Some real notes from the smartest people in the room (and why I’m actually quietly optimistic again)
Hey folks,
I’ve spent the last few evenings trawling through talks, interviews, and write-ups from various attendees of the recent Chiang Mai SEO conference - basically trying to absorb what some of the brightest (and most battle-scarred) minds in SEO are actually doing, not just selling.
Thought I’d share a distilled summary here, partly to give back, partly to sanity-check my own thinking after losing the Reddit parasite setup earlier this year 
First: SEO isn’t dead. It’s just fragmented.
If SEO were actually dead, companies wouldn’t be hiring Heads of SEO on £250–300k salaries. What is dead is the idea that there’s one algorithm, one playbook, one way to win.
We now have:
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Google “blue links”
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AI Overviews
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LLMs (ChatGPT, etc.)
That sounds scary… but it also means we’re no longer one Google update away from zero, like back in the article directory days (still have the emotional scars from that one).
AI & LLMs: hype, yes - but also a land grab
Everyone agrees AI/LLMs are the big theme going into 2026, but with an important caveat:
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Traffic and conversions from AI are currently rubbish
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Brands still want to be mentioned anyway (vanity, future-proofing, boardroom optics)
The interesting bit is how people are getting into LLMs:
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Listicles are heavily referenced
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Press releases are oddly overpowered
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Repeated “human feedback” to LLMs seems to influence outputs
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Early insertion may create inertia (first-mover advantage)
Feels a lot like link building in 2008–2012: cheap, messy, and full of loopholes - for now!
Links are back. Like… really back.
This surprised me the least, but still worth saying plainly:
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Content signals are being devalued
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Link signals are increasing in importance
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Aged / dropped domains are everywhere again
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Parasite SEO is making a big comeback
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High-authority pages are carrying disproportionate weight
Several people openly believe Google has dialled down anti-spam while reallocating resources to AI. The result? Lower SERP quality - and a lot of stuff that “shouldn’t” work… working.
Yes, it feels like 2010 again. Make of that what you will … for a self-confessed black hat like me, I’m in my element 
Traffic manipulation (but with real humans)
Not bots. Not proxies.
People are deliberately:
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Sending real users through YouTube, email lists, socials
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Routing traffic through trusted platforms before the money page
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Leveraging Google-owned properties as amplifiers
This lines up eerily well with what I was seeing on Reddit before the ban. Real engagement still moves the needle.
Identity, brand & authority are becoming non-optional
With AI content everywhere, Google and LLMs seem desperate for provenance:
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Who is saying this?
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Why should we trust them?
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Are they part of an existing “conversation”?
This is pushing things toward:
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Personal brands
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Networks
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Being associated with other entities that already rank
Ironically, the future looks more human, not less.
Best path to $3–5k/month (starting from scratch with your own site)
Yes, brand matters but for someone starting with their own site and no leverage, the realistic path isn’t building a big “brand” or pumping out endless blog content. It’s running fast, focused experiments until something shows traction.
The people getting there quickest aren’t doing more - they’re doing less, but tighter.
Key patterns that kept coming up:
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Start with very narrow sites or even single pages, not authority builds
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Choose monetisation first, then work backwards (buyer intent > traffic)
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Use leverage early (parasites, aged/expired domains, high-authority surfaces) rather than waiting for a fresh domain to age
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Use AI to test ideas quickly, not mass-publish and hope
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Expect early wins to be small and messy - one page, one keyword, one loophole
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Local rank and rent (this is a BIG one)
Most people don’t hit $3–5k from one perfect site. They stack a few small properties, keep what works, and drop what doesn’t. It’s less romantic than the old SEO dream - but it’s far more realistic as we hurtle headlong into 2026.
Affiliates aren’t dead either
After HCU, many got wiped. But with Google distracted by AI, some smart affiliate setups are quietly working again - especially those that look more like ecommerce than thin review sites.
(not to mention S3 subdomain affiliate pages fooling Google into thinking they’re videos!)
Feels like Google broke something… then forgot to finish fixing it.
My takeaway
This genuinely feels like one of the best times in years to be an SEO - if you’re willing to adapt.
More systems to optimise for.
More loopholes.
More room for experimentation.
Less reliance on a single traffic source.
I’m back to square one after the Reddit ban, but with a lot more reps, data, and perspective than last time. And honestly? It feels like a second chance rather than a dead end.
How are you thinking about positioning yourself going into 2026? Especially anyone rebuilding after a wipeout 
Cheers,
Rohan