Every year, and sometimes more than once in a year, some SEO “expert” makes the incendiary claim that SEO is dead.

After having seen this happen on loop for so many years, at this point all we can really assume is that these people are desperate for attention, much in the ways of the class clowns of our school days.

But something actually has happened in the past few years. Techniques that were once considered white hat components of eCommerce SEO services are struggling to get meaningful results

And then there’s been AI. But the thing is, even with billions of entries per day running through ChatGPT (and other answer engines) the traffic Google gets still dwarfs them.

So what’s changed?

What’s Changed

Mainly, this has to do with content. SEO has always been mostly – and by a wide, wide margin – about good copy. It is the differentiating factor and the only factor that really lends credibility while building authority and trust.

The thing is, back in the day, just a few years ago, even, Google was really not that good at discerning what was good copy and what was fluff that contained keywords, regardless of whether it was on a category page, a product page, or in an online store’s blog.

Even today, it’s not as good as it could be, but it’s a lot better than it was, and nonsense fluff that is the product of content mills, and AI-generated copy, rarely gets anywhere. Even when it does get to the top of the SERPs, it usually falls pretty quickly.

But even so, it’s the case that more people are using AI, potentially instead of Google and other organic search engines, which is another concept that must be plumbed.

The Rise of AI and Zero-Click Search

ChatGPT has exploded; it gets billions of entries per day (even though not nearly as many as Google) but the thing about it is that it is growing, and as more and more answer engines are unrolled, people are flocking to them.

This has radically changed the way people interact with keywords with search intents that are informational and navigational. What’s happening is that people are using ChatGPT for outputs related to these keywords; or that they are engaging in what’s called “zero-click search.”

This occurs when a user searches for a keyword and then satisfies search intent without clicking on anything. It’s improved the user-friendliness of these models, but it has resulted in a fundamental shift in how people use the internet.

This, like the other shifts in eCommerce SEO strategies, has made it imperative for businesses to invest in either high-quality SEO services that offer content drafting and optimization, or at least in content marketing. The latter will improve results in both search and answer engines.

At the end of the day, what matters here is content, written or otherwise, that genuinely differentiates a brand or business from the competition. Without quality, credible content, there is nothing to indicate to Google or answer engines that a website is or is not an authority.

Working with an eCommerce SEO Agency

Even in 2025, many businesses, especially eCommerce businesses who can’t afford to lose out in the zero-click game, still choose to work with eCommerce SEO agencies.

They offer experience and expertise and can help get you on the map for keywords that will drive conversions, but a few cautions here.

Don’t go with a new company. Go with one that has considerable experience.

Make sure the agency you work with currently has results in the SERPs. It’s even better if you can get an output through ChatGPT.

Also, if you can find one that has case studies with actual data, that’s a bonus too. Just don’t put off hiring an eCommerce SEO agency too long if you’re not currently generating much organic traffic, especially after several years in business.

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