SEO Trends 2025 – Stay Ahead of the Game

For a long time now, search engines have found new ways to keep businesses on their toes. Every time you think you have it all figured out—BAM! There goes Google with a new algorithm update that’ll shake things up. 

With search capabilities evolving and AI changing the landscape, we’ve all been wondering what 2025 has in store for SEO for businesses.

The good news? Our research and predictions on these trends might make you feel more confident about preparing your SEO strategy. The great news? We spoke with our SEO experts about these emerging trends, and they weighed in on what this could mean for businesses. 

What’s Most Important This Year?

1. AI-Powered Search: Google AI Overviews & LLMs

Yep, we’re cutting right to the chase. There’s no way we were going to talk about major SEO trends without addressing this elephant in the room. 

Let’s start with AI Overviews first. 

AI Overviews

Many SEO experts are calling AI Overviews a ‘disruptor’. The tool uses artificial intelligence to create a more natural and intuitive search experience through conversational technology. 

So how does it do that? 

Let’s say you Google “why do we love coffee so much”. You get a crisp, clear answer to your search query. There’s no need to read through tons of information to get to the good part. 

Now, it’s important to note that this isn’t your average chatbot. It’s a super-advanced AI tool that acts as a conversational assistant, interacting with you in a more intuitive, human-like manner. The AI Overviews feature personalized results based on your preferences, previous interactions, and the context of the questions.

What You Can Do  

Now released in most countries, it’s important to prepare yourself for a full-scale implementation. This will include:

• Optimizing product pages with comprehensive schema markup
• Producing high-quality content that aligns with relevant keywords—all geared toward adapting to the upcoming changes brought about by Google Search Generative Experience (SGE).
• Write content in an organized manner—lists, bullet points, short paragraphs. This will help websites appear in Google’s SGE snapshot. 

Next…

SearchGPT

There’s been some buzz in the SEO community about how we may see a 25% drop in searches by 2026. It’s one of those “Is AI gonna take over the world?!” moments. Except not the world, just the search engine world—no biggie…

But how true is this, if at all?

A lot of it is attributed to the use of SearchGPT (for those of us living under a rock, this is a search engine developed by OpenAI and people have been using it to search for…stuff). 

Now, if we were to compare SearchGPT with Google and Bing (and we did), here’s what happened:

• If you’re searching for something not as widely known that doesn’t have a ton of online content, SearchGPT may outperform Google and Bing.
• Just because a page ranks high on Bing doesn’t mean it’ll be ChatGPT’s go-to recommendation. Unlike Google, where AI Overviews are often influenced by top-ranking results, SearchGPT sometimes pulls from less relevant sources.
• Local search? Yeah, not great. If you’re looking for the best pizza joint near you, stick with Google Maps. ChatGPT’s map results were sketchy, sometimes pulling all results from one source. Not exactly inspiring confidence.
• You get inconsistent responses. For example, if you ask the same thing twice, you might get completely different answers. 
• Unlike Google, which throws in images, maps, and other bells and whistles, SearchGPT is mostly text-based. Sure, it sometimes shows images for fashion and travel searches, but it’s hit-or-miss.

What You Can Do  

While SearchGPT is great for deep dives and specific queries, it’s not as great for local searches and visuals. Google still leads when you need trustworthy, well-rounded results.

People aren’t ready to ditch Google for ChatGPT Search. That said, we’d still keep an eye on it—because it’s gradually picking up market share and is also evolving quickly. 

• We need to optimize for natural language processing (NLP) and long-tail keywords that mimic human speech.
• Make your content AI-friendly and optimize for citations in AI-driven results.

2. Zero-Click Searches

Even before AI Overview, search engines have been striving to provide immediate answers to questions by providing zero-click search results. This means offering quick solutions at the topmost section of the results page so users don’t need to click on any of the displayed results in order to get your answer. 

According to one study by Semrush, 57% of mobile and about 25% of desktop searches leave the search results page without actually clicking on an organic or paid result.

For example, you want to know more about Taylor Swift (I mean, who doesn’t?). You Google her, and you get this result:

In a single click, when you hit search, you get information about her age, net worth, YouTube channel, and Instagram page. 

If you continue to click at the top bar, you have access to information about her songs, albums, videos, and merchandise, without ever leaving Google—isn’t that amazing?

There are a number of different ways that Google provides zero-click search results:

1. Featured Snippets – A snippet of text is taken directly from a website and displayed in the search result, along with a link to the site. If the snippet adequately answers the question, this will lead to a zero-click search.
2. Direct Answer Box – This is a direct answer to questions, like, “What time is it in Paris?”; “What’s the weather forecast for today?”, or “What are the scores in your favorite sport?” 

