Is SEO dead? No — but it has shifted

No, SEO is not dead. But the way SEO used to work — ranking for keywords and turning that into click volume — has shifted for good. We are in a transition period where classic search results and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) merge into one hybrid playing field: you need to be visible in the results and cited in the answers.

Here is what is actually happening, the numbers behind it, how it looks in the Netherlands, and what to do about it.

What is actually happening

Clicks are disappearing, not searches. People are not searching less — they click less. Clickstream research by SparkToro, based on the Similarweb panel, found that in the first four months of 2026, 68.01% of Google searches ended without a click to any website. In 2024 that figure was 60.45% in the US. That is not the end of SEO, but it is the end of "rankings equals traffic" as a model.

Independent research by the Pew Research Center showed the same pattern at user level: on searches with an AI summary, 8% of users clicked through to a link, against 15% on searches without one. Roughly half the click-through, on exactly the informative queries a lot of blog traffic relied on.

GEO sits on top of SEO, it does not replace it. SEO targets a position in the results; GEO targets being cited as a source inside answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Google AI Overviews. Two goals, one foundation.

That foundation is still a well-indexed site. Generative search systems pull their live sources from crawled, indexed web pages. A site that is not indexed, loads slowly, has no clear heading structure and blocks AI crawlers in robots.txt appears in no answer at all. Technology, structure, structured data and authority matter more now, not less.

The numbers worth knowing

Two things stand out. Google is still by far the largest search engine in the Netherlands — its share is slipping, but slowly. And within AI tools, ChatGPT is so dominant here that it pays to know how your brand is summarised there before you worry about the other models.

How it looks in the Netherlands

AI Overviews mostly hit broad, informative queries. The share of Dutch searches showing an AI Overview is lower than in the US, but it is growing and it varies sharply by industry and search intent. Measurements differ; in practice we see the same pattern Semrush describes in its research on commercial-intent search: definitions, explanations, comparisons and "what is" questions get an AI summary most often, transactional and local queries least. So do not measure "what percentage of all searches" — measure what percentage of your keywords.

Dutch users increasingly start with AI. For comparative research, supplier orientation and complex questions, part of the business audience now starts in a chat interface instead of Google. That traffic often still ends up on your site — through a citation.

Volume is small, quality is high. In GA4, AI referrals show up as sources such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and gemini.google.com. On almost every site we measure, that is still a fraction of Google traffic. But the behaviour is different: those visitors already had a summary and a shortlist, and they click with purpose. Several cross-platform benchmarks published in 2026 report conversion rates several times higher than organic. Treat those multipliers as an indication, not a promise: methods differ and sample sizes are small. Look at your own data.

Practically: build a GA4 segment on those referrers, tie it to your form goals, and judge AI traffic on leads and revenue rather than sessions. See also measuring online marketing.

Classic SEO versus GEO

The overlap is bigger than the table suggests. A page that is technically sound, answers one question completely and demonstrably comes from a real organisation does well in both columns.

What to do concretely

1. Answer directly under every subheading. Give the answer in the first two sentences, then the nuance. Models extract those self-contained passages; readers scan them. Avoid "as described above" — cited on its own, that is worthless.

2. Build one topic out completely. One main page that fully answers the core question, with supporting pages for each distinct search intent, linked with descriptive anchor text. Thin variations on the same topic no longer help.

3. Get structured data right. Organization with your identifiers, Service or Product, Article, FAQPage where real questions exist, and BreadcrumbList for hierarchy. That lets a model read relationships instead of loose text. See rich results and structured data.

4. Decide on AI crawler access deliberately. Choose per bot whether you want to be crawled — GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended. Block everything and you disappear from the answers. Decide nothing and you have no idea what is happening.

5. Work on mentions off your own site. Models build their picture of your brand from reviews, trade media, forums, LinkedIn and comparison articles too. Make sure your name shows up consistently alongside your expertise: same company name, same location, same services.

6. Shift content investment to what AI cannot copy. General explanations get summarised. Your own cases, your own research data, calculators, decision tools, A/B test results and a genuinely argued opinion keep earning clicks — precisely because the answer comes from your work, not from the model.

7. Measure beyond rankings. Alongside Search Console, track whether you come back in AI answers for your key questions, and which traffic arrives from AI sources. Without that, you are steering on half the picture.

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO dead in 2026?

No. Search volume has not fallen; clicks per search have. In the first four months of 2026, 68.01% of Google searches ended without a click (SparkToro/Similarweb). What disappears is traffic on simple informative questions. What remains is visibility on the questions where people make a choice.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO is about a position in the search results; GEO is about being cited as a source inside answers from AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. They share the same foundation: a crawlable, fast, well-structured site with demonstrable authority.

How much traffic do I lose to AI Overviews?

It depends on the keyword. Pew Research Center found that on searches with an AI summary, 8% of users click through, against 15% without one. Informative keywords feel it hardest; transactional and local keywords far less.

How do I measure AI traffic in GA4?

Filter your traffic reports on referral sources such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and gemini.google.com, and save that as a segment or comparison. Then judge it on conversions rather than sessions: volumes are small, intent is high.

Should I allow or block AI crawlers?

If you want to appear in AI answers, you have to allow those systems' search bots. Blocking protects your content from being used, but it also removes you from the answers. It is a trade-off between visibility and control, made per bot in robots.txt.

Which content still earns clicks?

Content a model cannot produce by itself: your own data and research, cases, calculators and decision tools, detailed comparisons and argued opinions. General definitions lose their clicks to the summary at the top.

Want to talk through your visibility in Google and AI?

Tell us what you measure today and where traffic is slipping, and we will look at what is really going on.

Get in touch or book a free advisory call. More background: E-E-A-T and the glossary.