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Large AI Overviews on SERPs are affecting visibility and causing a dramatic decrease in traffic.
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Large AI Overviews on SERPs are affecting visibility and causing a dramatic decrease in traffic.
SEO enters a new era. Prepare yourself for the future of SEO with these actionable tips and strategic insights.
At the beginning of 2002, there were more than a dozen “search engines,” including crawlers, directories, and paid/PPC/CPC engines.
But by the end of that year, Google had emerged from the pack to become the leading player. (According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google had a 39% share of 47 million “search hours” in December 2002.¹)
I recently called the past 20 years “The Age of the One-Trick Pony.” Back at the beginning of 2003, if you figured out how to improve a website’s visibility in Google’s organic search results, then you could get a well-paying job at an SEO agency.
But, SEO professionals need to prepare for a paradigm shift as that age is about to end.
This means you must invest more time learning innovative marketing disciplines, and demonstrate prudent judgment to manage change.
As we step into the future of search, I can share five strategic insights and five pieces of tactical advice.
According to Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military strategist, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
And far too many SEOs have spent too little time exploring and evaluating different digital marketing strategies.
This explains Why There Are So Few Vice Presidents of Search Engine Optimization.
So, what can you do to outline a strategy for 2025 and beyond?
You’ve already learned how to use SEO tools that help you improve your company or client’s search engine rankings by analyzing keywords, content, and backlinks.
So, instead of feeling threatened by AI, embrace it as just another tool to add to your toolbox.
Jensen Huang, the founder, president, and CEO of Nvidia, has said, “AI is not going to take your job. The person who uses AI is going to take your job.”
Almost two years later, we’ve learned by comparing the content output generated by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude that generative AI tools may be smarter than newbies at times, but not people with more education, expertise, and experience.
For example, researchers at the University of Reading in England created over 30 fake psychology student accounts and used them to submit ChatGPT-4-produced answers to examination questions.
On average, ChatGPT-4 scored better than human students in the first- and second-year exams, where the questions were easier.
In their last year at the university, students are expected to provide deeper insights and use more elaborate analytical skills. Generative AI isn’t particularly good at that, which is why third-year human students got better grades than ChatGPT-4.
So, embrace AI as a powerful tool – but one that requires someone with education, expertise, and experience to use it effectively. And whatever you do, don’t become a tool of your tools.
I’ve been using keyword research tools since 2002, but I started using an audience research tool in 2020.
With classic keyword research, you learn how many searches a keyword gets. With an audience research tool, you also learn about the audience that searches for a keyword, uses words in their bio, or visits a website.
This is a game changer – and it’s arriving at the precise moment when SEO pros need to start creating the kind of user, buyer, marketing, and customer personas that can transform SEO, PPC, and content marketing.
To get a seat at the big table, SEO marketers must move beyond optimizing their sites, pages, articles, and content for an undifferentiated group of search engine users.
Why? Because one size does not fit all.
Digital marketers have been targeting ads at segments of people with specific demographics, intents, and interests for decades.
However, SEO professionals seemed satisfied with trying to guess the intent of users based on the words or phrases in their queries.
Who can blame them? Previously, keyword research tools could only tell SEOs “what” people searched for, but not “who” they were.
Now, SEO and content marketers can get surprising insights into the demographics, interests, and information sources that influence their intent.
For example, let’s say that the B2B company or client you work for wants to know who searches for “customer retention”?
Well, SparkToro tells you that 5,000 to 6,000 people search for “customer retention” each month in the United States.
The tool also tells you that 52.6% are female, and 46.8% are male. Surprised?
They also visit websites like HelpScout.com and Userpilot.com, as well as search other keywords like “lifetime customer value formula” and “tools for customer success.”
Or, let’s say that the target audience that your B2C company or client wants to reach is a “nutritionist.”
The tool tells you that 15,000 people have “nutritionist” in their social media bios. The tool also tells you that 81.9% are female, and 174.3% are male.
They also visit websites like Cenegenics.com and CleanPlates.com. And they’re searching for keywords like “fat content of foods” and “how much eggs have protein.”
Finally, let’s say you’ve just started doing work for TheSill.com.
You could tell Eliza that 125,000 people globally visit TheSill.com each month.
And the audience located in the United States is 52.4% female, and 47.2% male.
This audience also visits BHG.com and FoodandWine.com, And they search for “how to clip plants” and “cheap tall plants.”
