The field of SEO is unpredictable and constantly evolving, just like the algorithm updates that Google releases from time to time.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I do my best to keep you up to date with the latest happenings in the SEO industry.
SEO trends are one topic that we know needs to be constantly updated because no other industry is as dynamic as SEO.
Trends that were a big hit a few years ago are no longer a trend — for example, voice search — as algorithms get smarter by the day.
We’re entering 2025, and the trends we’re seeing are fairly new to the industry and make a strong statement. Of course, some of the trends I listed for 2024 are still just emerging trends, but there are some newcomers.
As an SEO professional, it’s important for me to keep up with trends. As we do, I want the community to understand this so the industry can set new standards and provide a strong response to those who view SEO as a dead-end, boring industry.
But are these real trends or just speculation?
I’ve been listening to some of the industry’s top experts over the past few months, and they’ve endorsed the trends I’ll be detailing in several articles over the coming period.
However, if you require proof of success from implementing these trends below, all you have to do is check out the performance of a Web Addict website on search engines.
We have implemented the following SEO practices and you can be sure that we are doing exactly what we advise, not only for our brand but also for the countless clients we serve.
But of course, until Google reveals all of its ranking factors, which it won’t, SEO is based on speculation and data.
This may be due to the widespread use of masks. We’re not sure, but the fact is that people aren’t talking to computers and smartphones as much as they used to, and the only time they use voice search is while driving.
Google Trends also shows a downward keyword trend for voice search.
Without further ado, here are the top SEO trends you need to keep in mind when optimizing your website to improve rankings and increase traffic.
1. Update content
Updating website content is important for a number of reasons. First and foremost, fresh and relevant content can help improve the user experience, which can help improve your website’s search engine ranking. Additionally, regularly updating your content can help keep your website fresh and accurate, which can also help improve your search engine ranking.
This is an example of a page that performed higher simply because we kept it relevant to users.
This means that if you have a page that brings you a lot of traffic, it’s not a done deal.
It’s a work in progress!
Over the next couple of years, there will be sites that create better content than yours.
You may add new information, datasets, and insights that will naturally attract Google’s attention.
To keep up with this, you need to update the content regularly with some great tips or important updates like we do here.
What I mean is that to create lasting, relevant, and evergreen content, you need to water it frequently to get more useful information and enrich it with additional value.
So, what happens to content that fails to do this?
Over time, stagnant content will be pushed down the rankings on Google and eventually drop out of the top results.
Content that is relevant and useful today will become junk and useless in a year or two if left unchecked.
That’s why we list content refresh as the top SEO trend to watch in 2025 and beyond.
2. Expect a lower organic CTR.
We have seen a significant drop in Google’s CTR since the search engine giant introduced multiple SERP features that provide direct answers to user queries.
It all started with Google Instant Answers, where users get the answers they need without having to navigate away from search results.
Now, with Google’s AI search (or search experience generation) overview, CTR is expected to drop further as answers become more in-depth and Google aggregates the best results on the web to generate its own.
Here’s a screenshot of how an AI overview would impact the CTR of the blog you’re currently reading.
In fact, Google tries to keep users within its ecosystem because this gives it more control over providing relevant information.
Additionally, the more time users spend on Google, the more the search engine can sell ads and get users to go to related services like Maps, YouTube, Shopping, People Also Asked, etc.
Google is also testing a new ad interface where ads will be displayed between organic results, making them more obtrusive.
3. Google’s Generative AI SERP Layout and Functionality Changes
Google is already envisioning a future ecosystem powered by AI.
In fact, AI is a key term that has appeared in most of Google’s recent announcements, including its latest Pixel 8 smartphones.
The generative search experience, now renamed Google AI Overviews, will have a significant impact on the overall user experience, and we expect it to significantly change the way people use Google Search in the future.
While testing the AI overview, I found Google to be very intrusive in the early days, with the AI results taking up at least 50% of the space at the top of the page. However, they later decided to place the results under the drop-down menu, which helps higher-ranking results stand out more. Another reason Google adopted this change was the decline in click-through rates on their ads.
But here’s the catch. Google will eventually try to display relevant ads with or above the AI overview box. Think of it as a personal shopping assistant. The AI search engine will display ads based on the user’s preferences and help them make purchases without leaving the answer box.
