Is Automation a Future of Ranking Growth?
What these marketers do not recognize is that Things like homepages, pricing pages, or bottom of funnel content, tends to be revealed in ChatGPT. The informative top of funnel content is "consumed up" by LLMs and shown to users without anywhere to click.
If you were to take that same idea over to Google, you would see the same conversion rates. Google's conversion rates reveal less because the traffic is greater due to it being watered down by all the top of funnel content that remains in the equation. Other things like how ChatGPT can make stuff up, it never completely follows prompts properly (i.e.
I do still believe that bigger companies will set aside a speculative budget plan to check things like ChatGPT apps and other AI SEO tools. But in 2026, I forecast individuals will understand enhancing for Google will permit them to show up in ChatGPT and Perplexity too. Just take a look at ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity's Comet browsers.
Don't do it. These techniques may work now in ChatGPT and other LLMs, but they're short-term plays that will ultimately get punished. Focus on white hat strategies that construct genuine authority and trust with time instead of chasing after fast wins that will not last. The 2000s are back. Scammy keyword packing techniques, paying for low-grade backlinks, shipping thousands of useless articles all in the name of ranking high.
Is Automation the Path of Ranking Growth?
Now, the algorithm is fully grown enough to disregard all that rubbish. ChatGPT and other LLM algorithms are not as fully grown. I can't call this individual, but I met an SEO director at a big banking company. This individual informed me they (and all their rivals) are developing microsites (like little blogs) on different domains.
And from there, they are using their primary business domain, that has an incredibly strong brand name authority, and sending backlinks to the microsite. And this has actually led to greater rankings for their brand name in LLMs like ChatGPT.It blew my mind that substantial, trusted companies are doing this. And I realized just how much black hat (or grey hat) tactics are going on behind the scenes.

In 2026, I forecast these strategies will continue to occur. Up until ChatGPT's algorithm gets as clever as Google's search algorithm.
Designing Automated SEO Solutions for Scale
Focus on quality over quantity. Share genuine insights, use your own images and videos, and develop topical authority in your niche. This is how solo creators and little groups can beat substantial brand names in 2026. Specific niche blogging is back child. But with a twist. This is one of the most significant SEO patterns for material marketing I'm seeing right now.
You require a real business, be it a newsletter business, a service-based business, SaaS company, or ecommerce store. And then you include on this human-centered niche blogging to the site to naturally grow your core product/service offering. In 2026, I predict that Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter about which web pages contain AI material and which do not.
I know loads of people quietly crushing it with AI created content (even going after top of funnel keywords). What I am saying is that engaging, human content will outrank AI created content with no initial insights. There are 2 paths I see with SEO's today: Produce thousands of AI-generated blog site posts and get them to rank in the middle/bottom of page 1.
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Produce a hundred human blog posts and get them to rank at the top of the very first page. And anybody who composes much better human material will rank greater in positions 1-3. The second path is slower, however can yield higher ranking positions and more trust with readers.
where to buy GSA verified listsI have actually seen it work with my own blog site. And I've also seen it with other smaller developers in the business space. (an SEO who I deeply regard) is an excellent example.