Is SEO Article Writing Still Effective in 2026?

I’ve been very close to the SEO article writing industry and have witnessed the changes that have come along over the years. Ever since I started my career, I’ve been a strong advocate of creating content for humans first and bots second — content that people would actually consume.

That’s the number one rule of marketing, and honestly, of good business as well.

If you brush aside the technicalities of whether content will help you rank or not, and simply think about your consumer, the question becomes very simple: will your customers or target customers find this content valuable?
If the answer is yes, go for it.
If not, hit pause.

How People Are Consuming Content Today

If we look at how customers consume content today, it’s largely through reels and YouTube Shorts, ChatGPT, Reddit, and sometimes long-form videos and podcasts. These are the formats dominating attention right now.

This naturally raises an important question.

Where does article writing fit into all of this?
That’s the real food for thought.

The Elephant in the Room: Does SEO Article Writing Still Help Rankings?

The argument has always been that SEO article writing helps boost rankings — and that’s the reason marketing teams still continue to hire writers.

Does it help? Maybe.

The truth is, I have yet to see a single website that ranks well without any blogs. So yes, blogs might still be essential — not necessarily as a traffic driver on their own, but as a supporting pillar.

If You Still Need Blogs, Here’s What Actually Works

If your goal is to create blogs mainly to support your money pages and send strong E-E-A-T signals to Google, here’s what I would recommend.

Create More Listicles

Listicles are still being used by people.

For example, if I’m looking for the best retinol serums, I would likely click on a listicle because it makes it easy to navigate through different brands and compare options before moving to individual brand websites.

Focus on Bottom-of-the-Funnel Articles

People are still using traditional search for BOFU queries — especially after they’ve already gained awareness and education through TOFU and MOFU channels.

Today, that awareness often comes from places like ChatGPT, social media, YouTube, and other non-traditional search platforms. Once users reach the decision stage, they still rely on search.

Using AI Mindfully in Content Creation

Another important point here is the use of AI.

Right now, Google and large language models are facing a dilemma — they are running short on authentic, original data to train on. This makes genuinely original, experience-backed content more valuable than ever.

Creating authentic content can help not just with rankings, but also with crawlability and long-term visibility.

Why Google Is Pushing Video More Than Ever

One thing worth noting is how aggressively Google is now pushing videos in its AI Overviews. This clearly shows that Google is crawling and understanding video transcripts as well.

And this actually makes sense.

As traffic to traditional search result pages declines, Google’s primary revenue channel — search ads — comes under pressure. YouTube, on the other hand, gives Google a more controlled monetization environment.

Google has even rolled out beta features in Search Console that show performance data for YouTube videos. This alone signals where their priorities are heading.

What This Means for Your Content Strategy in 2026

All of this makes video content even more important — especially for the TOFU and MOFU stages of the funnel.

If your goal is to build brand awareness and bring more people into your buying funnel, producing more video content can definitely move the needle.

SEO article writing isn’t dead — but its role has changed. Blogs now work best when they support authority, conversions, and trust, while video and interactive formats do the heavy lifting for discovery.

Hire Propellex for SEO and AI SEO service.

more insights