Rebel, here’s a stat worth sitting with: Gartner predicts traditional search volume will drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots take over more of the “answer” job Google used to do. So is SEO dead? Andrew Cock-Starkey, founder of Optimisey, says: not even close, it’s just evolved.
About Andrew Cock-Starkey
Andrew has spent his career working on websites for big household names including the BBC, National Trust, and Lord’s Cricket Ground. He started his specialist SEO consultancy, Optimisey, in 2017 and has been helping businesses big and small get more of the right kind of traffic to their websites ever since.
- Website: Click here
- LinkedIn: Click here
- Instagram: Click here
Be Quotable, Not Just Rankable
The old game was gaming the algorithm. The new game: giving people (and AI) something worth repeating. Andrew’s clear that being quotable isn’t about clever one-liners, it’s about saying something genuinely new, useful, or only your brand can say. Generic “best of” lists and rehashed advice are going stale fast.
“You want to have something worth saying… it’s kind of this idea of like you can just recite what’s already out on the web, that’s not quotable, that’s not interesting.”
Andrew Cock-Starkey
- Audit your top 3 pages: is there a unique story, data point, or lived experience, or does it read like everyone else’s advice?
- Structure your site so it’s fast and easy to navigate for both humans and bots
- Cut the spammy tricks entirely, keyword stuffing and content farms are actively counterproductive now
Freshness Means Real Value, Not Just A New Date
Both AI and humans reward genuinely current content, but changing a date without changing the substance doesn’t fool anyone anymore, least of all the machines. Andrew’s advice: refresh fast-changing topics regularly with real updates, and only touch evergreen pages when something actually changed.
- Add one new stat, example, or insight to a high-traffic page rather than just editing the date
- Show your publish and update dates visibly, it builds trust with readers and algorithms alike
- Prioritize freshness on pages covering fast-moving topics (AI, trends), not your About page
Authority Beats Algorithm-Chasing, Every Time
Backlinks still matter, but where they come from matters more, topical relevance and real context beat raw link volume. This is core SEO, distinct from the earned-media citation strategy we cover in our episode with Ben Jacobson on getting cited in AI search — that one’s about PR and third-party citations specifically, this one’s about the fundamentals underneath it all.
- Prioritize quality, topically-relevant backlinks over volume
- Build a “content tree”: map your pages to what your audience actually needs to know, not scattered one-off posts
- Track actual results (leads, signups) over vanity rankings, and don’t let AI hype pull you away from what’s already working
Being found and remembered in the age of AI still comes down to being deeply useful, distinctly you, and easy to trust. Sharpen your expertise, keep it current, and write for the humans behind the clicks.
Andrew is offering AMS listeners 23% off an SEO Power Hour (£150 instead of £195) — book here.