SEO strategy in the AI era: is it prompts vs keywords?

The way we search has changed: longer queries, chat-based interfaces, AI assistants. But don’t be fooled by the interface. Under the hood, the mechanism is still the same.

Search systems, including AI-powered ones, must still reduce complex questions into simple keys in order to query an index.

The prompt is what the user asks. The keyword is what the system stores.

The real risk today is building fragile strategies by chasing an endless stream of prompts while neglecting keywords.

The result is content that sounds good in conversation but is invisible to search engines.

This is not about choosing between prompts or keywords. It’s about understanding who you are talking to and who needs to find you.

Search has become hybrid, not “AI-first”

The myth of the death of keywords is a dangerous oversimplification.

What we are seeing instead is Hybrid Search, where traditional search engines and AI assistants rely on the same foundations: indexes, entities, signals, and structure.

Keywords are still the “tab” that allows content to be pulled from the index.

Without them, AI has nothing to retrieve, reinterpret, summarize, or cite.

Optimizing for AI does not mean abandoning technical SEO.

It means using it as a foundation:

• clear topics
• explicit hierarchies
• readable semantic relationships

Conversation lives on top. Structure lives underneath. And without the second, the first doesn’t last long.

The future of SEO: fewer micro-pages, more strategic content

Chasing thousands of fragmented queries leads to a dead end: weak micro-pages, disconnected from each other, hard to maintain and impossible to defend over time.

The shift is already happening. The winning approach is to transform 10,000 disordered queries into a small number of strategic contents that cover entire topics and multiple search intents at once.

This model:

• reduces semantic dispersion
• strengthens topical authority
• improves AI readability and reuse

This is not minimalism. It’s strategy.

Search volumes vs real user behavior

Search volumes are statistical estimates. Real users are not.

Many high-value intents now emerge only in AI conversations, without showing meaningful numbers in traditional tools. Questions that repeat, evolve, change context. But they don’t disappear.

The real signal is not volume. It’s intent recurrence.

Basing decisions on seasonal averages and misleading estimates leads to comfortable choices, not correct ones.

SEO and AI: one approach, not two separate worlds

Doing SEO on one side and AI optimization on the other means double the work for mediocre results. A single approach works better: a solid content presence that holds up in the index and fuels AI conversations.

Technical SEO does not limit AI. It makes it reliable over time:

• stable structure
• recognizable entities
• reusable content blocks

AI does not reward improvisation. It rewards content that is clear, consistent, and well-structured.

What to take home for now

The current events prompt the following reflections:

• Prompt vs Keyword: optimizing only for chat is a mistake and how to refocus on the index without losing conversational traffic
• The volume trap: how to stop relying on misleading estimates and start making real operational decisions for SEO?
• From chaos to plan: how to turn thousands of scattered queries into a few strategic contents that cover entire topics?
• The “Be Everywhere” strategy: not SEO plus AI, but one system that works for both

The future of SEO is yet to be written

Let's not be fooled by the prompt.

If you want AI to truly understand you, you must first be findable by the index.

In this scenario, it will still be important to feed AI using traditional SEO structure, building content that works today on search engines and tomorrow in conversations.

Visibility in SERPs is not yet magic: it is architecture.