It also includes answers to more complex questions like converting weights, distances, and currencies, math questions, movie times, and flight details, all displayed within an interactive widget so that you can refine and change your search without ever leaving Google.

3. Knowledge Panel – Searches about public figures, places, and organizations result in an information box being displayed. The panel provides a brief summary of overview information, including a brief description, images, links, and other factoids.
4. People Also Ask (PAA) – This accordion-style Q&A box shows up in Google search results, giving you quick answers to related questions without needing to click a website. 

Good news: If your content is featured in a PAA box, you get huge visibility and credibility, even if users don’t click through. Bad news: More PAA results = fewer organic clicks to your website. Users get their answers before even visiting your page.

What You Can Do  

For a lot of businesses, this means a potential decrease in traffic toward websites. To minimize this impact, the focus should be on:

• Providing short, relevant, and valuable information that could feature you in Google’s snippets.
• Try using question-based subheadings (H2s, H3s like “What is…?” or “How does…?”).
• The use of strategic and natural informational keywords in your content.

Now, this doesn’t mean you’re going to secure traffic, but it does mean you get to enjoy that coveted top spot—not the #1 spot on Google; the one that’s above that. 

We call it ‘position zero’. This is an SEO goldmine. 

When you show up there—even if you don’t get the clicks (and ultimately, the traffic)—you do get brand recognition and credibility, which, guess what, is great for SEO! 

In essence, search engine optimization goes beyond generating traffic. Its ultimate goal is to provide value and effectively meet user needs.

3. The Rise of Voice Search

Have you ever asked Siri, Alexa, or Google Nest to search for something on your behalf? If yes, you’re part of the 50% of adults who use voice search daily. In fact, over 1 billion voice searches take place every month, and sales from voice searches have reached over $2 billion.

This trend in user behavior is bringing about changes in how search engines operate. Since voice searches often mimic natural speech patterns, they tend to be longer and more like conversations compared to traditional text queries. As a result, there has been an evolution in keyword research methods, and content optimization strategies need adjustments to keep up with this growing phenomenon. 

We call this AEO or Answer Engine Optimization. 

It focuses on optimizing content to appear in search engines’ answer boxes. By providing quick and accurate information that directly answers users’s questions, AEO can greatly improve visibility and drive more traffic to your website. 

But the question is, what exactly can we do to optimize for these voice-driven searches?

What You Can Do 

The key to optimizing for voice search is:

• Adjusting your content to align with the conversational style of spoken queries.
• Extract frequently asked questions and provide quick, direct, and meaningful responses.
• Incorporating relevant keywords in a natural, conversation-based manner. Nearly 20% of all voice searches use a set of 25 keywords (like “how,” “what,” “why,” “easy,” and “best”).
• Prioritizing longer and question-based phrases that mirror how people speak during voice searches.
• Targetting long-tail, high-value keywords related to your products or services
• 22% of voice search queries are for local content. When people are out and about, they often use voice search to find businesses or services near them. To ensure that your business appears in these local voice searches, optimize the content of your web pages for local searches.

4. Google Lens Search

Source: https://search.google/ways-to-search/lens/ 

From words to visuals. That’s what this one’s about. With Google Lens, users can search using images instead of text. 

You can translate foreign text immediately. You could point your camera to a store and learn about their popular products, reviews, etc., all pulled off their Google Maps. 

For example, people aren’t just typing “cool sneakers” into Google anymore. They’re snapping a pic of someone’s kicks on the street and letting Google Lens do the work. That means if your brand isn’t optimizing for visual search, you could be missing out on a ton of traffic (and potential customers who, honestly, are too lazy to type).

Here’s why this matters for SEO:

• It gets more eyeballs on your products. If your images are optimized, Google Lens can drive traffic straight to your website when someone searches visually.
• Local businesses get a boost. Users can point their phones at a storefront and instantly pull up directions and contact info. If your Google Business Profile is a mess, it’s time to clean it up.

What You Can Do 

• Blurry, pixelated pics? Google Lens needs crisp, clear images to identify your products. 
• Write smart alt text. We’ve talked about this before, too. 
• Add structured data. Schema markup helps Google understand your content. 
• Optimize for mobile. Duh.
• Update your Google Business Profile and make sure your images match what’s in your store.

5. Video Marketing and SEO

If you’re limiting your content marketing strategy to just written content, you’re missing out. SEO is becoming increasingly competitive every year, and keyword search volume is saturated. This means several websites are now diversifying their content strategy with multimedia elements—images, videos, animations, etc. In fact, in 2025, 91% of businesses said they use video as a part of their marketing strategy.

The study further revealed that:

• 51% of people are more likely to share video than any other type of content
• 89% of people say watching a video has persuaded them to buy a product or service
• 87% said that using videos increased their sales revenues

Video content holds significant power in boosting search engine rankings, visibility, and leads. But it’s not enough to just create videos; it’s just as important to optimize them. And here’s how you do it.

