01/16/2026
Everyone wants to talk about AI search right now. - “ChatGPT is the new Google.”
“SEO is dead.”
“We don’t need blogs, we’ll just rank in AI.”
Here’s the reality:
Most AI answers are still powered by Google.
And most of Google is still powered by websites.
Roughly 70% of what shows up on page one is still web pages.
If you want to show up in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, etc.?
You still have to earn your way onto page one of Google.
For staffing firms, that means a very boring, very unsexy foundation:
-You have service pages for every staffing type that makes you money
(light industrial, healthcare, IT, clerical, executive search, etc.)
-You have location pages for the markets you actually serve
-You have blogs and resources that answer the questions buyers and candidates ask along the way
If those don’t exist, your “AI strategy” is just wishful thinking.
Once that foundation is in place?
Then you expand your presence:
-Press releases when you win awards, hit milestones, land big clients
-Social content around your core niches (“We always need forklift drivers” → talk about it weekly)
-YouTube videos that clearly explain who you help and how
-Structured data to future-proof how all of this is read and indexed
And your homepage?
It should pass this 4-part audit in 10 seconds:
1️⃣ Who you are – your brand is clearly called out
2️⃣ What you do – your core staffing services are obvious
3️⃣ Where you do it – markets, regions, or “nationwide” called out multiple times
4️⃣ Proof you do it well – ratings, reviews, logos, memberships, external links
Google and LLMs follow those signals all the way through.
That’s how you build topical authority.
And that’s how you give yourself the best chance to be chosen as the answer — in search and in AI.
