Is Informational SEO Content Still Viable With AI Summaries In Play?

Now that Google is incorporating AI summaries into its search results, a lot of people have started asking: is there any viability in trying to rank for those types of searches anymore? I was having a chat with a colleague of mine this morning, and he asked me to respond to a video he saw. As I was talking it through with him, I thought it would actually make a good post here.

The video he mentioned was from a gentleman in the SEO industry, who was essentially asserting that since AI answers cannibalize so much informational content, that kind of content is now ‘dead.’ He argued that businesses should only focus on ranking for buying intent searches—those where someone is ready to make a purchase immediately.

My colleague asked me what I thought of that argument.

I can understand why that gentleman thinks this way, and indeed, there are cases where AI summaries have cannibalized search traffic, making informational content less viable. You can measure it and see that, these days, many sites are getting less traffic from informational searches than they used to. However, I still think informational content is viable.

I’ll show you a couple of use cases where that’s been true and explain why I think it’s still valuable.

Assumptions At Play

In general, SEO is part data interpretation and part drawing conclusions or assumptions about trends. In this case, we might get caught up in the idea that, because AI provides a summary that potentially renders the organic results unnecessary, organic results will always be ignored.

I’m not convinced that’s universally true.

There are still many cases where people scroll past AI summaries and read the full results.

For example, if someone is looking for a simple fact, like ‘When was C.S. Lewis born?’, AI summaries are perfect. That’s just a date and a year — there’s no need to read an entire blog post.

But if your entire strategy relies on that kind of basic content, you were already on shaky ground.

This shift puts more responsibility on us to go deeper. If you want to rank for content about C.S. Lewis, you now need to explore topics like his famous books, in-depth interpretations of his works, lessons people can learn from his life, his relationships, or places he spoke.

AI summaries may attempt to answer some of those questions, but in my experience with client work, people still want to read thoughtful content from real websites rather than just a summary.

Secondly, you have to think bigger about your SEO campaign.

If you only view SEO as a way to make money, it’s tempting to focus exclusively on buying intent keywords — those that sell products or drive clicks. While logical, that’s a narrow strategy.

Buying intent keywords are often highly competitive. You don’t just rank for them overnight.

Moreover, if you manage to rank in the top five for such a keyword but don’t have enough content or authority on your site to maintain that position, you’ll eventually fall out of the rankings. Once you’re out of the top five, it can be difficult to convince Google to reconsider your site for those spots.

Systematic Traction

Informational content is valuable because it helps you rank for the questions people are asking — questions that are relevant to your site’s broader theme. The more often your site has good answers to relevant questions, especially when you offer something competitors don’t, you build trust with Google.

This trust translates into your domain having more authority overall, which makes it easier to rank and stay competitive for buying intent keywords. Links also help, of course, but a robust content strategy that prioritizes informational content gives you the foundation you need to compete effectively.

Depending on the type of site you have, informational content can indirectly influence conversions as well.

For instance, I’ve been working with a theater company. Much of the content we’ve created is about famous fiction writers and literary works their theatre productions are based on.

People searching for this kind of information are naturally nudged toward calls to action. If they’re already looking for information about this author, and now they’ve read a thoughtful exploration that’s easy to read, it’s a natural inclusion to have the theatre touring schedule.

Not everyone will be interested, of course, they’ve definitely seen where ranking for these searches has led to increased ticket sales.

It’s a mistake to assume that only buying intent keywords drive sales. In the case of the theater company, most of the content we’ve created in the past year has been informational, and the data shows clear traffic increases and revenue growth as a result.

Similarly, I worked with a traffic attorney who focused on informational content about common tickets and court scenarios. The traffic to his site increased significantly, and last month he reported a record month for phone calls. (He’d never received that many leads in a month before, and hadn’t come anywhere close with his website before.)

Most of the traffic came from the informational content we had created as part of his SEO campaign, which had been running for over six months. It’s a clear example of informational content driving real-world results.

Summary:

So, while it’s true that informational content might bring in less direct traffic than it used to, it still holds indirect value. It can enhance your domain authority, improve your rankings for other high-value keywords, and drive sales in unexpected ways.

I wanted to share this because I know it’s a big conversation in the SEO world right now. A lot of people are declaring informational content ‘dead,’ but I disagree.