That’s why I think conducting audience research gives you a competitive advantage over keyword research when it comes to crafting more resonant, effective content.
It’s worth re-reading Google’s guidance on building high-quality sites published in 2011, following the first Panda algorithm change.
It’s also worth reading the Googe Search Center documentation for creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
If you have time, then it’s also worth checking out Leveraging YouTube, LinkedIn, And Cross-Channel Strategies For Success.
What will you learn from all this background reading? Content is still king.
And while AI may help you crank out content more efficiently, it still doesn’t create the high-quality, original content that readers crave and Google rewards.
However, it’s important to recognize that there are different perspectives on creating high-quality, original content.
Some experts are focused on increasing efficiency (doing things right), while others are focused on improving effectiveness (doing the right things).
Spoiler alert: I’m in the second camp, along with a lot of content marketers. But, a lot of senior executives, especially chief financial officers (CFOs), are in the first camp.
So, SEO marketers won’t be surprised when they read what Stephanie Stahl said: “Creating content that prompts a desired action isn’t easy.”
SEO professionals may feel a surge of empathetic pain when they read that the biggest challenge that 54% of B2B content creation teams face is “lack of resources.”
But, SEO pros may also feel a surge of hope when they read that Stahl also said, “a group of top performers has found a way to surge ahead. They’ve figured out how to understand their audience’s needs, produce high-quality content, and use AI to create more efficient workflows.”
So, how do the most successful content marketers differ from their less successful peers? Well, according to Stahl, top performers are more likely to:
But the factors that B2B top performers say contribute to their content marketing success are:
So, the debate between efficiency and effectiveness isn’t over. You don’t need to pick sides, but you should be aware that executives at your company are probably debating this topic, too.
I don’t need to tell SEO pros they need to build strong backlinks. I also don’t need to tell you that this is getting harder to do.
Back in 2002, all you needed to do was submit your URL to the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project (also known as DMOZ). But, both directories have since been shut down, with the Yahoo! Directory closing in 2014 and the Open Directory Project in 2017.
Meanwhile, Google’s Penguin algorithm update, which rolled out from 2012 to 2016, targeted link spam and manipulative link-building practices.
So, how do you build strong backlinks these days?
You can start by reading What Links Should You Build For A Natural Backlink Profile?
Or,  download “Link Building For SEO: A Complete Guide.”
Finally, read about how AI is transforming user experiences and influencing SEO rankings.
Every SEO I’ve met over the past 20 years knows how to evaluate the usability of webpages.
For any of the new SEO experts that I haven’t met yet, here’s what Google has to say about the usability of webpages:
“Our systems also consider the usability of content. When all things are relatively equal, content that people will find more accessible may perform better.”
Google adds:
“For example, our systems would look at page experience aspects, such as if content is mobile-friendly, so that those on mobile devices can easily view it. Similarly, they look to see if content loads quickly, also important to mobile users.”
Get it? Got it? Good.
It’s worth knowing that Sun Tzu also said, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.”
This quote reminds me of the scene from the superhero comedy film, Mystery Men (1999), where Mr. Furious says, “If you want to push something down, you have to pull it up. If you want to go left, you have to go right.”
But I must admit that the ancient Chinese military strategist is right. You need tactical advice as well as strategic insights to achieve your professional goals and advance in this field or industry.
In November 2003, Google surprised SEO professionals with its first major algorithm update. It was called the “Florida Update” because it hit the industry like a hurricane.
Since then, SEO pros have monitored Google’s algorithm updates and adjusted their strategies accordingly.
If you want to stay updated about algorithm changes, start by reading, Why & How To Track Google Algorithm Updates.
You’ll also want to implement schema markup to help search engines understand your content and display rich snippets.
If you don’t already know how to do that, then read What Is Schema Markup & Why Is It Important For SEO?
After you’ve done your homework, use tools like Google’s Schema Markup Testing Tool to test your structured data.
You already know that improving page load speed, interactivity, and visual stability enhance your user experience.
You can brush up on reading about page speed and Core Web Vitals.
It goes without saying that you need to use digital analytics tools to track and analyze your performance. But it’s well worth reading: Beyond Rankings and Beyond Pageviews.
SEO professionals need to have a seat at the table when digital marketing teams decide which events to turn into “key events” in GA4.
Why? So, we can go beyond tracking which default channel was the source of website traffic and begin measuring which channels are generating leads or driving online sales.
SEO marketers have been doing this for more than two decades. But it won’t hurt you to download the “State of SEO 2025.”
