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AI search is only part of the formula: How leading CMOs rebalance strategy and budget in 2026
Why it matters
SEO didn’t die.
It just got smarter competition.
AI search is reshaping discovery, but strong SEO still drives authority, demand and pipeline. This session will help marketing leaders make smarter decisions about content, visibility and budget.
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Organic search generated over 43x more conversions than AI-assisted discovery for B2B SaaS in Q4 2025 (71,025 vs. 1,634)
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Despite AI traffic growing at up to 41% MoM in 2025, it accounted for less than 1% of total traffic — organic held 29.82%
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The right balance is knowable, come with your budget numbers, leave with a framework
THE AGENDA
45mins. Zero fluff. All signal
Five sharp chapters – each one answering a question CMOs are actually losing sleep over.
AI is growing fast. It’s still not where the deals are.
Across 20 B2B SaaS brands, AI referral traffic grew up to 41% month-over-month, yet it still accounted for less than 1% of total sessions. Organic delivered 29x more traffic and 43x more conversions. Visibility in AI isn’t the same as demand in the pipeline.
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AI = ~1% of total sessions. Organic = ~30–38%
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For every 1,634 AI conversions, organic drove 71,025 (Q4 2025)
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AI conversion rates are close — the volume gap is not
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Organic search drove 30–38% of total traffic across 20 B2B SaaS brands throughout 2025, and AI never exceeded 1.56%
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For every 1 AI conversion, organic drove roughly 50, the volume gap doesn’t close by going dark on search
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AI conversion rates are competitive (4.14% vs. organic’s 4.34%), but only organic delivers the volume that feeds the pipeline
Cutting SEO is like pulling the anchor mid-race.
Why cutting SEO is a mistake — what happens to organic authority and demand when brands go dark on search.
AI converts. The volume to fill a pipeline isn’t there yet.
AI converts at 4.09%, organic at 4.57%. The quality is close. The volume isn’t. Organic generates 43x more conversions in absolute terms, and parity isn’t expected until Q1 2027.
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AI CVR: 4.09% vs Organic CVR: 4.57%, near parity on quality, not on volume
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ChatGPT converts at 9.29% CVR; Gemini at 5.83%, but combined, they represent a fraction of organic’s absolute output
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At current growth rates, AI traffic is forecast to reach organic parity between Q1 2027 and Q2 2029. The question is whether your brand is visible when it does
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72% of pages ranking in AI results are blog posts — the same content format that dominates organic SEO
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Pages ranking in AI results consistently favour a precise, factual tone — 50%+ across every quarter in 2025
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90% of ranking pages have backlinks, but high-authority links aren’t required — most ranking blog posts have zero high-DA backlinks
Which brands does AI cite first?
AI doesn’t play favourites with new names. Across our dataset, the brands getting cited in AI results are the same ones already winning organic, because AI visibility is built on the same foundations as SEO: strong topic coverage, clear on-page signals, and content structured to be understood fast.
Don’t split the budget. Double down on what already works.
The same page pattern that wins in organic wins in AI. The debate isn’t SEO vs. AI/GEO — it’s about building content that both reward. Keep SEO as your core investment and treat AI/GEO as an extension of it, not a replacement.
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Organic held 30–38% of total traffic throughout 2025, while AI peaked at just 1.56%. The volume case for where the budget belongs is clear
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72% of pages ranking in AI results are blog posts, the same content format that anchors every organic SEO strategy
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The conversion rate gap between organic and AI is less than 0.5%; the playbook doesn’t need to change; the distribution does
SPEAKERS
Two brains.
One killer playbook
Between them: a decade of B2B SEO in the trenches, two of the most competitive SaaS markets on the planet, and zero tolerance for vanity metrics.
Imran Selimkhanov is the founder of Productive Shop and a strategic advisor to seed-stage SaaS companies looking to turn search into a competitive advantage. He helps B2B brands build disciplined, high-performance search and content programs that support pipeline growth in complex markets such as fintech, cybersecurity and GovTech.
Gerald Murphy is a digital strategy expert at Semrush, bringing a practical perspective on how search behavior, platform changes and AI-driven discovery are reshaping visibility. He helps marketing leaders adapt their search strategies to stay competitive in a fast-changing landscape.
RESOURCES
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Bring your numbers.
Leave with
a Search plan.
Got a burning question about your SEO strategy or AI budget? Bring it. We block out real time for the crowd every session.
Where Does AI Fit in Your SEO Budget?