The great SEO trap

I had a call with a potential client this week, where he asked me, "Does SEO even make sense anymore?" He'd been investing in SEO for three years but hadn't seen results significant enough for him to continue. By the results, I mean leads. SEO doesn't guarantee leads, and it’s not unusual for companies investing in SEO to get little or none.

Also what one company calls “SEO” can look very different from what another company does.

So what are you doing that you call "SEO"? And is it still worth doing in 2026?

In today's newsletter:

• Why SEO doesn't work 
• What changed in SEO
• Does it make sense anymore?

Guess what happens when strategy follows search?

I don't need to tell you that search has changed. Before we tracked keyword rankings, now there is also AI visibility. Despite this, the idea is still the same:

Decide what you want to be found for. Then earn it.

Most companies rush to the earning part, executing standard tactics, such as publishing "Best X for Y" listicles, buying backlinks, and stuffing web pages with keywords.

Deciding what you want to be found for is much harder.

The obvious keywords are usually the most competitive. And the keywords that you can rank sooner for aren’t necessarily the ones that will bring you the right customers.

A better question is: “What do we want to own in our category?”

That's a positioning question. Search strategy must serve positioning, but most companies do the opposite. They let algorithms dictate business decisions.

When you let Ahrefs decide your market positioning for you, you stop listening to your customers and ignore your internal experts. You just follow whatever Ahrefs is showing you. That's how SEO becomes a waste of time and money: skip positioning, ignore your experts, and write for algorithms instead of buyers.

If you don't let yourself fall into this SEO trap, and actually decide what you want to own based on your business reality, SEO/AEO revert to their proper role. They are tactical channels of execution rather than drivers of strategic direction.

Keep that last sentence in mind. 

What changed in SEO

A few things:

• Brand authority over traditional keyword tactics
• Digital PR over link spam
• First-party research over recycled statistics
• Strong points of view over generic “best practices”
• Topical depth over publishing at scale
• Real-world proof over content written to satisfy an algorithm

On the content side, AI is your biggest competitor, because your customers get their answers in ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. You need to do something different.

Zmist & Copy's approach to differentiated content comes down to following three frameworks:

1. Point of view. Share opinionated takes that challenge assumptions and guide the reader toward your unique worldview. 

Generic: A Complete Guide to Gated eBooks for 2026

POV: Why Capture-First Marketing Is Destroying Your Pipeline

2. "How-we-did-it" content. Kill generic how-to guides and replace that commodity advice with specific experience where your product or process is front and center.

Commodity: “How to grow on LinkedIn" 

Proof: "How our LinkedIn employee advocacy program added 3,000 followers in 90 days." (that's true story)

3. "Results-forward" case studies. Lead with the outcome in the headline, then use the rest of the piece to show how you got there.

Example: "How a fintech startup cut compliance costs by 60% in six months."

Now, let's answer the question: 

Does SEO even make sense anymore?

SEO fails if:

• You expect results in 30 days
• You're in a hyper-competitive niche with a tiny budget
• You treat it as "publish and pray"

SEO works if:

• You're building a brand, instead of just hunting for keywords you can easily rank for
• You care about customer acquisition cost over time (if you're good at execution, that cost is going to decrease)
• You invest in authority, meaning you're focused on creating a body of work, not just one post here, another post there

So here's what I told the lead, and what I'll tell you:

Don't abandon SEO. Just stop making it decide your marketing strategy.

See you next week

I'm back from two weeks at the sea with my entire family and my laptop. Finally, it's quiet (a great thing to keep in September when you need to focus). I'm still getting back to my usual work routine. Now, when my oldest kid is in kindergarten, it's going to get easier. 

Kateryna

P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.

P.P.S. Need help with quality content? Zmistify your content with Zmist & Copy.

‍