Be aligned with and on board with your company’s or client’s comms or brand department. Understand where they want to go. Understand how they see the company’s identity, positioning, and the messaging they want to send.
Be a part of that process. Help them align and amplify that positioning and messaging. Help the brand become what it aims to be.
We’re entering a digital winter. There is so much volatility and so much dysfunction (hello, search and social algorithms).
Most of all, there is so much noise. It’s much harder for your audience to tune it all out and to allow themselves to be impacted by what you’re putting out there.
That’s a huge hurdle to overcome. We’ve become inundated and numbed to all of the digital content thrown at us. And we’re only getting more inundated and more numb.
There’s a huge need for resonance. Your content needs to be crafted in a way that can cut through all the noise and resonate.
There’s not a whole lot of point in grabbing as much traffic as possible if it’s not going to be “seen” by the audience.
That old model of garnering as much visibility as possible is outdated. It’s better to be purposeful more than anything. And to do that, SEO pros can no longer afford to be siloed.
Sitting with whoever is running the overall communications strategy is an absolute must. It leads to a healthier approach and better outcomes. It’s what will drive visibility that actually matters.
13. Know Who Your Customers Are, Create Resonant Messages, And Deliver Value
Ameet Khabra, Founder at Hop Skip Media
Fully embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in every part of marketing.
This is about so much more than automating PPC campaigns, though that’s a huge part, especially since Google is retiring manual bid controls like eCPC.
The marketers who will succeed are the ones who can make the most of AI and automation while keeping that human touch to connect with customers.
Build strong first-party (1P) data sets, as third-party (3P) cookies will continue to fade away, and privacy rules will get stricter.
This is all about the information you gather directly from your customers – their website habits, how they interact with your brand, and what they’ve bought.
Those who invest heavily in tools and strategies to collect 1P data will be able to deliver compelling experiences at every point of the buyer’s journey.
You must also incorporate that data into creating experiences that catch your customer’s attention.
Create immersive, interactive experiences that capture attention and spark emotion, and look beyond the screen to voice interfaces, wearables, and wherever your customers engage.
It’s the brands that can create these amazing, human-centred experiences that are going to be the real differentiators.
Finally, create some organizational agility. This is not news, but things are moving fast for us in this industry, and we need to create a culture where ongoing learning and testing are part of the rhythm.
The fundamental rules of marketing remain constant. It is all about knowing who your customers are, creating resonant messages, and delivering value in every interaction.
14. Users And Search Engines Prioritize Trusted Brands
Montserrat Cano, Consultant at MC. International SEO & Digital Strategy
In 2025, understanding your audience and market is key to building brand authority, increasing visibility and driving online leads or sales.
Users and search engines prioritize trusted brands, so consistent branding and high-quality content are essential.
This is especially important in international markets, due to the unique cultural nuances and search behaviours.
Combine this with a solid website that focuses on user experience and accessibility for long-term growth.
15. Communities Can Have A Big Impact On Visibility
Jo Turnbull, Digital Marketing Consultant at Turn Global, Organizer of Search London, and Co-host of SEO Office-Hours
SEO professionals should focus on being part of communities, supporting them or creating ones where there is a gap in the market.
This is particularly important for small brands who do not have a lot of budget to make significant changes to their website.
Communities can have a big impact on visibility, helping to build brands and subsequently conversions.
Through communities, SEO pros can connect with and support one another in initiatives such as mentorship, writing for key sites, as well as attending virtual and/or in-person events.
16. Understand How Users Consume Information
Navah Hopkins, Brand Evangelist for Optymzr
Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, it’s all about understanding how users consume information.
By focusing on non-login forums (Reddit, Quora, etc), and getting indexed on Bing for ChatGPT visibility, brands can bypass expensive and time intensive conventional Google SEO.
Forums often rank better on SERPs and offer a more authentic, human touch compared to traditional websites.
If you plan to promote yourself, make sure you’re honest about it – building an infrastructure for your customers and brand influencers to share on your behalf can serve better.
17. Gain A Foothold In New Trends And Topics Before Larger Competitors
Tory Gray, CEO at Gray Dot Company
There’s a fundamental shortcoming to traditional SEO keyword research that we maybe don’t talk about enough: It’s a lagging indicator.
So, when it comes to identifying new trends, topics, or questions for content, relying on traditional keyword research makes SEO professionals and content strategists late to the game.
That’s especially important for smaller, less authoritative domains. In established industries and verticals, many existing topics are dominated by high-authority competitors.
Gaining a foothold in new trends and topics before larger competitors is one of the few, strong tactics that can help close the gap.
Today, trends and topics take off on platforms like TikTok and Reddit before they make their way to search engines like Google.
In 2025, looking outside of traditional search data – and incorporating platforms where “newness” happens – is how we can tap into leading indicators that let us know which new and useful information our audience really wants.
18. Finding Truly Unique Angles For New Content Will Reward You
Alli Berry, Search Engine Optimization Consultant at Alli Berry Consulting, LLC
Less is more when it comes to your content strategy.
Google has been busy continuing to punish lower-quality pages, so it’s time to cut the robotic-like programmatic and low-quality AI-generated pages that may have given you some short-term gains.
I know everyone says they’d never do that, but the internet suggests otherwise.
I would also be cutting low-performing pages and thin pages because they may be harming the overall quality of your site from a search engine lens.
Finding truly unique angles for new content will reward you, especially if you can incorporate proprietary or 1st party research.
