At the start of 2024 – a year that undeniably transformed the SEO landscape – we were primarily focused on Google and eagerly watching how AI might reshape organic search.
As we begin 2025, the picture has become clearer.
AI is no longer a looming possibility; it’s a central player, albeit in ways few of us fully anticipated.
And while Google continues to dominate much of the search landscape, I believe the focus for SEO professionals is shifting.
It’s becoming less about optimizing for specific channels and more about understanding and serving the user – wherever and however they choose to engage.
This shift represents a fundamental change in SEO, moving from keyword-centric strategies to user-centric approaches.
Here’s how my team and I are preparing for the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2025, including:
My approach to AI in 2025
Millions of words have been written about AI Overviews since Google launched them in May, then throttled them back on the heels of some notoriously faulty results.
AI Overviews have seen significant shifts, with results increasingly resembling traditional SERPs – a predictable outcome given both are powered by Google’s algorithms.
In contrast, LLM-based search is a space Google hasn’t monopolized.
Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini are all in the mix, with new competitors emerging regularly.
These non-Google LLMs rely on diverse algorithms, leading to variability and uncertainty in their search results.
Rather than chase undefined targets, brands should focus on what has always worked, especially over the last few years: digging into true user understanding and delivering content that anticipates and addresses their informational needs.
It’s meat-and-potatoes stuff, but the way and where we deploy that content have changed somewhat over the last year.
LLM-based SEO vs. social search
One thing we know for sure is that AI is changing how people interact with search.
More users are getting AI Overviews, and in a more proactive shift, more people are using LLMs for their search activity.
LLMs represent a shift toward combining multiple sources into one (e.g., synthesizing 100 articles into a single response).
Social search offers the opposite: unique human perspectives from platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
While AI-generated content (e.g., automated LinkedIn responses) is common, it’s often easy to recognize and less engaging.
Content from these platforms has been appearing more frequently in Google’s traditional SERPs and is now starting to surface in LLM search results.
In short, users are willing to engage with mass-aggregated content and human perspectives.
To me, that’s a pretty interesting trend that puts a spotlight on brand SEO – to make sure people find what they should see when and where they’re searching for your brand.
A good, strong brand should be able to flow across touchpoints, wherever those might be.
Yes, non-brand keywords are still a big piece of SEO, but both pieces are important in 2025.