By following these strategic SEO insights and tactical advice, you can position yourself for success in the ever-evolving digital landscape – whether you remain at your current company or need to re-invent yourself at another one.
To close with another quote from Sun Tzu: “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Footnote:
¹ Sullivan, D. (2002, March 4-6). Search Engine Strategies 2003 [Conference Handbook (p. 42)]. Hilton Boston Park Plaza, MA, United States.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Buravleva stock/Shutterstock
Greg Jarboe is president of SEO-PR, which he co-founded with Jamie O’Donnell in 2003. Their digital marketing agency has won …
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Home » Digital Marketing » Digital Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide to Conquer Online Space
Many businesses struggle with traditional marketing practices. Conventional marketing strategies and campaigns lead to some extent of failure when brands don’t invest sufficient budget in their campaigns. Not every business can manage to invest high bucks in their marketing campaigns, and that’s where digital marketing completely dominates traditional marketing measures.
Digital marketing has enabled businesses to target a global audience by ensuring their international customers see and acknowledge their content and brand. With this, brands can get more in return for investing much less and can get more opportunities to scale and promote their brand on several digital platforms.
In today’s highly competitive world, it has become essential for businesses to take the necessary steps to stay ahead of the competition. One of these essential steps is to consider digital marketing.
Regardless of the industry you are in, digital marketing may benefit your business in many ways. In fact, it can make a difference to your success, especially if you combine it with traditional marketing. But why is digital marketing important?
Digital marketing is one of the reasons businesses are leaving traditional practices and going for a more convenient approach. Some of the benefits of digital marketing are as follows:
With digital marketing, brands have a clear overview and knowledge of how their certain campaigns and strategies are working. Unlike traditional marketing brands, which don’t have a clear view of how their campaigns are working and resonating with their prospects. However, with digital marketing, brands have access to different performance analytics tools to measure their website traffic, leads, and conversion rates.
Once you invest your money and time into your campaigns, you might like to know that they’re working. With digital marketing, it’s easier to track all of your campaigns, enabling you to drive better results and adapt to the latest trends.
If you’re using traditional digital marketing methods, it’s challenging to know your campaign’s results. If you’re running a TV ad, for instance, you might need to ask every person who may come into the store regarding what made them transact with your business. It’d be a time-consuming effort, which can also annoy those who visit your business.
By considering digital marketing, all of your campaigns can be easily tracked and you can also check the metrics like clicks and impressions. With such metrics, it’ll be hassle-free for you to know which campaigns work and which don’t for your business.
Traditional marketing includes radio, newspaper ads, and TV ads. Although publicity is good in such methods, they’re not that effective since only a few people listen to the radio, read ads in the newspapers, and watch ads on the TV.
Traditional marketing usually prevents users from reaching more areas and customer bases. After some time, brands feel a slump in their reach and usually face certain hurdles to reach their audience. Through digital marketing, brands have access to a global audience and can sell their services to customers living on the other side of the world.
Most of your competitors are already online, and so should you. Regardless of how big or what type of business you’re running, it’s important to incorporate digital marketing. The reason behind it is that every business can increase its presence over the internet, which may come in handy to beat your competitors and target your niche audience.
Running a business can be expensive, most particularly if you’re stuck with traditional marketing. Fortunately, with digital marketing solutions, marketing is more cost-effective.
If you’re on a budget and just getting started, you can quickly market yourself on a national, local, or global level without spending a lot of money. That’s why, for better results, small business owners use digital marketing to their advantage.
At present, some people earn cash just by uploading YouTube videos, taking online surveys, and writing blogs. So, if you don’t want to focus on your online business only, there are other ways to earn more.
Depending on your preferences, you may create videos that highlight your products or services on YouTube. Once you gain more subscribers and your views continue to increase, you’ll earn extra income in no time.
In the world of digital marketing, content writing is also popular. If you love writing articles on any topic under the sun, you can earn money from being a content writer. The fees for content writing services may vary from one client to another. It also differs from the type of content being requested by clients – it can be website content or blog articles. Thus, it’s crucial to determine which content you’re most comfortable with.
As years pass by, mobile transactions continue to increase. However, it isn’t just the actual selling and buying happening on mobile. Many people use their mobile devices as a type of augmented reality layered on a business. They look at product information and reviews while in your store. They also order online or communicate with customer support en route.
If you’re a business owner and you start integrating mobile experience with physical experience, your business will be able to benefit from many opportunities, like more exposure and better promotion.