The Google documents leaked suggest that high-quality news links and links from new pages count for more, so anything you can do to drive new external links should reward you.
Also, if you’ve got all of your eggs in the affiliate revenue model basket, it’s time to diversify your business model. Google is coming hard for affiliate sites.
19. Mentions In LLMs Will Emerge As A Key Aspect Of SEO
Olga Zarr, SEO Consultant at SEOSLY
SEO professionals should broaden their focus beyond just Google to include Bing and LLMs, as visibility across all these platforms will likely become increasingly critical.
Mentions in LLMs will emerge as a key aspect of SEO, extending the discipline beyond traditional search engines.
Good rankings in Google will still matter, especially since they will influence mentions in AI Overviews. However, the dynamics shift when considering the leading LLM player, ChatGPT, which relies on Bing for search results in both ChatGPT and GPT-powered search.
This means that strong rankings in Bing will become significantly more valuable. SEO pros must familiarize themselves with Bing’s ranking criteria and closely study its documentation, as its algorithm and priorities differ from Google’s.
For other LLMs – regardless of their data sources – SEO marketers should ensure that the brand they aim to promote is consistently and clearly positioned online.
It’s crucial to communicate what the brand represents and offers, so it becomes a reliable source for LLMs to cite. Cohesive and authoritative branding will play a big role in improving visibility.
20. Do More With Less By Swapping The Fluff For Trustworthy Information
Jamie Indigo, Director of Technical SEO at Cox Automotive Inc.
Visibility in 2025 is all about understanding the context in which your site exists. More content will be created this year than 2010-2018 combined.
In the face of a rapidly expanding internet full of regurgitated AI, Google’s goal of crawling less makes sense. If your site is made of the same content as all the others using that particular AI tool, why bother?
AI-generated content is statistically probable rather than factually accurate. It may lack the depth, nuance, and originality that users seek.
Google’s emphasis on crawling less underscores the need for unique, high-quality content that provides genuine value to users.
This is why your website’s unique context is so important. Smaller sites should have different focuses than large sites.
If your site is greater than 100,000 pages … does it need to be? How much of that content do users actually engage with? This is your time to be intentional about the index.
If it doesn’t solve a real human problem, cut the cruft. Do more with less by swapping the fluff for trustworthy information.
This includes all the bells and whistles on your site to make it as shiny as possible. A feature no one uses is waste. Great content with a bad user experience is still bad content. Even great content is useless if it isn’t relevant to why the user came to the page.
SEO professionals should prioritize trustworthy experiences that fulfill user intent. If you’re answering questions and helping get things done, you’ll see growth.
21. Learn How To “Program Personas” Effectively
Michael Bonfils, Global Managing Director at SEM International
As you already know, SEO professionals who figure out how to combine data, creativity, and AI-driven innovation will be the ones who win.
An opportunity for SEO pros in 2025 will be learning how to “program personas” effectively.
This means taking tools like ChatGPT and other LLMs and feeding them the right inputs – like your target audience’s behaviors, their pain points, and the brand tone – to create AI-driven personas that are specific, strategic, and actionable.
Think of these personas as virtual assistants who can brainstorm and refine ideas with you tailored to your exact needs.
For example, you could program an AI persona to act like a Gen Z skateboarder or a busy CFO and have it generate ideas or strategies that would appeal directly to that group.
This goes beyond traditional keyword research; it’s about having AI provide insights you might not have considered, delivering fresh, relevant angles.
22. Businesses Should Invest In A Strong Internal SEO Product-Oriented Team
Pedro Dias, Founder and SEO Consultant at Visively
SEO professionals should step back and try to understand how their strategies impact the new rules of the game we’re currently playing in search.
There’s a lot of noise around promises of easy traffic at scale that are more designed to catch off-guard anyone not fully aware of what they should be doing, and make money from the less savvy.
That said, the important pillars of SEO remain:
Technical Excellence
Ensuring a site is crawlable and indexable by search engines is foundational – log file analysis, optimizing crawl paths, and resolving technical barriers (e.g., redirects, canonicalization, and URL structures).
Data-Driven Decision Making
Leveraging tools like Google BigQuery to analyze search and performance data — making SEO decisions based on solid data, such as understanding user behavior, identifying patterns in search intent, or assessing technical performance.
Scalability And Sustainability
Building scalable systems and processes that support SEO growth — preventative measures, automation, and frameworks (“Improvements, Prevention, Recovery” models) for a proactive approach over reactive fixes.
Collaboration With Product Teams (For Internal Teams)
Integrating SEO into product and development workflows, highlighting the importance of SEO as a core component rather than a marketing afterthought.
User-Centric Approach
Ensuring SEO efforts align with delivering value to users, as user satisfaction often drives ranking improvements.
I believe it’s more important than ever that businesses seriously invest in having a strong internal SEO product-oriented team.
This will be a game changer for the future as this will increasingly be a factor to differentiate sustained growth better catered when you have a deep knowledge of your product and vertical of operation, rather than the sole reliance on intermittent external collaborators.
SEO In 2025
In a continuation from last year, SEO is changing more rapidly than at any other time in the history of the industry.
As we said at the beginning, SEO pros need to change their mindset away from the old way to a new holistic approach that seeks to find visibility where your audience is – most likely across Google SERPs, Bing SERPs, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini, TikTok, YouTube – all in varying degrees.
Most of the experts agree that focusing on brand and producing quality content that demonstrates expertise is an area of focus.
We also think that removing reliance on Google for organic traffic would be a smart investment to make right now.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal