The New Era of SEO: Why Old Websites Still Get AI Recommendations (2026 Insights)

Introduction: How AI Is Changing the SEO Game

In recent years, more marketers have started talking about AIO — the blend of AI and SEO.
Many assume that writing more articles, optimizing headers, and maintaining clean site structures are enough to get recommended by AI systems.

However, based on our November 2025 observations, we’ve noticed something surprising:
Some old, poorly optimized websites are being recommended by AI, while new, well-optimized sites are not.

This challenges the traditional SEO mindset and forces us to ask:
👉 What exactly is AI looking at when it recommends websites or local businesses?

Case Study: AI Recommendations for “Wood Flooring Companies in Taipei City”

To test this, we ran a simple query:

“Please recommend 10 wood flooring companies in Taipei City.”

The results were unexpected:

• Several outdated websites (with no H-tags, few pages, and minimal content) were still being recommended.

• Meanwhile, newer brands that invested heavily in SEO — blogs, keyword optimization, technical fixes — didn’t appear at all.

This experiment revealed a key truth:
AI is no longer just ranking websites — it’s recognizing trusted brands.

Deep Dive: AI Values “Local Trust” and “Brand Longevity”

Upon further analysis, we discovered that those old websites belonged to well-established, locally recognized businesses.

They might:

• Have been around for years,

• Been mentioned in local forums and community discussions,

• Collected numerous real-world reviews,

• Or even appeared in local news and directories.

In short, AI is rewarding real-world credibility — not just technical SEO.

The logic is similar to human trust:

“If enough people talk about you, AI assumes you’re worth recommending.”

That’s why many older local brands, even with minimal SEO work, are still favored in AI recommendations.

What This Means for New Brands: SEO Is Still Essential

If your brand is new, SEO is still your entry ticket — but the goalpost has shifted.

New brands lack:

• Historical data,

• Local mentions, and

• Established trust signals.

So AI systems can only evaluate you based on your content quality and visibility.

To gain traction, you’ll need to build digital credibility step by step:

1. Content SEO:
   Create genuinely helpful, locally relevant, expert-level content that AI can learn from.

2. Local Presence:
   Strengthen your visibility on Google Maps, community platforms, and social media.

3. Brand Consistency Over Time:
   Keep publishing, updating, and engaging — AI rewards consistent activity over time.

4. Earned Mentions & Backlinks:
   Partner with blogs, local media, or industry directories to increase your “mention frequency.”

Conclusion: From Technical SEO to Trust-Based SEO

In the age of AI, SEO is no longer a technical race — it’s a trust race.
AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini are learning to identify authentic, credible, long-standing brands.

That means:

• Older, well-known brands have a natural advantage,

• New brands must focus on visibility, trust, and persistence to close the gap.

We may be entering a new SEO evolution:

Technical SEO → Brand SEO → Trust SEO

In short, AI doesn’t just reward who writes the most —
it rewards who’s most trusted to exist.