SEO Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving: Insights from My GSC

Hello Riddlers!

Today's newsletter sponsor is myself 😄 The course is on sale for 25% till Dec 31 2025! Just use this Coupon Code: BLACK2025

--——> Check out the course here <--------

PSSSSTTTT: I’m also collaborating with different industry partners through an Exchange initiative! This time, I’m featuring the FREE "The email marketing course for SEOs". Looks very interesting as it's tailored specifically for SEOs. Check it out!

Now, let's dive into today's newsletter!

It’s oddly poetic that while I’m writing about how SEO is evolving, using fresh insights straight from my own GSC, Google decides to drop something very interesting.

Just yesterday, Google rolled out an experimental GSC feature that gives site owners a unified view of search performance across their websites and social channels. Let that sink⛲ in for a second.

If you work in search, you already know this: GSC shows some of the most powerful data in marketing. It’s not just SEO data, it’s user behavior, intent, demand, and opportunity all in one place. In many ways, it’s the heartbeat of your digital marketing strategy. And this update? It only reinforces that.

But you know what else we can see in GSC, the direction search is heading, and social media is clearly an important element of that!

Okay, enough rambling... in today's newsletter I want to use insights from my GSC to say that:

SEO is not dead.
Not half dead.
Not on bed rest.
Not in a coma.
Not brain-dead.
Not “scheduled to die in 2026.”

It’s evolving, so buckle up!

1# Brand

Ya ya you heard that probably a 1000 times by now of how important brand is for SEO. And here's how this gets interesting, it goes both ways. A strong brand helps your SEO, and strong SEO helps build your brand.

My top keyword by clicks in GSC is my brand name "Sara Taher". Yes I'm active on LinkedIn and that's partially why, but here's the thing, people also find my website through non-branded content, learn about me and end-up following me or signing up for my newsletter. Here's an example of someone who learned about my brand through SEO and decided to sign up:

This also challenges an older belief in digital marketing: that branded keywords and direct traffic are not influenced by SEO efforts. That assumption could not be further from the truth today.

Modern SEO doesn’t just capture existing demand, it actively creates it.

2# EEAT matters A LOT

Your established experience often matters even more than your content volume 😄

For example, if you look at my website, I don’t actually have much content about Python. I’ve published a few pieces, yes—but the majority of my content is focused on SEO and AI.

And yet, a quick look at:

• Top keywords by impressions
• Top keywords by clicks
• Or the Insights report in GSC

shows something surprising:

I currently have more visibility for Python-related keywords than for SEO keywords, despite publishing far more SEO content. Having a Python course, made me an authority in that area in the eyes of Google.

This is a powerful signal of how your perceived expertise shape visibility. Once search engines associate you strongly with a subject, that association continues to influence what you rank for, even beyond your current content focus.

In other words, SEO today isn’t just about what you publish, it’s also about who search engines believe you are.

3# Prompts in GSC

I’m also seeing more and more prompt-style searches appearing in my GSC data—and I love these.

Why? Because they don’t just show what people are searching for. They reveal how people are thinking about you and your work.

Some of the most interesting ones I’m seeing are framed around:

• My approach to SEO
• My teaching style
• And my Python course

These are no longer short, robotic keyword strings. They’re full thoughts. Real questions. Clear intent.

This is exactly why building a content strategy purely around keywords is no longer enough. People don’t think in keywords, they think in topics, problems, and interests. And our content strategies need to reflect that shift.

Prompt-style queries in GSC are going to heavily influence how I approach SEO in 2026.

For example, I can:

• Create YouTube videos directly answering these questions
• Or dedicate entire newsletter editions to one prompt at a time

SEO in 2026 and beyond is not about keywords only anymore.

4# The right partners make a difference

Recently, I noticed a sudden spike in impressions across my website. Whether that turns into more clicks or not isn’t the main point for me—because impressions equal visibility, and visibility for your name and brand is a long-term advantage on its own.

Naturally, the SEO in me got curious. I wanted to understand exactly where this influx of impressions was coming from..

After digging into GSC, I found that a large portion of the growth was tied to Ahrefs-related keywords.

Why? Because I previously had a partnership with Ahrefs, and they sponsored five editions of my newsletter (and yes—huge thank you to Ahrefs, that meant a lot to me).

This is a perfect example of how the right partnerships create value far beyond the sponsorship fee itself.

That’s also why, more recently, I’ve been intentionally connecting with peers in the industry to build partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

Right partners can boost your visibility

And That’s a Wrap (Almost 😄)

I guess the goal of this blog is to show you that SEO still matters a lot.

It's just the way we look and evaluate data, and the tactics we should be applying that are growing and changing with AI and the new user behavior patterns.

That's that for today folks and see you next newsletter!

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Disclaimer: LLMs were used to assist in wording and phrasing this blog.