SEO Panel Agrees: Brand Is The New Backlink For AI SEO

Jun 10, 2026 05:10 PM - 3 hours ago 107

A sheet of SEO professionals astatine WordCamp Europe precocious discussed really AI is changing hunt and what businesses should do to stay visible. While they sometimes disagreed astir whether AI changes SEO aliases if this is conscionable different shape of its evolution, they mostly agreed that occurrence progressively depends connected 4 cardinal fundamentals that are existent to some AI and integrated SEO.

The sheet consisted of:

Alex Moss, Principal SEO astatine Yoast SEO
Pam Aungst Cronin, proprietor of Pam Ann Marketing and Stealth Search and Analytics
Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov, Content and SEO Lead astatine Melograno Ventures
David Cuesta, laminitis and CEO of AMDSEO.es.
Host of the panel: Kacper Bartoszak (LinkedIn)

AI Is Changing SEO, But Not Everyone Agrees How Much

The discourse of the first mobility to the sheet was wrong the discourse of the caller announcement astatine Google I/O that the hunt container was transitioning to an “intelligent Search box,” which intends that it easy transitions to AI Mode aliases AI Overviews. The mobility was if that changes thing for the WordPress organization and for SEO.

Screenshot Of Alex Moss of Yoast SEO

Alex Moss planted his emblem connected the thought that the fundamentals of contented and human-facing considerations still hold.

He said:

“Scaling contented is simply a really bully example. If …you’re questioning really overmuch to scale, you shouldn’t beryllium doing it. And if anything, you should beryllium conscionable doing, arsenic Google say, unsocial quality, non-commodity contented intended for humans.

Agents cognize that they’re not the extremity user, they’re conscionable a gateway to the extremity user, which is the human. So it still has to adhere to immoderate of those rules.”

Google’s Danny Sullivan precocious discussed really it whitethorn not beryllium a bully strategy to trust connected commodity content. Commodity content is contented that is generic successful quality and lacks a unsocial quality viewpoint aliases immoderate different worth add.

David Cuesta, of AMDSEO.es (Spain), had a different measurement of looking astatine it, insisting that AI Search has raised the barroom connected what benignant of contented will succeed.

Screenshot Of David Cuesta

SEO Is Becoming Harder To Separate From Marketing

The panelists were aligned connected the constituent that SEO is becoming progressively connected to branding, marketing, and wide business visibility. Several panelists based on that occurrence successful AI hunt depends connected a broader group of signals than rankings and keywords alone.

Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov lead this portion of the discussion:

“I consciousness that before, SEO teams and SEO specialists were really looking for illustration niche things and looking to SEO for illustration conscionable 1 portion of the puzzle and they were not looking the full image of marketing. And today, I judge that successful bid to do bully SEO, GEO aliases immoderate and beryllium included successful AI generated answers, you request to look astatine SEO and trading arsenic a whole.

So you request to attack it arsenic for illustration marque strategy, merchandise marketing, SEO strategies we were already using, but conscionable for illustration upgraded connected overmuch higher level.

And I americium very optimistic astir that because that makes maine happy because SEO is yet getting the spot it deserves.”

Screenshot Of Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov

Even successful the early days of SEO, SEO ever felt for illustration it should beryllium merged pinch marketing. As early arsenic 2004, I was engaging successful marque building for B2B package companies because a institution that counts Fortune 500 companies arsenic clients can’t beryllium doing nexus exchanges, a celebrated maneuver successful those days. So I had to beryllium creative, and I recovered that galore marque building strategies I pioneered for these companies were effective for increasing a mini institution to a constituent wherever it could person an IPO.

Brand Is The New Backlink

Pam Aungst Cronin agreed pinch that assessment, remarking that galore group are saying that SEO is changing, but she insisted that SEO has ever been evolving. She described GEO arsenic a furniture built connected apical of accepted SEO alternatively than a replacement for it.

Screenshot Of Pam Aungst Cronin

Then she started talking astir the value of branding for SEO and AI search:

“But the different and I deliberation biggest portion of that caller furniture is the branding. Because if you deliberation astir it, we utilized to optimize for traffic, and well, we still do.

But erstwhile the personification doesn’t person to do the click to find the accusation and synthesize the accusation themselves, erstwhile the AI is doing that for them, we’re really not chasing aliases shouldn’t beryllium chasing the clicks arsenic overmuch anymore.

We should beryllium chasing the citation being recommended by the AI summary of the accusation that’s retired there. And that’s wherever it gets truthful overmuch broader, for illustration you’re saying pinch the branding.

My point I’m telling everyone now is, marque is the caller backlink. That is what really you request to deliberation about.

