The amazing #SEO and #AI talks by Kevin Indig, Alexandra Tachalova Aleyda Solís Fernando Angulo Bibi the Link Builder Felipe Bazon Carrie Rose summarized coming from the great event organized by Digital Olympus. Learning number one is that Google knows as much as we do. Their #AI algorithms are not perfect because Google is not an AI company in the first place. Felipe Bazon Bozon mentioned that Google overreacted with all this #AI stuff, assuming that everyone would start searching through AI. But in reality, not many people search with AI because the results are not that great. Especially millennials, use TikTok and Instagram for direct searches, treating them as search engines on their own. Learning here: follow the search behavior and users, not Google. Regarding links, good links are more important, but bad links are not that significant. Google has removed the disallowing tool, and leaked documents from Google indicate that they don't consider weak bad links at all. So, if you have a bunch of bad links, you can stay calm. Some AI overviews are really bad, but Google is working on improving them over time. The problem with Google is that they have a crisis of identity and direction as a search company. As a result, the SEO industry and those whose livelihoods or brands depend on SEO are suffering the most. We need to follow the users because Google is doing the same. Search behavior has not changed much since AI. Data searches and analysis are done with ChatGPT and some general queries, but we don't use AI overviews as much as before. Voice search and voice-to-text are improving, but we still don't use them that much despite having these AI capabilities. Everything is moving towards brands aka Alexandra Tachalova In 2014, small companies could answer queries, but in 2024, only major brands are visible. Google is increasingly favoring brands. This may be why many affiliate marketers, even those with established websites, experienced a drop in traffic. Google believes in brands because they demonstrate topic authority and produce original, unique content.