I disagree with that point. People are not going to stop searching for things online, and while Google does try to capture some of that traffic and keep people on Google, it doesn't work, even when they get it right, except for the simplest of queries. Anything more involved and I always click through to read more of the source material. I don't think that will change either.

A - Agree that people will continue to search for things online.

B - Google does and will continue to capture that traffic, and it will continue to get better. Case in point, I read earlier this week an article about a site devoted to celebrity net worth and how their business was eaten up by the change.

C - Agree that more involved information is safe or safer.

But you know, it is obvious that Google will continue to eat up more and more queries. I don't know what percentage they are currently able to eat up and keep to themselves, but they are surely devoted to upping that rate. So as a long term play, do you really want to put yourself in competition with all the Google data scientists?

To the question raised in C, what's the alternative?

I think it's the best strategy. If you have a business, like the celebrity net worth one, you're in trouble. It's worth keeping in mind these days if your business has long term staying power based on the trends we know are currently underway.

It’s never been better to be in the content creation business. But it is a business, and one has to find ways of getting your customers to pay you money. There is substack, patreon, and probably lots of other ways to do it. But the perspective has to revolve around getting $X0 from thosands of customers rather than getting $0.50 per thosand impressions.

"SEO" has worked for 20+ years. What SEO is changes but it will always be a viable strategy.