Across Malaysia’s SME landscape, from F&B startups in Petaling Jaya to tech founders building SaaS tools in Kuala Lumpur, a familiar question keeps surfacing: Is SEO still worth it?
With AI-generated answers appearing at the top of Google and paid advertising becoming more aggressive and expensive than on ground activation campaigns, SEO can feel slower and less predictable than it once was.
SEO is increasingly important in the crowded digital space if you are competing in Malaysia. Imagine 300,000 companies competing to appear first to 35 million Malaysian online consumers.
Yet when you step back and observe how search behaviour is evolving, the conclusion becomes clear. SEO is not becoming irrelevant. It is becoming more foundational, particularly in an environment shaped by AI summaries, zero-click searches, and increasingly sophisticated algorithms.
The goalposts have moved, but the game itself has not disappeared. It is going through en evolution that sparks new interest by SME companies who appreciate the importance of digital footprint.
Understanding Zero-Click and AI Overview
Search has changed dramatically over the last decade. Ten years ago, appearing on the first page of Google was the main goal of any SEO companies. The SEO packages offering 500% traffic or 100 backlinks are no longer relevant, important and may cause detrimental effects to your web performance.
Today, consumers are increasingly presented with AI-generated summaries, knowledge panels, featured snippets, and local results before they even scroll. This has contributed to a rise in what marketers call zero-click searches, where users obtain answers without visiting a website.
Getting your brand first on AI-Overview summaries or ChatGPT answers is the goal for companies engaging SEO services.
For SMEs and startups in Malaysia, this may initially seem threatening. Fewer clicks could reduce potential sales for local products. However, visibility in AI summaries carries a different kind of value. Google’s AI systems still rely on credible web content. If a brand does not build trust and structured information, it will not be referenced.
SEO expert Kaspar Szymanski, in his article SEO in 2026: What Will Stay the Same, explains this clearly:
“Real SEO gains still depend on trust, crawlable data, and meeting user needs — not chasing the latest novelty.”
“Zero-click searches do not equate to zero value. Instead, they highlight the importance of being cited and recognised as authoritative.” said Shahid Shayaa, SEO expert and data scientist from Berkshire Media.
SEO as Reputation Infrastructure
For smaller businesses, credibility is often the biggest hurdle. Unlike established corporations, startups and SMEs cannot rely on existing brand recognition or media coverage.
SEO provides a structured way to communicate expertise and reliability to potential customers.
Take a Malaysian batik fashion startup entering a crowded e-commerce space. Paid advertisements may generate impressions, but they cannot establish authority. By publishing detailed guides on batik heritage, styling advice, or fabric care, the brand positions itself as a source of knowledge. When users search for “authentic batik Malaysia” or “how to style batik for office,” the brand becomes associated with expertise rather than commerce alone.
Shahid Shayaa, Founder of Berkshire Media, highlights the long-term value of authority:
“AI Overview does not remove the need for authority. It intensifies it. Algorithms are becoming more selective about what they reference, and that selectivity is built on long-term trust signals.”
This demonstrates that SEO today is not only about traffic. It is about building an online reputation that influences both human perception and AI-generated results.
Capturing Audiences with Intent
SEO is particularly valuable now with AI-driven LLM engine because it attracts audiences with clear intent.
For example, A Malaysian SaaS startup offering inventory management software may generate clicks through paid campaigns. Yet organic search captures users who are actively comparing solutions, evaluating features, solving specific problems and with higher intent of purchasing those software or services.
Queries such as “inventory management software for SME Malaysia” or “how to reduce stock wastage retail” indicate a user closer to a buying decision.
So content that display strong depth of knowledge in products, industry or service will convert more first-time visitors into actual buyers.
Even if AI summaries reduce immediate clicks, appearing consistently on ChatGPT answers naturally builds brand recall. And this is how SEO benefit SMEs competing in a highly competitive market (eg: consumer retail, F&B, clinics and others)
Users who encounter a brand repeatedly in search results or summaries are more likely to trust it when they decide to engage. SEO strengthens sales not by volume alone, but by aligning visibility with real customer intent.
