I’m Zoe Collins, Founder of ZODIGITAL, the SEO first digital consultancy. ZODIGITAL specialises in helping local service-based businesses and SME’s get found and chosen by ideal customer online. When I say I do SEO I get asked two questions. : 1. What’s that? 2. Is AI going to put you out of a job soon then? I do buckets of educational content around SEO, so I am here to speak about the latter.

This is how AI is impacting my role as an SEO professional and how it should inform your SEO strategy.

How AI impacts SEO for different industries

While I support many businesses with SEO, I really specialise in positioning service-based businesses in front of ready-to-buy clients. SEO, like all marketing, isn’t a universal fix for getting new business. It should be looked at as one of a few strategic investments in an awareness-to-conversion ecosystem. That being said, some businesses benefit from SEO more quickly or with less lift than others. This divide has only grown with the rise of AI.

This is my understanding and personal opinion on AI’s impact on SEO for different industries.

E-Commerce

AI is shifting how people shop. Large e-commerce brands have the advantage when it comes to AI tools recommending products directly. If you're relying on SEO to compete at the top of the funnel in this space, it’s only getting harder. Paid and AI-driven placements are taking up more space in search results.

My advice: Optimise your product titles, descriptions and image tags. Make sure collections are labelled by what a person would search, then look into paid ads. Use SEO to support your ads and give users a better experience once they land.

Online Services

Online-only services are also feeling the squeeze. Tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI features can now answer general questions instantly, which means fewer clicks to websites for surface-level content. It’s still possible to win here, but your offer has to be incredibly well-targeted, and your site has to do a great job of converting traffic. There is a lot of competition without the localised element.

My advice: Focus on clear messaging and high-converting landing pages. Use SEO to build niche authority and rank for very specific service queries. Don’t rely on general top-of-funnel content to bring traffic anymore.

Local Services

This is where SEO still has a lot of power. People looking for a plumber or estate agent in their area still turn to Google. And Google still prioritises local results. That includes your Google Business Profile, local landing pages, directory listings, and locally relevant content. AI can’t send someone round to fix your boiler. They still need to find a real local business. That’s why I continue to focus on local.

My advice: Get your Google Business Profile up to date, build out landing pages by service and location, and keep consistent citations. Don’t forget about local groups and word-of-mouth — pair those with online visibility for best results.

Has AI made blogging a dead strategy?

If your plan was to blog for top-of-funnel, informational-based searches, then yes, AI overviews and the rise of conversational search are already making that harder. People are getting answers from the search results page or from AI tools without ever clicking through to a site.

But that doesn’t mean blogging is pointless!

For relationship-building, collaborations, backlink building, and positioning yourself as an authority, blog content still has real value. I personally like to use blog thumbnails on service landing pages to add context and support relevance. It works.

Also, if your website has some authority then blogging when hyper specific can still work. Just take a look at my estate agent client for example who gets hundreds of people on their site from blogs about living in their local area.

ZODIGITAL’s SEO Strategy

First of all its worth a mention that this is correct as of July 2025. Digital has always been a changing beast and with that, we evolve so you the client always get the best most sensible action for your investment. That aside, this is the ZODIGITAL SEO Strategy you invest in when you work with us.

Bottom-funnel content

We create highly targeted, localised landing pages focused on the keywords your ideal customers are already using when they’re ready to take action. These aren’t just for generic visibility they’re built to convert clicks into enquiries.

Strategic blogging

Our blog content is developed to support your rankings, reinforce service pages, and move users through your sales funnel by building trust through education. We focus on topics that build trust and relevance, not just content for the sake of it.

Citation building

We build and maintain consistent directory listings across key platforms. These citations help strengthen your business’s authority in local search and improve your chances of showing up in the map pack and organic results.

Google Business management

We actively manage your Google Business Profile to keep it optimised and relevant. This includes monthly post updates, photo uploads, and review monitoring, so your profile doesn’t just exist — it performs.

Local Facebook activity

Alongside regular Facebook posts, we also post into relevant local groups. It’s a small but powerful tactic that helps your business stay top of mind in the exact communities where your customers are already active.

Local SEO is very much alive despite AI

We have scaffolders, builders, estate agents, tech services, and security partners who are all dominating local search results across East Sussex, Windsor, and Manchester. These are real businesses getting real leads because their local SEO is on point.

Are you a local service wanting to invest in SEO? Packages start from £350 - £800 . Explore these here or reach out to zoe today: zoe@zodigital.co.uk