“Generic SEO Is Dead”? We Checked That Claim Against Google, Microsoft and OpenAI

This week a YouTube Short from a Malaysian SEO agency landed on our desk with one question attached: is this true? It runs for 80 seconds. The first sentence is “AI overviews are taking over search and generic SEO is dead.” The second is “To survive 2026, you need a specialist.” Then come five Malaysian agencies, each with a bold number attached.

New to the terms? Start with what AEO and GEO actually are, tested on real Malaysian searches.

The worry behind it is real. So we did what we would want any business owner to do before acting on it: we checked the claim against what Google, Microsoft and OpenAI actually publish about how their AI search works. Here is what they say, quoted word for word, and what it means for your website.

What the video gets right

AI answers really are taking space at the top of Google. On 2 October we ran a live Google check for Malaysia on “seo agency malaysia”, and the first thing on the page was an AI Overview, above every ordinary result. If your business relies on people clicking the top blue link, that change matters, and anyone who tells you nothing has changed is not paying attention.

The video’s closing line is also sound advice: “The winning agency isn’t just whoever promises page one. It’s the partner whose methodology perfectly matches your need.” We agree with every word of that sentence. It is the conclusion in the middle that does not hold up.

What Google, Microsoft and OpenAI actually say

If “generic SEO” were dead, the companies running the AI answers would be telling site owners to do something different. They are saying the opposite.

Google, on how to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode: “You can apply the same foundational SEO best practices for AI features as you do for Google Search overall.” On technical requirements: “There are no additional technical requirements.” And plainly: “While specific optimization isn’t required for AI Overviews and AI Mode, all existing SEO fundamentals continue to be worthwhile.”^[1]

Google’s own Search Relations team wrote the same thing on its official blog: “Meeting the technical requirements covers you for search generally, including AI formats.”^[2]

Microsoft, which runs Bing and Copilot, in its guide to being included in AI answers: “It’s important to understand that traditional SEO fundamentals still matter. Crawlability, metadata, internal linking, and backlinks remain essential for ensuring your content is discoverable.”^[3]

OpenAI, on how ChatGPT’s search finds websites: “Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.”^[4] In other words, whether your site appears in ChatGPT search starts with a line in a file called robots.txt. That is about as “generic” as technical SEO gets.

Put the four quotes side by side and the picture is clear. The fundamentals the video calls dead are the ticket of entry to AI answers. A page Google cannot crawl and index cannot be cited by Google’s AI. A site that blocks OpenAI’s search crawler is not shown in ChatGPT’s search answers. There is no side door.

Checking the specific claims

The video describes five agencies. We are not going to argue with any of them by name; we have not seen their work and they have not seen ours. But several claims in the video are the kind Google tells business owners to question, and you deserve to know which ones.

“First-page Google rankings in just 1 month”

Google’s own hiring guide is blunt: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” It adds: “Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings.”^[5] Page one is not position one, but a promise of page one by a date is the same kind of promise. If you hear it, ask three things: for which searches, checked from where, and what happens to your money if it does not happen.

“Proprietary V7 and V8 AI tactics to bypass the usual waiting game”

Google’s guide again: “Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do.”^[5] And Google’s AI features page says specific optimisation “isn’t required” at all.^[1] Any method that works can be explained in plain words. Ask for that explanation before you pay for it.

“A satellite ecosystem” that “ensures you dominate AI summaries”

Two things to separate here. First, “ensures” is a guarantee, and nobody controls what Google’s or ChatGPT’s AI chooses to cite. Second, we do not know what is inside any particular “satellite ecosystem”, so we will not guess. What we can tell you is how Google defines the risk: link spam is “the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings”, and its examples include “creating low-value content primarily for the purposes of manipulating linking and ranking signals”.^[6] If a network of sites is part of what you are buying, ask whose sites they are, who reads them, and whether they would exist if not for the links.

The big numbers: 111%, 3.5 times, 450 leads a month

We are not saying these figures are false. We are saying that nobody can check them from an 80-second video, including us. A result worth trusting comes with a date, the place it was measured, what was measured (impressions are not enquiries, and enquiries are not sales), and ideally a live website and a client who agreed to be named. Ask for those four things whenever someone shows you a percentage.