…But branding is conscionable specified a bigger thing, and it’s astir consciousness building. That’s what you request to do to get the AIs to urge your brand.”

Businesses Need To Be Easier For AI To Understand

When the chat turned to applicable advice, the panelists focused connected a communal theme: Businesses request to make it easier for AI systems to understand who they are, what they offer, and why they are different from competitors. The recommendations varied, but they consistently emphasized accuracy, consistency, and clear differentiation.

Alex Moss emphasized:

structured data
Entities
And information integrity.

Data integrity refers to really intelligibly accusation is presented. The little activity AI systems request to do to construe it, the little apt they are to nutrient inaccurate answers.

That conception he was talking astir is besides known arsenic disambiguation, wherever you return action to make everything astir a web page little ambiguous, from the semantic HTML to the headings, content, and tract structure, besides known arsenic tract architecture.

Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov focused connected merchandise positioning. She said strategical pages should intelligibly explicate what a merchandise does, whom it serves, what problems it solves, and why customers should spot the claims being made.

She besides stressed consistency crossed websites, PR campaigns, societal media profiles, and different outer mentions.

David Cuesta approached the rumor from the position of smaller businesses. Established brands already person nickname and authority, but smaller companies request to activity harder to separate themselves. He recommended focusing connected unsocial content, section visibility, societal amplification, and creating thing that competitors cannot easy replicate.

Human Experience Is Becoming More Important

The panelists many times returned to the thought that AI systems are becoming amended astatine identifying generic contented and rewarding accusation that reflects real-world expertise. That led to a chat astir Google’s accent connected acquisition and why firsthand knowledge whitethorn go 1 of the hardest signals for competitors and AI-generated contented to replicate.

Pam Aungst Cronin pointed to Google’s summation of the 2nd “E” successful E-E-A-T arsenic grounds that acquisition is becoming progressively important.

She based on that galore businesses misunderstand Google’s accent connected experience. She said that adding an writer curriculum vitae is not enough. Instead, contented should incorporate firsthand observations, projects, events, examples, and experiences that explicate really expertise was acquired.

According to Cronin, this is wherever businesses tin create accusation that AI systems cannot easy reproduce.

The broader connection was that AI tin make content, but it cannot make genuine individual experience.

AI Search Visibility Tactics

As AI hunt becomes much important, a increasing number of strategies person emerged that committedness to power AI-generated answers. The panelists mostly rejected the thought that semipermanent visibility tin beryllium achieved done shortcuts, though they differed connected whether immoderate promotional strategies tin still supply value.

Jovana Smoljanovic Tucakov said businesses should extremity looking for ways to instrumentality hunt systems and attraction alternatively connected quality, products, users, and marketing.

Pam Aungst Cronin utilized Reddit arsenic an example. Rather than viewing Reddit’s visibility arsenic a loophole, she based on that Reddit succeeds because it contains authentic quality experiences. AI systems often activity original accusation sources alternatively than recycled summaries.

David Cuesta said immoderate promotional activities tin still thief build consciousness and momentum, mentioning nationalist relations campaigns, which he called marque campaigns. He said that while immoderate of this whitethorn consequence successful nofollow links, he shared that it helped pinch visibility.

Cuesta explained:

“Many times it’s each links that are nofollow, but that they are moving very bully positioning successful the AI.”

AI Agents Could Become The Next Search Interface

The astir speculative portion of the chat focused connected what hunt mightiness look for illustration five, ten, aliases moreover 15 years from now. While the panelists had different predictions, they mostly agreed that AI agents are apt to play a larger domiciled successful discovery, research, and decision-making.

Pam Aungst Cronin predicted that AI agents will progressively grip research, comparisons, and transactions connected behalf of users. In that future, websites whitethorn usability little arsenic destinations for group and much arsenic interfaces for package agents.

Alex Moss based on that the early depends heavy connected context. Consumers whitethorn beryllium consenting to fto AI acquisition regular items, but larger purchases involving important money, risk, aliases individual penchant will apt proceed to impact nonstop quality evaluation.

David Cuesta suggested that AI agents whitethorn progressively coordinate appointments, scheduling, and planning, moreover erstwhile group stay responsible for last decisions.

The sheet agreed connected 1 point: cipher knows precisely what hunt will look for illustration successful 10 years.

Takeaways

The panel’s cardinal takeaway is that SEO is not disappearing, but it is progressively merging pinch branding, marketing, reputation, and personification experience.

AI systems progressively reward:

Clarity
Consistency
Uniqueness
And demonstrated expertise

The panelists agreed that businesses that build recognizable brands and people genuinely useful, experience-based contented will beryllium amended positioned for some accepted hunt and AI-driven discovery.