Local listings.
Website location pages.
Local content.
And schema or entity markup of key business information.
Linking this information with business offerings helps search engines identify the most relevant details for local businesses.
Key insight
pointed out the
Here are four key components for a successful local strategy in 2025, via Krystal Taing of Uberall:
“Your overall strategy should emphasize visibility, engagement, reputation, and conversion. Adopt a comprehensive journey strategy that extends beyond just local listings.”
Dig deeper: Local search: Key trends and tactics for marketers
8. Paid marketing
The traditional paid funnel has evolved significantly with the introduction of Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, which are driven by AI.
Paid strategies now extend beyond the bottom of the funnel, requiring brands to optimize destination pages and standard campaigns to succeed with PMax.
Integrating paid and organic search strategies has become essential for reducing customer acquisition costs.
A seamless customer experience is essential, from the first click to the final conversion.
This can be supported by leveraging user data to identify improvements and drive continuous optimization.
Key insight
PMax campaign performance relies on on-page elements and historical insights from standard paid campaigns.
Paid and organic strategies can no longer operate in silos, making co-optimization a key strategy for 2025.
9. Engagement signals
Google has become every brand’s homepage and will continue to dominate search, per Fishkin’s Google usage study.
Zero-click answers, including AI Overviews, already dominate many of the largest categories of search demand.
Key insight
Overall, Google’s traffic to brand sites will keep declining.
Most deep learning AI models use user engagement signals.
Brands should “focus on creating targeted content tailored to specific audiences, understanding their needs (e.g., videos, podcasts), rather than just topic or keyword-based content,” according to Jordan Koene of Previsible.
Using CTR, average session duration, and other engagement signals to understand what visitors do with your content will be key to measuring engagement metrics.
This means brands must focus on saturating SERPs by creating long-tail entity-rich content that is truly helpful to the target audience based on their intent.
10. Personalization
Marketers should treat Google as their homepage and saturate the search with as much information as possible.
For the visitors who click through, it will be important to personalize the buyer’s journey and optimize for their intent.
Key insight
Curating the customer journey based on audience data can significantly enhance conversions across all channels.
By leveraging insights into customer behavior and preferences, brands can create tailored experiences that resonate with their target audience.
Dig deeper: How to boost your marketing revenue with personalization, connectivity and data
11. LLMs
There might be a 25% decline in organic search by 2026, potentially reaching 50% by 2028, Gartner predicts.
So, how can you stay ahead?
SEO professionals should consider using LLMs as a channel for traffic and brand visibility in 2025 and leveraging them as super-smart assistants.
We are witnessing steady growth in traffic originating from LLMs.
The more accurate data you provide to LLMs – along with more links, citations, and information about your business and offerings – the better they will represent your brand.
Key insight
“Be everywhere that matters,” according to Crystal Carter of Wix.
LLMs learn from high-authority sites, so ensuring your brand is mentioned in trusted sources is essential.
Pursue backlinks and partnerships with publishing houses that collaborate with LLMs.
Additionally, monitor for any incorrect or misleading information about your brand. Backlinks are invaluable: quality links from trusted sources enhance your credibility in the eyes of LLMs.
Allow LLMs to crawl your most valuable data.
Manage your entity by accurately tagging your content with schema markup. Aim to secure links from authoritative sites such as Wikipedia.
12. AI agents
AI agents are revolutionizing digital marketing.
AI agents are highly influencing the future of digital marketing, offering marketers a chance to automate routine tasks and focus on strategic creativity.
This innovation is crucial for staying competitive in an evolving market landscape.
The agentic framework supports the development of agents and efficient operation.
Key insight
Businesses can leverage AI agents for tasks like content creation, data analysis, building itineraries, and customer interaction. Successful implementation requires substantial data and modern infrastructure.
13. Metrics to measure
Understanding the visual impact of various SERP features and incorporating new metrics alongside traditional ones is essential.
While traditional organic ranking remains important, DemandSphere’s Ray Grieaselhuber emphasizes focusing on visual metrics to measure impact. These metrics include:
Visual rank (rank with SERP features factored in).
Average pixel depth.
Fold depth and the percentage above or below the first fold.
First fold opportunities.
Inner/interior rankings within SERP features (e.g., rank within AI Overviews, product carousels, etc.).
Cosine similarity scores of inner rankings and ranking pages relative to AI Overview summary text.
Key insight
Co-optimization and SERP saturation will be key strategies for 2025, with a focus on measuring visual and engagement metrics.
Future-forward marketing
Businesses should prioritize delivering a strong and consistent user experience across all search engines, especially as new players enter the market, according to Marcus Tober of Semrush.
Looking ahead to 2025, it may become a pivotal learning year as we explore new performance metrics, adapt to emerging marketing channels, and transition toward an AI-powered agent economy.
To thrive, businesses must remain agile and open to change.
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