Local SEO as a Competitive Advantage
For Malaysian SMEs, local SEO is one of the most effective strategies. Mobile users often search for location-specific solutions such as “best nasi lemak near me,” “car workshop Shah Alam,” or “facial treatment Selangor.”
With more than 300,000 SMEs in Malaysia, more Malaysians companies are engaging SEO expert to provide more value to their existing Local SEO campaign management
Businesses that optimise their Google Business Profile, maintain accurate contact information, collect reviews, and post relevant content increase the likelihood of appearing in local results.
This visibility has real-world impact. It influences foot traffic, bookings, and purchases.
As AI increasingly integrates local data into summaries and recommendations, maintaining a strong local SEO presence becomes essential for sustained growth.
SEO in an AI Content World
The rise of generative AI has made content creation easier and faster, but it has also increased competition online.
Algorithms now prioritise depth, originality, and authority over superficial keyword usage. Thin or templated content by SEO agencies often struggle to gain traction or visitor traffic.
Shahid Shayaa emphasizes the importance of consistency:
“You cannot shortcut trust. Whether in communications or search visibility, systems eventually penalize inconsistency. SEO today is less about optimisation tricks and more about building a coherent digital reputation that machines can validate.”
Brands that invest in thoughtful, well-structured, and insightful content establish a durable advantage. In competitive markets, credibility and topical authority increasingly separate the successful from the overlooked.
SEO as Organic Equity
Paid campaigns deliver speed, but SEO builds long-term digital value and currency.
Well-crafted content continues to generate visibility, citations, and engagement long after publication. This organic presence compounds over time and strengthens other marketing channels, including paid media and social platforms.
SEO is a one one-off investment that provide stronger and sustainable ROI compared to paid ads, marketing campaigns.
When people search, it means they have registered some level of interest in your product or services.
For SMEs and startups with limited budgets, SEO represents a strategic investment. It reduces reliance on rising ad costs while reinforcing brand recognition and credibility across multiple channels.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Despite its importance, SEO is often treated superficially as an add-on service by web developers and marketers. Many businesses and SEO agencies focus on keywords or developing light generic content rather than understanding user intent, or building strong credible content that demonstrates expertise.
Others neglect structured data, review management, and AI relevance.
Successful SEO today requires:
- Content aligned with customer intent and decision-making
- Well-structured information that is easy for humans and AI to understand
- Consistent authority signals through expertise, backlinks, and reviews
- Integration with broader brand and communications strategy
- It is a long-term discipline, not a short-term tactic.
Conclusion: SEO Remains Essential
For SMEs, startups, and new brand owners, SEO is more critical than ever. Zero-click searches and AI-generated results may shift metrics, but they elevate the importance of credibility and authority.
AI summaries output from ChatGPT depend on trustworthy sources, and long-term visibility relies on consistent, high-quality content and signals of reliability.
As SEO expert Kaspar Szymanski puts it succinctly:
“Real SEO gains still depend on trust, crawlable data, and meeting user needs — not chasing the latest novelty.”
SEO in 2026 is not about ranking on Page One alone.
It is about creating a foundation of trust, recognition, and relevance that ensures brands remain visible, citable, and preferred in an AI-driven digital world and an increasingly AI-shaped search ecosystem.
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About the Author
Shahid Shayaa is the founder and managing director of Berkshire Media. He specializes in data-driven communication strategies and insights using social data analytics, social media monitoring tools and machine learning text algorithms for more than 13 years. As an expert in the field of media monitoring, issue management and managing reputation risks for companies, he is involved in various research studies in this field and published various scientific papers on social data analytics, sentiment analysis and back-end algorithms on consumer sentiment, emotions and behaviour for marketers and campaign managers.
His research work and studies have been cited more than 467 times, inspiring new research in the field of social analytics in Malaysia. You may view his work here.
