2025 SEO Trends: Top Predictions from 23 Industry Experts
There were many times in 2024 when SEO felt like a telenovela.
Google introduced AI Overviews, which was basically featured snippets 2.0. The Google Leaks confirmed what we’ve long suspected about how Google ranks content. And just as we were coming up for air, we discovered parasite SEO and how big brands have used it to own massive slices of SERPs.
It’s a lot to take in.
So, how do we prepare for search in 2025? What should we prioritize to reduce reliance on volatile SERPs and future-proof our strategies?
In this article, 23 SEO and content experts share SEO trends and predictions for 2025 to help you prepare for potential changes and chart a course for the future.
The growing influence of AI on search
Prepare for three key shifts in search behavior
Aleyda Solis — International SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti
Prediction:
In 2025, I see three critical shifts in search:
- The rise of conversational, long-tail queries driven by LLMs and AI overviews in SERPs.
- Search features, AI overviews, and personalized SERPs will make traditional position tracking less effective.
- A greater focus on shopping features like product carousels and knowledge panels in product-focused SERPs.
Why it’s important:
These changes will require brands to rethink traditional SEO strategies. Building brand recognition, optimizing product detail pages, and closely tracking visibility in search features will be essential to staying competitive in a changing landscape.
How to implement:
- Invest in brand recognition: Use informational resources, structured data, and community building to grow authority.
- Optimize product detail pages: Include detailed structured data, UGC, and high-quality images and videos.
- Track search features: Use pixels to monitor shifts in visibility and clicks, adapting strategies to focus on what drives results.
More from Aleyda Solis
2. SEOs will prioritize visibility in AI responses
Andy Crestodina — Co-Founder and CMO at Orbit Media
Prediction:
In 2025, SEOs will shift their focus from search rankings to ensuring brand visibility in AI-generated responses.
Why it’s important:
AI tools are reshaping how users find information, making brand visibility in AI responses essential. While new metrics and practices will emerge, familiar SEO tactics like growing your digital footprint will remain key to ensuring relevance and authority.
How to implement:
- Optimize for AI crawling: Ensure your site is technically sound and easy for AI to access.
- Clarify your value proposition: Strengthen your on-page SEO with clear messaging that defines your brand’s unique value.
- Expand your presence: List your brand in directories and industry platforms.
- Leverage digital PR and outreach: Write AI-friendly press releases and guest posts and collaborate with thought leaders.
- Engage with communities: Participate in topically relevant communities to build authority and visibility.
More from Andy Crestodina:
3. Visibility in AI tools will be critical for SEO success
Zoe Ashbridge — Co-Founder & Senior SEO Strategist at forank
Prediction:
Earning visibility in AI overviews and generative AI tools will grow in importance in 2025 as users trust these platforms more.
Why it’s important:
AI is evolving rapidly, and while it’s not yet a major threat to websites, its influence will expand as users increasingly rely on AI insights. To remain visible, brands must adapt strategies to align with how AI processes and presents information, ensuring they meet user needs and AI trust criteria.
How to implement:
- Optimize for NLP and AI searches: When doing keyword research, think about how people search with AI. Cover FAQs, answer concisely, and provide detailed elaboration where needed.
- Showcase your website as a trusted source: Build trust signals like backlinks, schema, and real-world expertise to increase the chances of AI using your content.
- Monitor and adapt to AI overviews: Understand what AI prioritizes for your target keywords and edit your content to align with the featured insights, similar to optimizing for People Also Ask.
More from Zoe Ashbridge:
4. AI Overviews will increase zero-click searches, potentially slowing brand recognition
Edwin Romero — E-commerce SEO Strategist
Prediction:
In 2025, widespread AI adoption and the global rollout of AI overviews will increase zero-click searches, making it harder for brands to build recognition.
Why it’s important:
AI responses can’t fully address the varied user intentions across the buying journey, sustaining the need for diverse content strategies. However, Google’s push to keep users in transactional search results will require brands to invest in tools like Google Merchant Center, optimized product feeds, and Schema markup.