With digital marketing, it’s easy to send alerts to your target audience about your current deals or offerings. They can easily find your physical store if they want to visit it through geo-location.
As with any kind of marketing, there’s an initial investment needed to get traffic flowing. However, the significance of digital marketing to small businesses becomes clearer once you see how easy it is to adapt and scale as your business grows.
For instance, through social media campaigns, search ads, and display ads, you may choose your daily budget. This will give you an idea of how much your campaign may cost you while being able to see results through analytics.
The good thing about digital marketing is that you can always make some changes to your campaigns and re-launch them without the need to start from scratch. With the data that you can easily access, you can make some fast changes to lessen lost revenues and wasted ad spending.
With digital marketing, it’s easy to target the individual level. This can be referred to as segmentation but there are times that marketers call it personalization.
Most consumers prefer businesses that use email to communicate with them. This is because it provides people a sense of control, making them more comfortable signing up for emails and purchasing from you. If they don’t love what you’re sending them, they’ll just unsubscribe.
However, if you send them content that’s relevant, they may stay on your list and continue purchasing over and over again. That’s why digital marketing can be beneficial if you want to get repeat lifetime customers.
There are some basic marketing tools that can let you add a customer’s contact details automatically to emails. With some digital marketing tools, like CRM, it’s easy to collect data about every email subscriber. You can use the data to subdivide your list based on particular behaviors or traits identified through analytics. Once divided, sending relevant content to a certain group of individuals can be done with ease.
Digital marketing also enables personalization that allows you to recognize your customers on an individual level. This means that you can quickly recommend the finest products to them since you already know their purchase history. You can also recognize the pages they visited on your website and what products are still in their cart.
This is why digital marketing is never hard to be personalized in accordance with your customer’s needs and business goals.
These days, most people read and focus on online reviews when finalizing their buying decisions. The reason behind this is that reviews allow them to have a better understanding of what the services or products do and how such products can benefit them.
In addition to that, more people do online searches instead of watching TV to discover trending items. There are also only a few people who still read magazines and newspapers. For this reason, having an online presence and taking advantage of digital marketing can make a difference. If you have a well-optimized website, it’ll be easily discovered by users whenever they look for relevant keywords.
The more integrated your company is with the online experience of your customers, the easier you’ll be able to grow your business. An online presence is essential to be relevant to your customers and that’s never impossible if you’ll incorporate digital marketing.
Nowadays, most people use the internet to check for certain things; like the history of a company and the reviews of the customers for particular products. If your business or brand is nowhere to be found online, you might have a hard time getting the attention of your target audience.
Another reason why digital marketing matters is that your online presence will increase, which may also help you gain the trust of your customers. With this kind of marketing, it streamlines your business like having your own website or accounts on social media platforms.
Through your online presence, your audience or potential customers will have the convenience when they’re getting to know your business and the products or services you’re offering. This may also improve your company’s credibility and give your customers the confidence to purchase your offerings.
Digital marketing helps businesses find their ideal prospects with detailed data analysis. With this, brands can get detailed analyses and records of their marketing campaigns. These data analogies and responses on certain data sets give marketers a complete overview of how their strategies and campaigns are working. This gives them ideas on how to customize their strategies for various customer segments.
If you want to make it big in the industry, you need solid marketing services. However, with the constantly evolving digital world, things are rapidly changing and it’s difficult to say what works. This brings me to the dictum “The more things change, the more they remain the same”.
And in our world, this means that the staple digital channels you use to market your product and build your brand will continue to be what we’ve outlined below. Of course, the techniques have changed – Google has changed its algorithm to weed out weak content, Facebook does more algorithm-based newsfeeds than curated ones, and social media sites have updated themselves to remove spammy links. Each platform is progressing, but the set of platforms is still largely the same.
However, like any other method of marketing, it is crucial to comprehend how digital marketing works, and how it can be implemented to grow your business. In order to get maximum results from digital marketing, any business needs to keep the following points in mind:
If you’re not using the best expertise available for leveraging these channels, you’re making a huge mistake. So, here we go – some of the main pillars of digital marketing are:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) optimizes the website to ensure its content and priority pages rank on top of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Google differentiates high-performing content from low-performing content with the help of algorithms. These algorithms look for several things on a page that has content.
