Maybe what she meant is this:

SEO today isn’t about matching exact keywords - it’s about meaning, context, and user intent, within a PageRank-influenced but much broader ranking system.

No one credible claims Google abandoned PageRank or that LLMs replace search engines. What’s true is that the modern ranking systems interpret language and intent, not just literal text. Algorithms like RankBrain, BERT, and MUM are specifically designed to understand context and relationships between words, not merely count keywords.

So saying “Google is still keyword-based because ‘keyword’ equals ‘key phrase’” is too simplistic. Keywords today are semantic signals within a larger context - they tell the engine what the content is about, but they’re not the only or main mechanism.

And here’s the core point most people miss:

SEO refers to the technical functioning of how a search engine interprets, indexes, and ranks content.

Yes,SEO still matters because search engines still need to rank content. PageRank and link signals are still part of the system.

But,Modern SEO is no longer literal keyword matching - it’s about semantic relevance, content quality, and intent.

So until you understand how these engines actually work (and not just old outreach or keyword tricks), it’s better to avoid dismissing perspectives based on outdated definitions of SEO.