At the same time, diversifying beyond organic search into platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and email will be crucial to align with evolving user engagement trends.
How to implement:
- Adopt a holistic content strategy: Develop top-, mid-, and bottom-funnel content across formats like videos, blogs, and images to meet users at every stage.
- Optimize for transactional search: Leverage Google Merchant Center and enhance product feeds and Schema to maintain visibility.
- Integrate SEO, UX, and CRO: Combine search acquisition, user engagement, and conversion tactics to create seamless customer journeys.
5. AI search will prioritize curated, authentic content
Amanda Jordan — Director of Digital Strategy at RicketyRoo
Prediction:
In 2025, AI search will push marketers to focus on curated content that blends insights from multiple high-quality sources, delivering real value and resonating with increasingly selective audiences.
Why it’s important:
As AI better aggregates information, generic content will lose its value. To stand out, brands must create content that integrates diverse perspectives and demonstrates a deep understanding of their audience.
Authenticity will become critical, with real quotes, expert insights, and user-generated perspectives carrying more weight in AI search results.
How to implement:
- Integrate diverse voices: Weave expert insights, user opinions, and unique perspectives into your content to make it genuine and well-rounded.
- Understand your audience deeply: Create content that speaks directly to nuanced audience needs and preferences.
- Streamline processes: Develop efficient ways to gather insights and structure content to appeal to AI search while maintaining authenticity.
More from Amanda Jordan:
Diversification beyond Google
6. Social search is in: The winners are those who diversify and repurpose
Chima Mmeje — Senior Content Marketing Manager at Moz
Prediction:
In 2025, social search will play an even bigger role in search as users increasingly turn to content creators and peers for advice and reviews. Brands that diversify content and nurture communities will win.
Why it’s important:
As Lily Ray noted during her Moz webinar, “I’m noticing that I go to TikTok or Instagram for reviews rather than Google. I want firsthand insights from small creators because they feel more trustworthy than big brands.”
AI content is making search more fragmented, with users seeking trustworthy advice on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Meanwhile, volatile SERPs and AI overviews are eating into organic traffic, forcing brands to reduce dependence on traditional SEO.
How to implement:
- Create multi-format content: Diversify your content with videos, podcasts, webinars, and infographics, and find ways to repurpose and cross-promote. For example, I turned Mike King’s webinar into a 4-part blog series with multiple short-form videos and graphics for social media promotion.
- Nurture community: Reduce reliance on organic traffic by serving content directly to your audience through newsletters, webinars, or social platforms. Building a community grows loyalty and provides a stable channel for content distribution.
- Encourage internal SMEs and collaborate with external thought leaders: Platform respected voices in your industry by encouraging internal experts to create content that builds their credibility while promoting your brand. Likewise, partner with trusted external leaders for greater reach and authority.
- Get active on social: Create platform-specific content that engages users and builds a seamless journey to your website. Take inspiration from brands like Zikoko, which shares Instagram carousels with compelling hooks that drive users to their site to finish reading the story.
More content from Chima Mmeje:
7. Diversified content strategy will be essential for success
Caitlin Hathaway — Audience Development at MVF
Prediction:
I predict that 2025 will be the year brands focus on diversifying content strategies to reduce dependence on Google and safeguard against algorithm volatility.
Why it’s important:
This past year has shown how risky it is to rely on Google for traffic, as algorithm updates can devastate a brand’s bottom line. In 2025, brands must diversify their strategies to reduce this dependency and build resilience.
I believe that the traditional SEO role will phase out into a broader "organic growth" role focused on growing multiple organic channels. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, newsletters, and podcasts will offer opportunities to engage new audiences, maximize content value, and create stronger, more engaged communities.
How to implement:
- Learn new platforms: Explore algorithms and content styles on platforms you haven’t worked with before.
