As AI continues reshaping the search landscape, marketers are bombarded with conflicting advice, “AI-proof” hacks, and constant algorithm anxiety. But behind the noise, the data tells a very different story—one grounded in fundamentals, not fear.

At the News & Editorial SEO Summit (NESS) held on Oct. 21–22, leading experts from The New York Times, Polemic Digital, and NewzDash shared insights that reveal what actually moves the needle in today’s AI-driven search environment.

Below are the five SEO truths every marketer should know heading into 2026.

1. AI Overviews Aren’t Taking Over Breaking News (Yet)

Despite widespread panic, AI Overviews aren’t dominating every SERP—especially when it comes to trending or real-time news.

NewzDash’s analysis shows that only 1.9% of major trending news keywords trigger AI Overviews. During high-traffic moments, Top Stories and traditional search results still lead, not AI.

AI Overviews usually appear:

• 6–9 hours after a major event
• When competition drops
• For broad, low-context queries (e.g., “Chicago” vs. “Chicago shooting”)
• When there’s little up-to-the-minute coverage

For publishers and content creators, this is good news: real-time reporting remains the strongest visibility driver, and AI has not replaced it.

2. “Good Enough” Core Web Vitals Are Truly Enough

Chasing perfect Core Web Vitals scores is often a costly distraction.
CWV plays a role in SEO—but not as a major direct ranking factor. Its real impact is indirect, driven by user engagement signals. Poor CWV leads to poor experience, which leads to pogo-sticking and lower rankings.

Industry experts agree:

• Aim for “mostly green”
• Don’t over-optimize past the point of diminishing returns

If your CWV is decent and users can browse smoothly, your SEO is not being held back by a few points.

3. Stop Obsessing Over Clean Code—Focus on Meaningful Structure

Some developers still fixate on hyper-clean HTML, but Google doesn’t care about cosmetic minimalism.

Google tokenizes HTML, stripping out unnecessary tags before processing. This means clean code offers no ranking benefit on its own.
What does matter?

• Semantic HTML5 tags like <article>, <nav>, <section>
• Clear content purpose
• Well-defined page structure

This helps Google understand your content’s relationships and prevents indexing errors. Time spent cleaning code is better spent improving semantic meaning.

4. Content Chunking Is Now an Essential AI Strategy

As search engines depend more on large language models (LLMs), how you structure information matters as much as the information itself.

Content chunking—breaking information into clearly defined, semantically meaningful sections—helps AI systems retrieve and reuse your content. This is especially important for RAG-based systems (retrieval-augmented generation).

Two key rules for chunking:

• Use semantic HTML tags to anchor content sections
• Create a logical header hierarchy (H1–H6) to guide the AI’s understanding

Christine Liang of The New York Times summarizes it perfectly:

“If a chunk makes sense to you as a reader, it makes sense for the LLM.”

5. Avoid the AI SEO Gimmicks—Stick to Fundamentals

With new tools and “AI loopholes” popping up daily, it’s easy to get distracted. But many tactics are unproven, unnecessary, or outright ineffective.

For example:

• LLMs.txt is not supported by Google and has extremely low adoption
• Overloading pages with lists, FAQs, and “front-loaded” content is modern keyword stuffing
• AI-only content hacks rarely withstand model updates

Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed something every SEO needs to hear:

AI Overviews and AI Mode still rely on Google Search for grounding.
They pull from traditional search queries—meaning your visibility still depends on core SEO fundamentals.

The Real Path to AI Visibility Still Runs Through SEO Basics

AI tools may be new, but the rules of visibility haven’t changed. Whether serving traditional SERPs or powering AI responses, Google still rewards:

• Strong technical foundations
• Clean semantic structure
• High-quality, authoritative content
• Excellent user experience

In a world full of AI turbulence, mastery of the basics is your biggest competitive advantage. The goal isn’t to “optimize for AI”—it’s to build content so clear, useful, and structured that both humans and AI choose it automatically.

Looking to stay ahead as AI reshapes the search landscape? SEO Guru NYC helps brands build visibility through data-driven strategies grounded in real SEO fundamentals—not gimmicks. If you’re searching for a trusted search optimization team in New York that specializes in AI-aligned SEO growth, our experts can help you strengthen rankings, improve structure, and future-proof your content.

Partner with us to build a scalable SEO strategy that performs across both traditional search and emerging AI experiences.