Are We Approaching the Death of the Webpage?

Artificial intelligence, or "AI" for short, is all around us. On our calendars, in our most used apps, and in every other nook and cranny of our smartphones. AI is meant to streamline many basic processes that we perform daily. It is meant to act like a personal assistant. It uses complex algorithms to learn from its prior mistakes and grows smarter day by day. It can help students and professionals do large amounts of research with a click of a button. It can analyze data sets and organize information according to whatever detailed prompt you choose to give it.

In recent months, Google has started to roll out "AI Overview" features that give a more glance view to search queries. Instead of having to shift through multiple articles to find the answer to your question, now Google works for you. Google's new AI engine shifts through dozens of reputable sources to answer your search in a paragraph or less. But where does this leave those who spend hours of time and thousands of dollars to ensure that their article ranks at the top of Google? Google's recent AI updates have left digital marketers scrambling at what some are referring to as the "death of the webpage."

The question is, will Google users still want to click through webpages if they have all the answers generated at the top of their page by Google’s AI assistant? Will AI-generated answers appear before the usual sponsored paid-for articles? Where does this leave web designers who have dedicated resources to creating a diverse catalog of backlinks and relevant web pages? As the SEO landscape evolves, maintaining a balance between human expertise and AI is imperative. This involves maintaining the human touch in content creation while leveraging AI’s data processing capabilities to enhance SEO strategies and better align with user intent.

I believe that AI is a powerful tool that can help marketers know where to start in the SEO process. Large language models can be used to quickly conduct keyword research and create relevant content in a matter of seconds. It can be used in the brainstorming process to help copywriters come up with blog post ideas and video creators come up with unique ideas. Although powerful, AI will never be able to match the creativity that we have as human beings.

I believe that Google's new AI search features usefulness will depend on the user and the type of search queries. For example, I can see these search features being helpful when needing to know the answer to a simple question without having to search through four articles to find the answer. If you want to know how many feet are in a yard or how tall Tom Cruise is, you shouldn't have to scour the web for an answer. However, when conducting research for a larger purchase like a laptop or a car, perhaps it is more useful to conduct more research across several sources. I believe that we are not approaching the "death of the webpage." It is all dependent on the individual and the search.

AI and its advancement will not slow down. The most successful marketers will be the ones that are able to adapt to this new technology and use it to their advantage. The landscape of SEO is forever changing, but at the end of the day content is still king. Those that focus on creating strong, relevant content will continue to increase organic traffic to their web pages.