- Repurpose content strategically: Maximize the reach of existing content by tailoring it for different platforms.
- Test and refine: Use insights from new platforms to engage audiences and build stronger connections.
More from Caitlin Hathaway
8. SEO will shift to optimizing for multiple search engines
Deborah Oyewole — Cybersecurity & SaaS Content Writer
Prediction:
In 2025, SEOs will shift focus from optimizing solely for Google to embracing multiple search engines as new AI platforms emerge.
Why it’s important:
With tools like SearchGPT and other LLM-based search engines gaining traction, the dominance of Google could wane. Brands must establish credibility, authenticity, and expertise to stand out across diverse search platforms. SEO will become less about "Googling" and more about optimizing for wherever users search.
How to implement:
- Track referral traffic from LLMs: You can find this data in GA4 to better understand which LLMs are sending traffic to your website. This gives you a better understanding of where your users are hanging out.
- Invest in digital PR and thought leadership: Strengthen your Brand Authority through thought leadership and reputation-building efforts.
- Stay agile: Monitor algorithm updates across multiple search engines to adapt your strategies.
What will Google do?
9. Google will phase out featured snippets in favor of AI Overviews
Dr. Pete Meyers — Principal Innovation Architect at Moz
Prediction:
In 2025, Google will accelerate its AI features, expanding ads and product listings in AI overviews. I also predict that Google will phase out featured snippets as AI overviews become the go-to solution for contextual answers.
Why it’s important:
With AI overviews gaining prominence, traditional search features like featured snippets may no longer be necessary. Google’s emphasis on AI for product recommendations and contextual answers will change how content surfaces in search results. Brands must adapt by understanding how AI processes queries and source answers to ensure their content remains relevant.
How to implement:
- Research AI query spaces: Identify informational queries where AI overviews are most likely to appear.
- Monitor content sources: Check what Google (or Gemini) highlights as sources for AI results.
- Answer questions holistically: Create content that addresses full query contexts instead of targeting isolated keywords.
More from Dr Pete Meyers
10. Google will become the ultimate category page for retailers
Chris Long — VP of Marketing at Go Fish Digital
Prediction:
In 2025, Google will improve its product grids, rich results, and commerce-focused search features, becoming a de facto category page for retailers.
Why it’s important:
As Google continues prioritizing e-commerce search results, competition for visibility will intensify. Retailers must adapt by optimizing their product pages and leveraging tools like product feeds and schema markup. Monitoring performance against third-party retailers will be crucial to maintaining an edge in an increasingly crowded space.
How to implement:
- Optimize product pages: Ensure your product pages are detailed, user-friendly, and conversion-focused.
- Leverage schema markup: Use comprehensive, structured data to improve how your products appear in search.
- Refine product feeds: Regularly update and optimize product feeds and Google Merchant Center listings.
- Track competitors: Monitor your performance against third-party retailers to adjust strategies as needed.
More from Chris Long
11. Google's algorithm will punish big, irrelevant affiliates
Tom Capper — Senior Search Scientist at Moz
Prediction:
I predict Google will shift its algorithm to leave a little more room for topically focused sites, as opposed to big brands dominating irrelevant search results.
Why it’s important:
Affiliates and product reviews remain sensitive areas for Google, especially with Amazon's growing competition. Small, topical sites that rank well now may have an opportunity to thrive as Google continues penalizing strategies like Site Reputation Abuse policies, often affecting larger brands.
Nonetheless, if you’ve been affected by the Helpful Content Update (HCU), don’t count on a complete recovery—other channels are still safer bets.
How to implement:
- Avoid risky tactics: If you are a big brand, now is NOT the time to enter the affiliate review space.
- Stay diversified: Smaller brands should maintain traffic from multiple sources to reduce risk.
- Focus on topical authority: Build deep, relevant content to strengthen your position in SERPs.
