GOOGLE, AI OR HUMANS: WHO ARE WE ACTUALLY OPTIMISING FOR

Posted In: Uncategorized by Zoe Perkin,
September 21, 2026

By Zoe Perkins, Senior SEO Account Executive

I’ve been in marketing for 6 years and things have changed a lot, especially in the SEO world. People aren’t just Googling anymore, they’re asking ChatGPT for recommendations, getting answers directly from AI Overviews, searching Reddit for an honest opinion, scrolling TikTok for inspiration and then, somewhere along the way, possibly visiting a website.

So who do you even optimise for? Despite the current rumours that AI is going to kill us all and take over the world, the short answer is that we need to put humans first, with wider channels as the means to getting to them. Although I’ve just answered your question, the rest of this article is still worth the read…

SEARCH HAS CHANGED, BUT PEOPLE HAVEN’T STOPPED SEARCHING

The way we search for information is changing quickly. Google itself is becoming increasingly conversational through AI Overviews and AI Mode, while platforms such as ChatGPT can search the web, bring together information from multiple sources and answer follow-up questions without the user having to start their research again. We’re moving away from a world where every search journey looks like:

Search → click → website → convert

For marketers, the challenge is no longer simply “How do we rank for this keyword?” It’s more “How do we make sure this brand is visible wherever someone goes looking for an answer?”

At Boutique, we’ve been working with clients by undertaking in-depth research into exactly what their audience is searching for across the web. This then allows us to understand their concerns and queries, respond to the searches and give users the answers they need to drive action. Then, we work with clients on what to do about it. This is the right thing to do, as we’re putting humans at the forefront.

PLEASE DON’T START WRITING FOR ROBOTS AGAIN

We’ve played these games before. SEO has spent years moving away from content written awkwardly around exact-match keywords. You know the type: “If you’re looking for a marketing agency in Leeds, our Leeds marketing agency provides marketing agency services to businesses looking for a marketing agency in Leeds.” Nobody wants that back – apologies to the SEO marketers that I just gave war flashbacks.

Replacing keyword stuffing with AI stuffing is the new trauma inducer. Your content needs to be valuable, original and provide information beyond what already exists online. You’ve got to give humans something that they actually want to read, whether that’s answering a question that they might have, or telling them new information they might not have gained before.

THE HUMAN IS THE BIT WE CAN’T FORGET

It’s humans who buy your product, not Google or the likes of ChatGPT. And while the platforms helping them reach those decisions are evolving, the basic reasons people search haven’t changed dramatically:

They have a question.
They have a problem.
They want reassurance.
They want to compare options.
They want to know whether they can trust you.
Or they simply want someone to tell them which goddamn air fryer to buy without reading 14 different reviews.

That’s why user intent remains so important. The strongest content strategies, the ones we’re working on at Boutique, aren’t going to be built around creating a separate page for every possible AI prompt. They’re going to centre around understanding the questions, concerns and decisions that exist throughout the customer journey and providing genuinely useful answers.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR SEO STRATEGY

It means our definition of optimisation needs to get wider. Keywords aren’t disappearing, but they’re one piece of a much bigger picture. This means:

We need to understand the topics and questions surrounding a purchase, not just the highest-volume search terms.
We need technically strong websites that search engines and AI crawlers can access and understand.
We need clear brand positioning so that what a business does, where it operates and why it’s credible is reinforced consistently across the web.
We need original expertise rather than endless variations of content that already exists.
We need to consider visibility beyond our own websites – your wider digital presence can become part of how people discover and understand your brand.

SEO is becoming less about optimising an individual page for an individual keyword and more about creating an ecosystem of relevance, authority and trust around a brand. The goal hasn’t changed: be present when your audience is looking for something you can provide. What’s changed is the number of places where that looking happens.

GOOGLE VS AI VS HUMANS: WHO WINS?

Humans win, every single time. Because ultimately, optimising for Google and optimising for AI shouldn’t mean compromising the experience of the person you’re actually trying to reach.

The platforms will change. Algorithms will change. The way results are displayed will definitely change. We’ll probably invent several more acronyms for essentially the same job. But understanding what people need and creating the best possible answer to that need? That’s still a pretty solid place to start.

If you’re looking to optimise your site for humans, while building visibility in the likes of Google and ChatGPT, grab us for a chat and get in touch.