Why "ChatGPT-SEO" Is Snake Oil—And What Brands Should Really Do

Unpopular opinion: The ChatGPT-SEO gold rush is mostly snake oil.

At Varia AI, we're watching agencies charge $10K+ for "revolutionary ChatGPT strategies" that are just repackaged traditional SEO. Meanwhile, they're missing the real threat: your customers are falling in love with ChatGPT, not your brand.

Here's what we're seeing:

If your product pages aren't optimized for traditional search, they won't surface in AI search either. Anyone charging premium rates for this "breakthrough" is selling yesterday's strategy with today's buzzwords.

The real problem we're solving: You're losing customer intimacy.

In the Google era, customers clicked through to YOUR site. They browsed YOUR pages. They engaged with YOUR content. You captured their behavior, built relationships.

With ChatGPT shopping, customers get answers without ever visiting you. They trust the AI more than your product pages. Even when they buy from you, they're loyal to the AI that recommended you, not to your brand.

Result: You become a commodity supplier in an AI-mediated marketplace.

That's exactly why we built Varia AI.

We believe brands should stop chasing AI algorithms and start building experiences that make customers choose YOU over the AI middleman.

Our approach:

We're preparing brands for a world where ChatGPT IS the discovery layer. The companies that win won't be the ones gaming the AI—they'll be the ones making the AI irrelevant for their core customers.

While everyone's buying "ChatGPT-SEO," we're helping smart brands ask: "How do we make our most loyal customers never need to ask ChatGPT about us again?"

That's the Varia AI difference.