Changes in content strategy
12. Content strategy will be 20% creation and 80% brand storytelling
Jo Cameron — Director of Content Marketing at Moz
Prediction:
By 2025, brands that excel will master authentic dialogue and thought leadership using content that AI can’t replicate. With AI handling the basics, the winners will stand out by showcasing unique voices and genuine expertise through storytelling.
Why it’s important:
AI has already eliminated the need for “good enough” content, as competitors can now generate perfectly optimized material at scale. The only advantage left is creating what AI cannot: authentic, unscripted moments that resonate with real human experiences.
Formats like podcasts and conversational content will dominate, offering top-of-funnel value that builds brand affinity. Additionally, while SERP rankings remain in flux, zero-click results provide new opportunities for brands to gain visibility if they maintain a strong voice and creative campaigns.
How to implement:
- Build content ecosystems: Connect video, audio, and text to your brand story, replacing standalone blog posts.
- Leverage authentic conversations: Use podcasts and unscripted moments to create content flywheels that drive top-funnel engagement and capture real expertise.
- Invest in thought leadership: Develop subject matter experts and prioritize human-led content creation to differentiate from AI content.
- Adapt to zero-click opportunities: Create content that positions your brand as a trusted source for AI overviews and zero-click answers, reinforcing your authority.
- Automate the technical, humanize the creative: Use AI tools to automate technical tasks and redirect resources to storytelling and building your brand’s unique voice.
More from Jo Cameron
13. Community-focused content will shape 2025
Myriam Jessier— Founder at NeuroSpicy
Prediction:
I believe 2025 will be the year brands rediscover the principles of trust and reciprocity in content marketing. By treating content as a gift, you can rebuild relationships with your audience, strengthen community ties, and create meaningful, lasting connections.
Why it’s important:
Content marketing has lost its way, focusing on metrics that prioritize algorithms over audience value. This approach erodes trust and fosters behaviors born out of disappointment. Great content should build relationships by being valuable, thoughtful, and aligned with brand values.
Generative AI provides new opportunities to create audience-focused experiences, but only if brands embrace a service mindset and offer content that feels meaningful rather than transactional.
How to implement:
- Craft content as a gift: Prioritize audience value over proxy metrics, creating content that educates, inspires, or helps.
- Build trust and credibility: Showcase expertise and align content with your core brand values.
- Foster community: Position your brand as part of your audience’s community, using content to strengthen relationships.
- Use AI effectively: Leverage generative AI to adapt content for deeper resonance with your audience.
- Measure differently: Develop qualitative metrics to track trust-building and the long-term impact of your content.
14. A shift toward human-centered content
Irina Maltseva — Growth Lead at Aura
Prediction:
SEO in 2025 will prioritize authentic, human-written content while integrating AI for advanced optimization.
Why it's important:
Google prioritizes content showcasing expertise and unique perspectives, moving away from generic, mass-produced copy. At the same time, AI tools are becoming more powerful and capable of handling complex tasks.
It has created opportunities for SEO teams to prioritize content centered on human experiences to build trust with your audience.
How to implement:
- Use AI for heavy lifting: Let SEO AI tools handle time-consuming tasks like data analysis, keyword research, and internal linking, freeing your team to focus on strategy and storytelling.
- Write for AI summaries: Optimize content to improve visibility in AI-generated snippets like Google AI Overview and zero-click results.
- Showcase human expertise: Add depth to your content by sharing personal experiences and real-world examples. Highlight team members’ knowledge to build authority and reader trust.
- Expand your discovery channels: Build a thoughtful presence across platforms to amplify authority and attract qualified audiences.
More from Irina Maltseva
15. We must think like documentary makers, not content marketers
Dozie Anyaegbunam — Senior Editor at Black & White Zebra
Prediction:
In 2025, successful marketers will shift from content creators to story finders, focusing on uncovering and sharing the unique stories their brands are best equipped to tell.
Why it’s important:
As AI-generated content floods the internet, standing out does not require more content. Instead, marketers must embrace curation, storytelling, and audience engagement to rise above the noise.
