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SEO is changing—fast. AI tools are reshaping search results, and what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. But amid all this change, one thing remains true: people still search for things they need, and businesses still need to connect with them.

In our recent webinar, SEO expert Eli Schwartz shared insights on how companies can maintain steady organic revenue by focusing on people first, not search engines. Here's what matters now.

The Problem with Old-School SEO

Most SEO work starts with keywords. You grab a keyword research tool, find popular terms in your market, then create content around those terms. It's what we've all done for years.

The problem? This approach misses the mark on what actually matters.

"Most SEO is really driven around keywords," Eli explained in our webinar. "Instead, I like to think of doing product-led SEO, which is to take many steps back to understand who the user is, why the user is going to fetch something from a search engine."

When SEO teams focus purely on ranking for keywords, they often create content nobody actually wants. Sure, you might rank #1, but if that traffic doesn't convert, what's the point?

Take this real example: a water filter company ranked #1 for "water cycle" and got tons of traffic—from kids doing homework. Were those visitors ever going to buy water filters? Nope. When they shifted focus to terms with actual buying intent, their traffic dropped, but conversions went up.

That's the difference between chasing traffic and building revenue.

What Product-Led SEO Really Means

Product-led SEO flips the script on traditional methods. Instead of starting with keywords, you start with people and their needs.

The standard SEO approach assumes people want content that matches keywords. But people don't want content—they want solutions to problems. Sometimes that's a blog post, but it could also be a tool, video, image, or interactive experience.

This approach succeeds because it builds for the user, not the algorithm. And that makes it much more resistant to AI disruption.

As Eli pointed out, "AI can give information. It can't give product. It can't be the product for now."

Companies like Zillow excel at this. They've built pages that serve real user needs first. You find them through search, but they deliver an experience that pure information (like what AI can provide) can't match.

Getting to Know Your Real Customers

The foundation of people-first SEO is understanding who your users really are—beyond basic demographics.

Take this example Eli shared: If you sell queen mattresses, who's searching and why? Is it:

• A senior looking for comfort
• A teenager getting their first adult bed
• Someone moving to a new place
• A newly married couple
• Someone going through a divorce

Each person has completely different needs. Some care about comfort. Others about price. Some need delivery options or allergen information.

These aren't keywords—they're needs, pain points, and requirements.

Many companies fail to connect their SEO strategy with what they already know about their customers. If your entire marketing focuses on being the budget option, but your SEO content emphasizes speed, you've created a disconnect.

One company Eli worked with focused all their marketing on being the cheapest option, but their SEO used "fast" in title tags because it had higher search volume. When they changed title tags to emphasize affordability, click-through rates improved immediately.

The takeaway? Your SEO should reflect your actual value proposition, not just chase high-volume keywords.

SEO in the Age of AI

Let's address the elephant in the room: what about AI and all this talk about "GEO" (Generative Engine Optimization)?

Eli doesn't mince words: "I think that GEO doesn't exist in a vacuum... The best way to be visible in a generative response, whether that's on Google or ChatGPT or Perplexity or any of those engines, is by doing really great SEO."

If you want to show up in AI search results, you need to be visible in traditional search first. These systems crawl and rank the web just like traditional search engines—only the output format changes.

The biggest difference is how quickly AI systems adapt. Traditional search algorithms update slowly, sometimes taking months or years to correct issues. AI systems receive user feedback immediately.

If someone gets an AI response with irrelevant information, they can immediately ask for something better. This teaches the AI system in real-time what works and what doesn't.

"If you game AI... it closes much faster than if you game SEO, which many of those loopholes can last years," Eli noted.

This rapid feedback means optimization tricks won't last long. Quality content that genuinely helps users is your best bet for staying visible.

Putting People-Obsessed SEO into Practice

So how do you actually implement this approach? It starts with shifting your focus:

1. Go beyond surface-level personas

Don't just create generic buyer personas with irrelevant details. Focus on specific pain points related to your product.

2. Look at your existing data

Which customers have the highest lifetime value? What do they have in common? What problems do they share? Your past customers often reveal what your future strategy should target.

3. Connect SEO to your core value proposition

Make sure your organic content emphasizes the same value props as your paid channels. If affordability is your main selling point everywhere else, don't suddenly switch to speed or quality in your SEO content.

4. Focus on conversion, not just traffic

Traffic that doesn't convert is just a vanity metric. Set goals based on leads, sales, or other meaningful business metrics.

5. Test and prove value

If your organization is stuck in old SEO habits, you'll need to show them a better way exists. Start small—test a new approach on a subset of content and track the results.

"It can't be this grand approach of like, 'okay, I'm throwing out your entire SEO strategy, let's try this new thing,'" Eli advised. "It has to be the steady slow process of selling with data and logic."

The Bottom Line

SEO isn't dying—it's changing. As search becomes more sophisticated through AI and other technologies, trying to "trick" algorithms will only get harder.

The winners will be those who focus on what doesn't change: people searching for solutions to their problems.

When you deeply understand who your customers are, what they need, and how your product uniquely solves their problems, you create content and experiences that convert regardless of how search results are delivered.

In a world obsessed with algorithms, be obsessed with people instead.