Google updates these algorithms frequently, and to adapt to these changes, business owners need to change their SEO strategies to compete with the competition. If done correctly, SEO can take your website to the first search engine results page, bringing you heaps of organic traffic.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is evolving rapidly in the digital marketing field. It is a kind of internet marketing in which the promotion of websites is done by increasing visibility in SERPs using paid advertising. Any digital marketer can adjust or rewrite content and site architecture to attain a higher ranking in search engine results pages. Additionally, it also boosts pay-per-click (PPC) listings. We will discuss some of them later in this article.
A well-structured strategy usually involves:
SEO specialists handle all the elements that boost the odds of businesses securing top results and matching search engine queries. They enhance their content quality, optimization, and link-building strategies to improve their website authority and forge their authentic and trustful presence among industrial competitors.
Content marketing is all about creating narratives that resonate with customers and strike an emotional cord with global prospects. Content marketing is a major entity of digital marketing. It works in the lead generation process and aims to convert prospects into leads and ultimately customers.
Your customers are hungry for information that either solves their problems or tells them how to fulfill their desires. If your business gives them what they need through high-quality and engaging content, you can gain their confidence. In a case like this, your business will take on the authoritative position, and you’re going to be the customer’s priority – and that’s what content marketing is all about.
Whether it’s a product listing or a Shopify review, content marketing aims to answer questions and provide truly valuable information. This can either be done through blogs, emails, social media, or various other channels. There are also different formats for push notifications, mobile devices, and applications.
Every channel may require a specific format. Moreover, you can also achieve your business’s marketing goals through different kinds of content like:
Content marketing plays a massive part in covering the funnel strategies and adds immense value to a brand’s online reputation. They manage to bring prospects from the decision stage to the consideration stage and end their journey as a customer with the action stage. Some of the content forms used in this are blogs, whitepapers, ebooks, videos, and infographics. Also, you can try all the unconventional ways.
Here’s a breakdown of the key elements: Here’s a breakdown of the key elements:
All in all, content marketing is more about building a relationship with your customers rather than selling products directly. This way, you would be able to create a loyal community of followers and thus establish long-term relationships that translate into business success.
Social media marketing allows small and big size companies to promote their product on different social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Businesses practice their online reputation management by creating online communities, social conversations, and social feedback.
Social platforms create a cohesive brand strategy to create their thought leadership and develop a professional resonance with customers. Here’s a breakdown of what Social Media Marketing involves:
Social Media Marketing is an ever-growing and ever-changing field which means that any business using Social Media Marketing for their marketing needs has to ensure they practice with relative efficiency and relevancy.
Just like SEO, you can post content on social media or create advertisements for free, but in both cases, it is imperative to choose a suitable channel for the content you’re posting. Every channel caters to a different segment of the audience and requires a different voice.
If your content connects with the channel you’ve decided to post on, you get the chance to interact with your audience. This is a prominent benefit of social media. With help from SMM, brands can often gain credibility or validation when their content starts to gain recognition. Moreover, you can also use different social networks to communicate with your audience directly. But to do that, it’s essential to keep your communication efforts personalized.
Emails were born in the 70’s! After more than 35 years, they are still a popular source of communication – in fact, the main source of communication for many businesses. Online businesses generally depend on emails, and email marketing is among the most efficient methods of online marketing.
Email marketing allows brands to conduct their inbound and outbound marketing activities flawlessly. It gives businesses a direct line of communication with customers and serves as a crucial element in growth marketing. With them, brands can solidify their relations with new and existing customers by providing them weekly updates and insights from newsletters and leading nurturing campaigns.
If a person visits your website, they must get a notification inviting them to your email subscriber list. Once they consent, you can send them emails about events, product releases, or annual sales. Often, the potential of email marketing is underestimated. According to research, for every dollar spent on email marketing, businesses get a return of $40, given they’ve applied suitable strategies.
That said, the most important element of this channel is value. Offer your email subscribers list deals that they wouldn’t receive on any other channel. Once your subscribers start to understand the benefits of the subscription list, your email marketing efforts will become a lot more effective.
Some of the common campaigns of email marketing are:
Pay-per-click or PPC is when people use search engines like Bing and Google for advertisements. One way of taking the top spot on the search engine results page is by paying for that slot. The reason it’s called pay-per-click is simple. Every time a person clicks on your ad, your ad account is charged. The cost of each ad slot, commonly referred to as CPC, depends on the quality score of your website and the keywords you use for your PPC strategy.