From a business perspective, this is a huge benefit for product and service websites. Scroll and click, and the user becomes your customer.
Google makes these AI improvements possible by leveraging language learning models, including BARD, MUM, and PaLM2.
4. Google reduces the frequency of crawling and indexing.
We know for sure that Google significantly reduces the number of times it crawls and indexes websites.
We tried to research crawl statistics for multiple websites and found that Google has significantly reduced the crawl rate since 2021.
Google has not yet adopted a protocol like Index Now, which Bing and Yandex have adopted. With Index Now, search engines are notified of content changes occurring on a page, making it easier and faster to crawl and index it.
This saves search engines a lot of resources, as they would otherwise have to crawl an entire website to identify new content.
We heard from John Mueller a while ago that Google might adopt a protocol similar to Index Now, but it hasn’t happened yet.
So, why do search engines try to limit the number of crawls?
Indexing and crawling are processes used by search engines to discover web pages and add them to their databases.
Crawling involves using robots or spiders to scan the web and follow links from page to page. In contrast, indexing involves storing and organizing the information found during the crawling process.
Now, when it comes to the environment, the impact of indexing and crawling is very minimal because it mostly involves the use of computer servers and other digital technology.
However, like any other form of computing, it can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems if the electricity used to power computers and servers comes from non-renewable sources.
We recognize that Bitcoin mining causes climate damage that exceeds the actual value of the currency. This is deeply concerning from a sustainability perspective.
In fact, Google has committed to its carbon neutrality policy and is trying to completely reduce its carbon footprint by 2030.
There are only two ways to do this. The first is to reduce the environmental impact of indexing and crawling operations by using renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to power its servers and other computing equipment.
Another option is to improve their algorithms and use other techniques to reduce the energy required for indexing and crawling.
We believe Google is embracing the second option because it can be implemented faster than a complete transition to renewable energy.
However, over time, Google will certainly try to make indexing and crawling more sustainable without compromising crawling and indexing efficiency.
5. Links are more important as of 2025
The May 2024 leak of internal Google ranking documents provided the SEO community with unprecedented insights into the search giant’s algorithm. One key revelation stands out: backlinks remain a valuable component of Google’s ranking factors.
Key insights regarding backlinks from the leak:
The continuing importance of links:
The diversity and relevance of backlinks remains crucial, despite their declining weight in the algorithm. PageRank is still in use.
New links carry more value:
Links from newer web pages may have higher impact than older links, highlighting the importance of continually acquiring new backlinks .
User Sharing and Clickstream Data:
Google’s NavBoost system uses clickstream data to influence rankings, emphasizing user engagement and the importance of backlinks. This was previously confirmed when Google documents were presented as evidence during an antitrust trial in November 2023.
Penalties for bad links:
Spammy or mismatched links can lower your rankings, which underscores the need for high-quality, relevant backlinks.
In November 2022, John Mueller said during a working session that Google would try to reduce its reliance on backlinks as a ranking factor.
We know that Google has been spreading a lot of fear about being penalized for backlink building. The truth is, Google has consistently failed to take strict action against link building practices like blogger outreach, guest posting, and link exchanges.
These strategies involve sharing high-quality content on highly relevant websites. While there are specific ways websites incentivize this process, it’s done so secretly that it’s almost impossible for Google to track how it’s built.
However, Google’s SpamBrian algorithm, which was added to the core algorithm in 2018, has become much more efficient.
According to Google, in 2020, Spam Brain managed to keep 75% of spam results out of Google search results, and by December 2022, the search engine giant is confident that its spam filtering system can prevent 99% of spam results from appearing to users. Links are important as of 2023.
What we’ve seen is that there’s still high potential for link building strategies like manual blogger outreach, influencer outreach, and the real world of guest posts.
One thing to add here is that smart SEO agencies will move towards acquiring brand mentions going forward, as we know that sentiment around a brand is a major ranking factor.
Guest posting and manual outreach to bloggers, both of which provide value to users without exchanging money, will remain key to link building strategies.
I’m not talking about publishing content on sites that cover everything under the sun. The sites you choose should have a targeted audience specific to a particular industry.
For example, if a web addict blog were to get a do-follow link by publishing a guest post on a real estate site, Google’s SpamBrain would invalidate the passed link juice.
