James Schramko Podcast 1137 – Foundation First: Why Smart Businesses Layer AI on Top of SEO (Not Instead Of)
Sep 11, 2025
Gert Mellak, founder of SEOLeverage and an SEO expert, joins the discussion to unpack the relationship between SEO and AI. He emphasizes that AI visibility relies heavily on established SEO foundations. Gert advises businesses to assess their audience's AI platform usage before shifting budgets, highlighting that about 70% of strategies overlap between SEO and AI. He also discusses the risk of zero-click searches and the importance of maintaining brand visibility across platforms, especially Reddit. Gert recommends a balanced budget approach to leverage both SEO and AI effectively.
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Audience Determines AI vs SEO Priority
- AI adoption varies by audience and many small businesses still rely on traditional tools like email, not ChatGPT.
- Evaluate whether your customers actually use AI before abandoning SEO foundations.
SEO Still Feeds AI Visibility
- Many AI systems source information from Google, so strong SEO often improves AI visibility.
- Treat SEO as a foundation and layer AI efforts on top rather than replacing them outright.
Split Effort: 70/30 SEO To AI
- Keep most core SEO activities because roughly 70% of tactics benefit both search and AI.
- Add the extra 30% of platform-specific optimizations only when your audience uses those AI channels.