“AI SEO” that means pages written by the hundred

The video does not say this, but it is where “generic SEO is dead” pitches often lead. Google’s spam policies name it directly. Scaled content abuse is “when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users”, and one listed example is “using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users”.^[7] If the plan is volume, ask what each page adds that the rest of the web does not already say.

So what does AI search actually reward?

Look at the AI Overview from our 2 October check. The pages it cited were ordinary agency service pages and homepages, including pages that publish specifics such as monthly prices and client numbers. Nothing exotic, just facts that can be quoted. That matches what all three companies publish: crawlable pages, clear structure, content that says something specific, and a site other people vouch for. We wrote about the AEO and GEO labels in more detail in SEO is dead? What AEO and GEO actually are.

Our own evidence points the same way. For Home Dietitians, a dietitian practice in Kuala Lumpur, a live Google check from KL on 2 October showed the practice first in the Google Maps results for “dietitian malaysia”. The work behind it was what the video would call generic: a properly completed Google Business Profile, the same business details everywhere, and one page for each condition people search for. We explain both halves of that result in Google Maps vs ordinary results, and the dated record is in the case study.

And because we think claims should be checkable, we publish our own rankings every month, starting from a weak position, in SEO in Public.

What not to do

• Do not stop the basics because a video said they are dead. Google, Microsoft and OpenAI all say they are what gets you into AI answers.
• Do not pay for guarantees of rankings, “domination” or AI citations. Google says no one can guarantee them, and the AI systems decide for themselves.
• Do not buy a method nobody will explain, however impressive its version number.
• Do not block the crawlers you want to be found by. Check your robots.txt before paying anyone for “AI visibility”.

Check it yourself

1. Read the sources. Every quote above links to the original page in the references below. They take about ten minutes to read in total.
2. Look at what AI Overviews cite for a search in your own trade. Open the cited pages and ask what they have in common. In our experience it is clarity and specifics, not tricks.
3. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and check it does not block Googlebot or OAI-SearchBot.
4. Open Google Search Console and check that your important pages are indexed. Google’s AI can only cite pages that are in its index and eligible to appear with a snippet.^[1]

Frequently asked

Is SEO dead because of AI Overviews?

No. Google says the same foundational SEO best practices apply to its AI features, with no additional technical requirements. AI Overviews change where clicks go on the page, but the pages they cite still have to be crawlable, indexed and useful.

Do I need a separate “AI SEO” or GEO service?

Usually not. Google says specific optimisation is not required for AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Microsoft says traditional SEO fundamentals still matter for Copilot. A good SEO service already covers what AI search needs: clear structure, specific content, technical access and genuine authority.

Can an agency guarantee first-page rankings or AI citations?

No. Google states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking and warns against SEOs who claim to guarantee rankings. AI systems choose their own citations. Ask for a realistic plan and dated, checkable reporting instead.

Want a second opinion on a pitch you have received?

Send us the proposal, from us or anyone else, along with your website. We will reply in writing with what the sources say about each promise in it, and what we would actually do first. Request a free review, or see how we work as an SEO agency in Malaysia.

References

1. Google Search Central, “AI features and your website”, last updated 10 December 2025. Accessed 3 October 2026.
2. Google Search Central Blog, “Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google’s AI experiences on Search”, John Mueller, Google Search Relations, May 2025. Accessed 3 October 2026.
3. Microsoft Advertising Blog, “Optimizing your content for inclusion in AI search answers”, October 2025. Accessed 3 October 2026.
4. OpenAI, “Overview of OpenAI crawlers”. Accessed 3 October 2026.
5. Google Search Central, “Do you need an SEO?”. Accessed 3 October 2026.
6. Google Search Central, “Spam policies for Google web search”, section “Link spam”. Accessed 3 October 2026.
7. Google Search Central, “Spam policies for Google web search”, section “Scaled content abuse”. Accessed 3 October 2026.
8. The video reviewed: “Top 5 Malaysia SEO Agencies in 2026: Get Ranked on Google & AI Search!”, YouTube Short published 3 September 2026 by an SEO agency’s channel. Quotes are from its transcript, accessed 3 October 2026.
9. TWS data: live Google checks for Malaysia (“seo agency malaysia”) and from Kuala Lumpur (“dietitian malaysia”), 2 October 2026. Home Dietitians data published with the practice’s agreement.