However, if we’re publishing guest post content on a reputable site like Kinsta or Marketing Pros, the link value is too high for Google to ignore.
6. Increased use of artificial intelligence tools in search engine optimization.
With the recent tremendous growth of artificial intelligence, it’s no secret that AI will bring more significant transformations to the digital marketing landscape.
In 2025, SEO experts will increasingly use AI tools to automate certain tasks, including SERP analysis, keyword research, content optimization, and more, to save time and boost productivity.
In an increasingly AI-powered market, brands must find ways to leverage AI tools for efficient SEO to keep up with competitors.
While AI can help scale SEO operations, it’s equally important for brands to maintain the original value and human touch to maximize results.
7. Growing communication with bloggers and personal branding
We believe that personal blogs are experiencing their sunset, as very few blogs are able to find their true audience.
As a result, most bloggers will look for reputable sites within their niche to post content on.
This way, they can ensure that their articles will receive multiple reads and interactions.
More people will adopt this strategy as a personal branding activity as Google soon shows signs of moving towards being an entity-based search engine.
As Google associates each author (entity) with a specific domain (another entity), its algorithms will be able to determine the writer’s expertise and specialization and ultimately determine whether their content will rank on the search engine results page.
Therefore, authors and brands must ensure that they have sufficient digital evidence to prove their credibility and expertise in a particular field.
That’s why we have EEAT as our next trend to watch in 2025.
8. Experience, expertise, credibility and trust EEAT
Since the 2018 Medicine Update, we’ve seen the term EAT appear primarily in Google’s quality assessment guidelines.
Expertise, credibility, and trustworthiness are among the top SEO trends for 2025, and that’s because Google has decided to add another E for expertise to the acronym.
Google has added expertise as a new term to EAT, making it EEA T. Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.
The four factors are intended to help Google understand how accurate, truthful, safe, and reliable content is in terms of ranking in search results.
If your website is in a location where your products, services, content, or suggestions could impact health, financial stability, safety, or society, it requires a higher EEA T weight.
Content posted on such websites falls into a category called YMYL (Your Money or Your Life).
This means that users who access content from such sites may experience negative effects or consequences if they decide to trust what they see. In fact, most topics on the web are not YMYL and do not require a high level of accuracy or trust.
However, if your website falls into the YMYL category, Google will look for more EEAT factors to ensure your site is trustworthy.
Additionally, Google looks for EEAT factors before ranking online stores and product review sites.
For online stores, Google will check if they have secure online payment systems and reliable customer service.
When it comes to product review sites, Google will check if they contain honest, in-depth reviews that help readers make informed purchasing decisions.
Now, let’s focus more on the newly added experience rating flag.
According to Google, the new experience signal within EAT will help assess whether an author, brand, or website has direct experience with what is being conveyed in the main content.
For example , if I were to write about the consequences of delaying equal monthly installments, Google would check whether I was sharing my personal experience in the banking and financial services sector within the content, or if this experience was missing, it would check external references on the web.
To give you more context, if I’m reviewing a stock market app, in addition to checking my stock market experience, Google will now check within the content whether I’ve used the app.
In many cases, content produced by individuals with a wealth of personal experience can be more reliable and effective.
For example, what do you trust more: a product review from someone who has actually used the product or a review from someone who hasn’t?
Content produced by someone with personal experience may be more reliable and useful.
9. User experience metrics continue to evolve.
In light of Google’s recent improvements to user experience metrics, we expect this trend to continue evolving in 2025.
John Mueller, senior search analyst at Google, emphasized that while Core Web Vitals are important for user experience, they are not a significant ranking factor.
Google replaced first input delay (FID) with interaction next graph (INP) in the Core Web Vitals report in March 2024.
Unlike FID, which was based solely on the first user interaction, INP measures page responsiveness across all user interactions throughout the session. This metric opens the door to a more accurate measurement of page responsiveness and the overall user experience.
In November 2024, Google announced the removal of the Page Experience Report from Search Console.
Google wrote , “We’re removing the Page Experience report in Search Console. This page summarizes data from Core Web Vitals and HTTPS reports, which will remain available as is.”
While Google has explained that the removal of the Page Experience report is intended to reduce unnecessary clutter in Search Console, this could be a sign of further improvements to user experience metrics in 2025.
10. User + Search Intent = Useful Content
2025 is the year you will prioritize search intent and user behavior over everything else.
