At the beginning of 2002, there were more than a dozen “search engines,” including crawlers, directories, and paid/PPC/CPC engines.
But by the end of that year, Google had emerged from the pack to become the leading player. (According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google had a 39% share of 47 million “search hours” in December 2002.1)
I recently called the past 20 years “The Age of the One-Trick Pony.” Back at the beginning of 2003, if you figured out how to improve a website’s visibility in Google’s organic search results, then you could get a well-paying job at an SEO agency.
But, SEO professionals need to prepare for a paradigm shift as that age is about to end.
This means you must invest more time learning innovative marketing disciplines, and demonstrate prudent judgment to manage change.
As we step into the future of search, I can share five strategic insights and five pieces of tactical advice.
Strategic Insights
According to Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military strategist, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
And far too many SEOs have spent too little time exploring and evaluating different digital marketing strategies.
This explains Why There Are So Few Vice Presidents of Search Engine Optimization.
So, what can you do to outline a strategy for 2025 and beyond?
1. Embrace AI As A Powerful Tool
You’ve already learned how to use SEO tools that help you improve your company or client’s search engine rankings by analyzing keywords, content, and backlinks.
So, instead of feeling threatened by AI, embrace it as just another tool to add to your toolbox.
Jensen Huang, the founder, president, and CEO of Nvidia, has said, “AI is not going to take your job. The person who uses AI is going to take your job.”
Almost two years later, we’ve learned by comparing the content output generated by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude that generative AI tools may be smarter than newbies at times, but not people with more education, expertise, and experience.
For example, researchers at the University of Reading in England created over 30 fake psychology student accounts and used them to submit ChatGPT-4-produced answers to examination questions.
On average, ChatGPT-4 scored better than human students in the first- and second-year exams, where the questions were easier.
In their last year at the university, students are expected to provide deeper insights and use more elaborate analytical skills. Generative AI isn’t particularly good at that, which is why third-year human students got better grades than ChatGPT-4.
So, embrace AI as a powerful tool – but one that requires someone with education, expertise, and experience to use it effectively. And whatever you do, don’t become a tool of your tools.
2. Conduct Audience Research
I’ve been using keyword research tools since 2002, but I started using an audience research tool in 2020.
With classic keyword research, you learn how many searches a keyword gets. With an audience research tool, you also learn about the audience that searches for a keyword, uses words in their bio, or visits a website.
This is a game changer – and it’s arriving at the precise moment when SEO pros need to start creating the kind of user, buyer, marketing, and customer personas that can transform SEO, PPC, and content marketing.
To get a seat at the big table, SEO marketers must move beyond optimizing their sites, pages, articles, and content for an undifferentiated group of search engine users.
Why? Because one size does not fit all.
Digital marketers have been targeting ads at segments of people with specific demographics, intents, and interests for decades.
However, SEO professionals seemed satisfied with trying to guess the intent of users based on the words or phrases in their queries.
Who can blame them? Previously, keyword research tools could only tell SEOs “what” people searched for, but not “who” they were.
Now, SEO and content marketers can get surprising insights into the demographics, interests, and information sources that influence their intent.
For example, let’s say that the B2B company or client you work for wants to know who searches for “customer retention”?
Well, SparkToro tells you that 5,000 to 6,000 people search for “customer retention” each month in the United States.
Screenshot from SparkToro, December 2024
The tool also tells you that 52.6% are female, and 46.8% are male. Surprised?
They also visit websites like HelpScout.com and Userpilot.com, as well as search other keywords like “lifetime customer value formula” and “tools for customer success.”
Or, let’s say that the target audience that your B2C company or client wants to reach is a “nutritionist.”
Screenshot from SparkToro, December 2024
The tool tells you that 15,000 people have “nutritionist” in their social media bios. The tool also tells you that 81.9% are female, and 174.3% are male.
They also visit websites like Cenegenics.com and CleanPlates.com. And they’re searching for keywords like “fat content of foods” and “how much eggs have protein.”
Finally, let’s say you’ve just started doing work for TheSill.com.
You could tell Eliza that 125,000 people globally visit TheSill.com each month.
Screenshot from SparkToro, December 2024
And the audience located in the United States is 52.4% female, and 47.2% male.
This audience also visits BHG.com and FoodandWine.com, And they search for “how to clip plants” and “cheap tall plants.”
That’s why I think conducting audience research gives you a competitive advantage over keyword research when it comes to crafting more resonant, effective content.
3. Focus On High-Quality, Original Content
It’s worth re-reading Google’s guidance on building high-quality sites published in 2011, following the first Panda algorithm change.
It’s also worth reading the Googe Search Center documentation for creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
If you have time, then it’s also worth checking out Leveraging YouTube, LinkedIn, And Cross-Channel Strategies For Success.
What will you learn from all this background reading? Content is still king.
And while AI may help you crank out content more efficiently, it still doesn’t create the high-quality, original content that readers crave and Google rewards.