Thinking like documentary makers rather than traditional content marketers allows brands to explore meaningful ideas and foster deeper connections with their audiences.
How to implement:
- Find unique stories: Identify brand narratives rooted in authenticity and expertise.
- Curate meaningful content: Leverage your toolkit to assemble diverse perspectives and explore ideas that resonate with your audience.
- Engage your audience: Create opportunities for your community to participate in the storytelling process to foster stronger connections.
16. Human-centered content will drive engagement
Carmen Dominguez — Director of Organic Growth at Welltech
Prediction:
I believe that in 2025, content featuring relatable humans—videos, podcasts, and interviews—will have a far greater impact than AI content.
Why it’s important:
As AI overview and tools like SearchGPT grow, users will prefer human-focused formats like videos, podcasts, and interviews. SEO will shift from keywords to entities and concept relationships, making brand-building and psychology-led strategies essential for success.
How to implement:
- Prioritize human-centered formats: Focus on videos, podcasts, and interviews to engage audiences.
- Emphasize brand building: Develop strategies that create strong emotional connections with your audience.
- Adapt to SEO shifts: Create content around entity relationships and broader concepts, not just keywords.
More from Carmen Dominguez
17. Purposeful content strategies will drive success
John Iwuozor — Content Strategist and Writer for B2B SaaS
Prediction:
I believe the brands that stand out in 2025 will be those that treat their websites as powerful conversion engines filled with experience-led content that AI can’t easily replicate.
Why it’s important:
We’ve seen how relying solely on Google can backfire, especially with the rise of AI overviews and updates like the Helpful Content Update.
To adapt, brands must create content that AI struggles to replicate—think original research, expert insights, and detailed bottom-funnel content.
At the same time, producing native, platform-specific content builds E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness) while creating diverse paths for discovery.
How to implement:
- Invest in your website: Focus on original, high-value content that answers bottom-funnel questions and drives conversions.
- Get strategic with platforms: Avoid blanket repurposing and create content designed for each platform’s strengths.
Multimedia is the future of SEO
18. Multimedia content will redefine SEO success
A. Lee Judge —Co-Founder Content Monsta
Prediction:
In 2025, businesses will recognize that SEO content is more than text as search engines improve multimodal video understanding and generative AI highlights diverse content formats.
Why it’s important:
Search engines are increasingly intelligent in analyzing video and audio content, making these formats essential for SEO.
Improved metadata extraction will enhance the discoverability of embedded video, while short-form videos will evolve from social-only assets to a core business strategy. To stay competitive, brands must integrate video into cornerstone content and rethink how multimedia supports their SEO goals.
How to implement:
- Create multimedia content: Focus on videos and podcasts to diversify and strengthen your content offerings.
- Strategically embed video: Incorporate videos into cornerstone pages and articles rather than limiting them to platforms like YouTube.
- Leverage short-form video: Use short-form videos as a key strategy for social platforms and business-focused content.
19. The rise of personalized and multi-modal search
Luke Gosha — Head of AI at Strategiq
Prediction:
In 2025, search will become more personalized and multi-modal, driven by advancements in AI and user demand for high-quality content.
Why it’s important:
AI tools like Perplexity and SearchGPT are evolving to provide hyper-personalized results, learning more about users with every interaction. This leads to a more intuitive and immersive search experience— like Jarvis from Ironman, where technology feels almost conversational.
Multi-modal search will also grow, combining text, images, voice, and files to change how we search and the formats we use.
How to implement:
- Optimize for personalization: Better understand your users, be conversational, refine your content strategy, and address individual user needs.
- Prepare for multi-modal search: Adapt content for various formats, including text, image, voice, and structured data.
- Focus on quality: Create well-researched, original content that demonstrates expertise.
- Embrace AI: Use AI content tools for tasks like research, ideation, and sentiment analysis. Let AI be your apprentice and assist you in doing more.