People’s search intent and behavior are constantly changing. They go to Google or other search engines to find answers to their queries or to learn more about a topic in general.
When companies understand what users are looking for and provide them with content that answers their questions, the company benefits along with the users.
According to Britney Muller of Britney Muller LLC, SEO experts need to move away from traditional SEO practices that hold no value today as algorithms continue to be so powerful.
Instead, they should pay more attention to search intent. Paying close attention to search queries will allow companies to create useful, competitive content that online audiences will want to consume.
Marie Haynes, CEO of Marie Haynes Consulting Inc., admits that in order to master SEO, you will need to be excellent at providing the right information to users.
Google’s latest helpful content update is an important step by Google to ensure that only good and helpful content reaches the top spots on Google. Announced in August 2023, the update aims to remove sites that offer superficial content from the top search results. Additionally, the new flag will rank websites based on the helpfulness of their content. This means that Google can now flag a website as unhelpful if it finds a significant number of articles that are less reliable.
Websites that use AI to automatically generate content may also feel the heat of updating useful content. Google recommends that websites use real people to write content for real users.
What we also know is that Google will get better at understanding when users are looking for expert advice and will rank content that follows EAT guidelines above others. SEO experts can only dominate search in 2025 when they truly understand what users are searching for.
Brands will need to cater to audience needs more than promoting their brand, products, or services. This means not forcing users to register on your site, showing them unnecessary pop-ups on your site, or redirecting them to registration forms.
Steven Van Vesum, VP of Community at ContentKing, believes that in addition to understanding what users are looking for, they should also note their preferred content type (videos, podcasts, articles, etc.) and deliver it accordingly.
Alexander Kessler, CEO of INFUSEmedia, offered some additional advice on search intent. According to him, businesses should analyze the site journey and search data of their organic leads. This will not only help them understand the search terms they used to find your content, but also the on-site keywords for all the pages they visited within your website. This data collection will help brands connect to the content journey.
11. Search Engine Localization
We believe local businesses will see more traction from Google as there is a clear push towards hyperlocal search results.
This means it’s time to focus on generating high-quality reviews on Google My Business and even on other trusted review platforms.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen country-specific content and companies leverage search results instead of global entities.
This means that Google wants to show results that will be useful to users. For example, the results I get for the search term “solar panels for home use” in the United States are different from those shown in India.
This is because US-based sites don’t serve people in India, at least not directly. Despite having higher authority compared to their Indian counterparts, they still fail to rank.
While this is a macro example, Google does the same thing on a micro level, where search results (not just the map package) change based on the user’s location.
In the future, websites that want to target local audiences should include the name of the city, state, or country so that Google doesn’t miss out on ranking your website higher.
12. Customer Analytics, Retention, and Lifetime Value
Search engine optimization (SEO) has evolved significantly over the years. In 2025, brands will need to work even harder to bridge the gap between web traffic and SEO ROI. This year, data related to behavioral analytics will become a key focus.
With Google evolving at a rapid pace, conversions and revenue are more important than ever. Keyword volume will decline this year, and behavioral analytics will become more important.
Brands need to focus on what their customers do, how they do it, and what they can do to get them to take action on your site faster. You need to reverse engineer this into the content you produce.
COVID-19 has proven that keyword research isn’t always helpful when the world is in a state of constant upheaval. Behavioral analytics will unlock hidden content opportunities that keyword research fails to uncover.
Businesses will need to focus more on customer retention and increasing customer lifetime value (LTV). It will all come down to understanding your customers better and providing them with possible solutions through content, or risk losing them to another company that understands your customer better.
Izzy Smith, a technical SEO analyst at Ryte, encourages businesses to offer improved online customer service. Brands need to establish a process with sales and support staff to ensure they are aware of important customer questions or requests that can be resolved using support resources.
You should explore keyword data in Google Search Console using FAQ IDs to find relevant topics that can be addressed. Make sure to clearly answer these questions and post them in relevant FAQ sections on your website.
It’s easy to lose audience attention and trust if you fail to provide value to your customers. Brands must retain customer interest by providing them with comprehensive, useful, and factually accurate content. Writing such content requires focus and commitment.