How to Optimize Videos for SEO

1. Don’t just dive in blind. Make sure you have a solid video strategy in place. The videos need to be relevant and engaging. You want to encourage viewer interaction and conversion.
2. Using YouTube keyword research tools, aim for a targeted keyword strategy. 
3. Use these keywords in your video title, description, and tags to enhance searchability.
4. Add transcripts to make your videos accessible to everyone
5. Create interesting and compelling thumbnails to increase click-through rates (CTRs)
6. Add meta title, data, and descriptions

6. The Power of E-E-A-T

Image: Created on Canva

Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthiness help search engines prioritize content from reputable sources with knowledgeable information, making it essential for businesses to showcase their E-E-A-T. 

Now, we’ve been familiar with E-E-A-T for a while, but this year, we’re seeing Google emphasize one component above all: trustworthiness.

Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content 

Image from Google, June 2023

So, how do you build credibility and, most importantly, trustworthiness?

• Produce high-quality, accurate, and informative content, free of errors
• Be transparent about your sources and intentions
• Add case studies and client testimonials to back up your claims
• Showcase verifiable reviews and ratings across credible platforms
• Highlight awards, certifications, and accomplishments with proof
• Use secure, trustworthy website practices (e.g., HTTPS, no shady ads)
• Maintain a clear and accessible disclosure policy
• Actively engage with communities and encourage others to vouch for your brand
• Ensure your website and business details are accurate and up-to-date
• Respond thoughtfully to reviews, including addressing negative feedback

Trustworthiness isn’t something you can buy or fake; it’s a reputation you build over time. Dedication, authenticity, and consistency are the cornerstones of earning trust in 2025 and beyond.

7. User-Centric Content in Light of Lots of AI-generated Content

For most marketers, one of their biggest pet peeves has been getting good content out at a steady pace to bring in that organic traffic and improve rankings. 

Then came AI tools like ChatGPT, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Claude and Jasper.ai like an answered prayer. 

And so we question now, is it too good to be true? Google doesn’t think so (yet). 

Fact: Google isn’t exactly opposed to the idea of AI content. Here’s what they have to say:

But then, over the months, we’ve seen content marketing and SEO experts rightly debate AI-generated content—is it ethical? Accurate? Repetitive? Unique? The answer to those will vary depending on who you ask.

In the end, it comes down to this:

• If your content lacks depth, originality, or real insight—AI content or not—don’t expect it to rank well. It just won’t. 
• If you’re just auto-generating tons of AI-written fluff without adding real value, Google will see right through it and possibly penalize your site.
• AI is a great tool, but it is far from perfect. We’ve tested it and seen instances of hallucinations and bias. So it’s important to fact-check, edit, and refine AI-generated content to ensure it’s high quality and actually resonates with readers.

In summary, integrating AI into your content creation process is fine as long as it’s not all you’re doing. You need high-quality, user-centric content that adheres to established SEO best practices.

A Shift in User Search Intent

Last year, Semrush conducted a study, State of Search, that showed a shift in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) related to user search intent. 

They found that unlike in the past when Google primarily prioritized informational queries, there’s now a growing emphasis on transactional keywords.

There are four types of search queries: 

• Informational queries  – When users are looking for specific information. 

Example: “When is Mother’s Day?”

• Navigational – The user is looking to reach a particular website. 

Example: “Amazon”, “Chipotle”, or “Home Depot”

• Commercial – The user is researching products/services and alternatives.

Example: “Best laptops for gaming” or “top 10 cell phones” 

• Transactional – Queries related to searches that require an action (e.g., buy)

Example: “Buy iphone 16” or “Chinese food near me” 

So, how do you prepare for this?

• Optimize your content for different types of search intent with a focus on commercial and transactional queries. 
• Study questions your target audience is now asking and revise your content strategy to meet their needs.
• Keep a close eye on your SEO stats. Do you see an increase in traffic and conversion with a particular strategy? You will want to replicate that across the board.

Keep in mind that this trend is still evolving. Keep your fingers on the SEO pulse.

It’s Time To Gear Up and Optimize Your SEO for 2025! 

SEO in 2025 is shaping up to be a wild ride. With AI-driven search, AI-content, chatbots, and zero-click results becoming the new norm, adaptability is the name of the game.

Whether it’s optimizing for AI-generated search results, embracing visual search, or structuring content for voice queries, staying ahead will come down to quality, relevance, and user-centric SEO strategies. We don’t want to see these trends as a threat; rather, an opportunity to capitalize on. 

The best part? You don’t have to navigate this alone. With the right strategy (and the right SEO experts in your corner), you can stay ahead of the curve.

Ready to crush it? Let’s talk.