI works the same exact
way. It skims and sites content that's
organized and easy to parse. If your
content isn't structured, AI treats it
like lowquality noise and moves on to
the next site. Now, here's the
difference between traditional SEO and
what I call GEO or AEO or even AI SEO,
whatever you want to call it. With
traditional SEO, things like thoroughess
are super important as well as quality.
But with AI and LLMs like TAG GBT, they
really care about structure and
formatting. If you don't get those
right, you're not going to do as well.
Traditional SEO cares about links. GEO
cares about citations. If you're not
getting those citations, you're not
going to do as well. This is why
blogging is so important. When AI
understands your content better, humans
do, too. That's a win you'll see in both
rankings and conversions. With AI, they
also look at things like sentiment.
Traditional SEO does not look at
sentiment as much. Are people saying
things positively about you or
negatively? So, here's how to fix this.
One, use schema markup. Add FAQ, howto,
and review schema [music]
so AI instantly knows what your content
represents. Schema is like a nutrition
label for your content. It helps
machines read, digest, and recommend
your material confidently. Two, add
multiple formats. include videos,
visuals, and charts. AI prefers
multimodal data. It signals [music]
depth and clarity. And here's something
interesting. When we looked at what AI
platforms actually site, they love
blogs. But blogs with images, videos,
and data visualizations get cited way
more often. Three, make your data
explicit. Use number lists, stats, and
tables. Don't hide value in long
paragraphs. When you site facts and
stats, and unique research, data
platforms eat that stuff up. That's what
they're pulling from more than anything
else. But none of this matters if you're
still treating SEO as a one-time thing.
Strategy five, rethink your SEO workflow
for generative search. Back in the day,
stuffing content with keywords [music]
and updating it once a year was enough
to keep ranking. Today, that's not even
close to doing well. If you're not
training AI to think like you, it's
quoting your competitors instead. Think
about teaching a parrot to speak.
[music] If you repeat clear phrases
consistently, the parrot mimics you
perfectly. But if you mumble, switch
topics randomly, or talk once in a
while, the parrot [music] learns from
the TV instead. AI is the parrot, and
right now it's listening to everyone.
The question is, whose voice will it
repeat? Here's how to make sure it
learns from you. Number one, add AI
visibility metrics to your reports.
[music] Track how often your content is
referenced or cited in AI summaries, not
just where it ranks. This is the new
KPI. Forget about just tracking
rankings. Start [music] tracking
citations. And you can actually do this
for free using Uber Suggest. Just go to
ubercess.com and check out the AI
visibility report. We started working
[music] with companies on GEO or AEO.
And we started seeing their traffic grow
within a 12-month [music] period. And
more importantly, within that period, we
saw AI platforms like Chad GPT drive
roughly 5.8% of their total online
sales. Now, these companies did have a
leg up because they were doing SEO
before, but it shows you can actually
get a lot of revenue from these
channels. Two, test your summaries.
Paste your post into chat geor [music]
perplexia and ask summarize this. If AI
misses your key points or gets it wrong,
rewrite for clarity. This is how you
know if you're [music] actually AI
ready. Three, build recognizable
patterns. Instead of vague brand
slogans, develop unique phrasing,
visuals, and frameworks AI can associate
you with. This is how you train it to
quote your brand. When we work with
companies on this, we help them develop
signature frameworks and terminology
that AI starts recognizing and citing.
And here's one more thing that most
people aren't doing. But before I get
into that, if you need help getting
cited by AI and just want my team to do
it all for you, check us out at NP
Digital, where we do this for a lot of
brands. So now, let's dive back in. You
want to blog consistently. I know
everyone's saying blogging is dead.
People have been telling us for years
[music] that they're not blogging as
much because it doesn't drive as much
traffic as it used to. But if you don't
blog, you're not going to get included
in chat GBT. When we look at what AI
platforms site the most, as I mentioned
before, blogs dominate. AI loves blogs.
[music] And if you don't believe me,
just check out this chart. It breaks
down what happens when companies stop
blogging versus companies who are
actually blogging. And it shows [music]
how their search traffic may have
decreased from organic traditional
search, but their AI traffic went up
more and their total [music] sales went
up more as well, which is the most
important thing. Revenue, revenue,
revenue. It [music] matters more than
traffic. Perplexity also loves blogs and
getting cited in news or industry
specific sites [music] helps with it as
well. Google's AI loves blog articles,
mainstream news, product blogs, [music]
and even LinkedIn articles. All versions
of blogging, right? This is a big chunk
of the [music] citation share. Blogging
may not drive traffic that it used to,
but it does drive revenue through these
AI platforms and search is moving in
[music] this direction whether you like
it or not. Now, here's the thing.
Understanding AI visibility is just step
one. And if you're not doing it, you're
missing out on all this potential AI
traffic. As I mentioned earlier, you can
do a lot of this for free within Uber
Suggest. But the real shift isn't just
happening on your website. It's
happening [music] inside Google itself.
The way traffic, leads, and sales flow
online is about to change forever. So in
this next video, I break down exactly
how Google's AI update is rewriting both
organic and paid search and what it
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