13. Optimize search engine results pages for branding, infographics, and knowledge entities
This year, it will become increasingly important to monitor your brand’s search engine results pages and knowledge panels. Understanding who you are, what you offer, and the audience you serve will be invaluable to other businesses.
We may start seeing personalized knowledge graphs in 2025. Google has a lot of information about you, including your search history, behavior, email, and social media, and may be able to expand the process of personalizing knowledge graphs.
What does this mean for SEO in 2025? It means optimizing a brand’s entire digital presence, such as its social media profile, YouTube channel, and more, to influence Google to display it the way you want.
Today, it’s not just about your website and what it offers, but rather your brand’s entire digital presence and how it interacts with each other on search engine results pages. SEO experts must understand how natural language processing and entities play a role in Google rankings.
Good keywords are still very important but come second to understanding the topics and purpose of the query.
Google Discover is the only place where keywords don’t exist. The only way to optimize it is to create your entity in the Knowledge Graph and refine how it connects within the topic layer, according to Jess Schulz, global digital director at Ringier.
Some activities Schulz suggests focusing on are:
- Ensure correct and complete organizational coding or software construction.
- Create a strong presence on knowledge bases such as Wikidata.
- Claim your knowledge panel to use the Posts by Google feature.
- Setting up a Google My Business profile for traditional businesses.
14. The foundation of SEO is mobile search engine optimization.
Ensuring your website performs well on mobile devices is something you should continue to pay attention to in 2025. Mobile user experience will be a major focus for all SEO experts.
Simplicity is key to a user-friendly web design. You also need to tailor your website content to users’ needs. Google will eventually ignore your desktop site and focus entirely on your mobile site to determine your rankings.
So, if your focus on improving the mobile user experience has been minimal so far, it’s time to shift your focus entirely. If you have separate websites for desktop and mobile, it’s time to consider moving to a mobile-responsive site.
15. Evaluation, Adaptation, and Implementation
In 2025, thinking outside the box will be more important than ever. You need to gain a better perspective on the opportunities available to you. This is the time to get organized, build a plan, and act accordingly.
Shifting to a more strategic SEO plan will be crucial to helping you stay ahead of your competition. It’s recommended that you shift your focus from user behavior to a dual process of first understanding the market these consumers operate in, and then adopting a more strategic approach to real-time changing demands.
You should leverage the various tools, platforms, and resources available to you to understand how economic, social, and psychological factors influence search demand and then look to understand consumer behavior on a deeper level.
16. Long-form content
One trend that will help you outshine your competitors in 2025 is to consistently publish long-form, relevant content on your website. Content must adhere to EEAT guidelines and, depending on the depth of the content, can reach 2,000 words or more.
However, what we’ve found over the past year is that Google doesn’t like articles that are unnecessarily long in order to rank higher. So, the next time you’re thinking about writing a list or guide, make sure to include only relevant articles.
For example, topics like “Best Car to Buy in 2025” or “100 Ways to Drive Safely” leave users confused rather than happy. This doesn’t mean you should restrict content length to topics that need to be discussed in detail.
For example, a blog post like “The Ultimate Guide to Local SEO,” which requires comprehensive coverage of the topic, may exceed the 2,000-word threshold. On the other hand, a shorter post of 1,000 to 1,200 words may be more effective for straightforward topics like “How to Create a QR Code for Google Reviews.”
As long-form content continues to gain importance in 2025, well-written long-form content, especially content that finds the right balance between quality and quantity, is likely to perform well in search engine results pages.
17. Scalability in SEO
If you want to beat your competitors in 2025, you should focus on building scalability into your SEO services.
Mark Traphagen, VP of Product Marketing and Training at Seo Clarity, recommends listing all of your tasks and workflows and then determining which of these steps can be automated using SEO tools.
You should also set up an alert system that monitors important changes, such as rankings for your important keywords, URL changes, or changes in content. Create standard operating procedures for any other tasks that you can’t automate.
Conclusion
SEO trends are constantly evolving. Some of the top trends that made it to the top of the list in 2024 are no longer popular.
At Stan Ventures, we make a constant effort to keep you up to date with the latest trends in SEO. In fact, with Google confirming that Google Core Vitals is not a significant ranking factor, we’ve removed it from our list of SEO trends for 2025.
Implement the latest search engine optimization strategies on your website and stay ahead of your competitors. Which of these strategies do you think will be most important in 2025?
