The SEO industry was a sham.
The SEO industry was propped up by various parties trying to overcomplicate what is essentially marketing and public relations.
Website owners want audiences. The way to do that is by creating content that users want.
Search engines are looking to do the same thing: To serve users with the content they want, because therein lies the value that lifts their stock prices.
And so, they experimented and pivoted constantly. Search algorithms change by the week, by the month, by the quarter to find the best way to serve their users, whose behaviours change at the drop of a hat every other Tuesday.
These changes lead to collateral damage, mostly to SEO consultants who track algorithm movements like day traders. Those who listen to them too closely get the brunt of it as well.
But it’s partly their fault for making decisions and creating content that caters to the ever-changing search algorithm instead of the people who truly matter—their users and audiences.
There was no need for an "SEO consultant" in the first place. A marketing or a public relations consultant would do just fine and perhaps even better, as they'd stick to the fundamentals that really matter—branding, communication, users, audiences, business relationships—without overcomplicating an algorithm rule change that would no longer apply 3 weeks post-implementation. The algorithm might even change tomorrow, who knows?
Fast forward, AI is now here to stay.
Search engines are once again pivoting, now into AI, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
This pivot has lead people in the industry to also pivot away from what they call SEO into GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), or AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization).
But it doesn't matter. The whole thing is still a propped-up industry by parties looking to overcomplicate what is essentially marketing and public relations.
The difference is, AI is much smarter. The AI optimizes things for you, not the other way around. AI-powered algorithm changes are swift and it will tear down baseless prop-ups in the industry ruthlessly.
At the end of the day, search engines, AI-powered or not, are looking for the same thing as website owners: To serve users with the content they want.
Website owners should simply focus on this, as they should have always been. No need to get sucked into what isn't even a thing, and just focus on the fundamentals.