Personalization and hyper-localization in search
20. Search will become more fragmented and personalized
Tyler Hakes — Strategy Director & Principal at Optimist
Prediction:
In 2025, search results will become increasingly personalized, with each user seeing a unique version of the SERP tailored to their preferences, past activities, and interactions across search channels.
Why it’s important:
AI tools like SearchGPT are already personalizing results based on user interests and behavior, and this trend will deepen. Google and emerging search engines will prioritize results influenced by brand affinity and previous interactions. To maintain visibility, brands must foster strong audience connections across multiple platforms to drive branded searches and consistent engagement.
How to implement:
- Build brand affinity: Nurture audiences through content and channels that encourage branded searches and interactions.
- Measure brand impact: Track branded search volume and traffic from AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- Adapt content strategies: Focus on creating engaging content that reinforces brand loyalty and builds deeper connections with your audience.
21. Hyper-localization will challenge national brands
Tory Gray — CEO at GrayDotCo
Prediction:
In 2025, Google will continue prioritizing hyper-localization in search results, making it harder for national digital providers to compete with local brick-and-mortar options.
Why it’s important:
This year revealed a growing trend of regional ranking disparities, with national brands losing ground to localized competitors, even for queries like “{product/service name} online.” Google’s emphasis on local relevance means national domains must adapt to maintain visibility, especially in industries facing heightened regional competition.
How to implement:
- Monitor geo-specific rankings: Regularly track rankings across major markets to identify and respond to regional shifts.
- Create localized content: Develop geo-specific landing pages featuring regional accreditations and customer testimonials.
- Engage local audiences: Encourage user-generated content and highlight local “chapter” details to build credibility in target regions.
More from Tory Gray
AI ethics and trust
22. No one has time for more trust issues– Even Google
Jamie Indigo — Director of Technical SEO at Cox Automotive
Prediction:
In 2025, SEOs must prioritize trustworthy, intent-driven content to stand out from AI noise. Google will reward authentic insights and experiences while penalizing regurgitated, over-optimized content.
Why it’s important:
Google, aiming to crawl less and prioritize relevance, favors content that addresses user intent with personal insights and factual data. Google’s push for trustworthy experiences means user experience will become increasingly important. As John Mueller advises, SEOs should stop overoptimizing and focus instead on relevance and user intent.
How to implement:
- Focus on user intent: Create content that answers questions directly and helps users complete actions. Treat keywords as a byproduct, not the goal.
- Deliver trustworthy experiences: Verify AI-generated content for accuracy and base your pages on authentic, actionable insights.
- Track engagement metrics: Use macro and micro conversions or similar metrics to gauge how well your content meets search intent.
- Deliver factually accurate content: Use programmatic SEO with verified data to align with Google’s push for authenticity.
23. Clear AI use policies will safeguard marketing strategies
Luke Davis — Senior Technical SEO Specialist at Impression
Prediction:
In 2025, marketers must implement strict AI use policies to protect credibility, maintain traffic, and avoid penalties from search engines and ethical violations.
Why it’s important:
Unregulated AI use exposes brands to plagiarism claims, environmental criticism, and anti-labor backlash. Search engines penalize unoriginal or unethical content, which threatens visibility and trust. Setting clear rules ensures responsible AI usage without harming users or creators.
How to implement:
- Set clear AI rules: Require teams to explore all alternatives before turning to AI and always prioritize ethics in decision-making.
- Maintain human oversight: Involve humans in every step of content creation and prohibit publishing AI outputs verbatim.
- Prioritize ethical quality: Focus on producing original, harm-free content that serves users and aligns with search engine standards.
Main takeaway: Diversify your SEO strategy to reduce reliance on Google
To succeed in 2025, diversify your SEO strategy to reduce dependence on Google SERPs. Build communities to engage directly with your audience. Invest in multimodal content like videos and leverage social search to meet users where they are. Finally, prepare for Generative AI search by creating content tailored for emerging channels.