While SEO can promise long-term brand value, PPC excels when a brand is trying to achieve immediate results. PPC campaigns can be useful if a business is looking for a short-term solution, and several businesses use them for seasonal sales to boost their revenue. There are four spots for PPC on the first SERP, so getting your website selected for a keyword is a challenge.
One of the exciting channels making a lot of buzz in the digital marketing arena is Affiliate Marketing. It is a commission-based form of marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for every visitor or customer brought by the marketing efforts of the affiliate. You can get in touch with influential bloggers, shopping websites, or forum sites to promote your business.
Both affiliate and influencer marketing utilize people in positions of power, whether social media influencers, corporate leaders, or professional athletes. Their efforts can assist you in marketing a product or a service to the relevant target market. Over the recent years, it has become increasingly popular because of websites like YouTube and Instagram.
Collaborations can give customers discount codes, prize draws, and several other prizes on platforms like these. However, all of this depends on the influencer creating sufficient buzz around your product.
We’ve all seen viral videos online. Well, for some companies, even these videos are a way of marketing their offerings. Whether they’re teaming up with a famous content creator or promoting their product themselves, the idea behind viral marketing is to create something share-worthy.
A viral image or a video aims to promote something indirectly, and it’s not too hard to execute. The efforts of marketers rely on subliminal messaging.
Globalization and technology have made it possible for every person to carry mobile devices with them. The mobile market has a lot of potential as it reaches out to large masses and Instant results can be obtained. SMS, MMS, and Push Notifications are examples of mobile marketing. However, SMS marketing is quite popular in Europe and Asia.
Sending SMS messages is a sure way that your message will be opened and read. It is the best form of mobile marketing and is a tried and tested way of engaging your customers and keeping them interested in your products. Creating an app and activating push notifications is a direct way to interact with your customers. You can get geofencing and target a specific section of customers. Through mobile marketing, you can send messages about the latest product launches, discounts, deals, and coupons, and generate persuasive content that will be eye-catching.
With the rising use of mobile devices, a number of shoppers use their phones for shopping purposes. You can reach these users effectively via mobile advertising campaigns and targeted ads. There are users who prefer using their phones instead of computers for searching purposes. There are several native ad formats that are tuned and tweaked for various platforms.
With the now-famous AdBlocker technology, native formats stand at an advantage and can deliver a great experience to the user. Consumers in the US spend $9 trillion based on what they see and learn from advertising, so this is a space that will be hotly contested for years to come.
Digital marketers have started to target those who are repeatedly watching YouTube videos. Millions watch YouTube videos to look for a particular product or find out how customers have reviewed a product online. Not only these, but visitors to YouTube also watch how-to videos, entertainment videos, educational videos, and so many others.
These viewers are a large market for digital marketers who know that they watch videos before purchasing a product. Targeting these audiences with the right video content and demographics data analytics is the key to video marketing campaigns and video content creation.
Cross-channel marketing is the latest trend that digital marketing teams are focusing on right now. They are incorporating television ads that stream during a television program or a live sports event. They use consumer data and demographic analytics tools to gather trends in consumer tastes and preferences, and target ads to be shown to that particular segment of the audience.
An increase in OTT platforms and on-demand TV has its audience, and if they watch an ad on TV, they invariably know that they will also watch it while browsing on the internet and it might just appear while they are using their social media. Targeting an audience with intelligent data targeting methods enables digital marketing agencies to create targeted TV ads that create immediate impact when aired.
It may be old, but with mushrooming radio stations everywhere, radio advertising also has turned into a digital marketing campaign tool. Radio advertising is very vocal. An announcer or RJ simply narrates a script or a written promotion of a product in his or her unique style at the beginning, middle, or end of a broadcast. Indirectly also, radio advertising helps, as each radio station is available over the internet, and listeners can just search it and find the radio station.
Radio stations have become a digital medium also. Digital marketers have started to target audiences here too. Radio commercials have started to target a specific audience depending on location and region. Demographic data such as gender and age have become crucial factors in creating radio commercial content. Ads are also made for premium and non-premium users. Such audio streaming platforms are ideal for radio ad commercials to target a particular group of people and showcase their products based on their requirements.
Outdoor media advertising may seem odd in this digital age of mobile screens. Some may argue that people hardly notice outdoor LED signs and billboards. They are busy watching their social media accounts and browsing the internet. But location is key here. If the billboard is interactive and digital and placed at a location that can attract instant attention, then it pays to invest in billboards as a digital marketing tool.
Shopping supermarkets, malls, and stores are the best places to place a digital signage billboard. Nowadays, even interactive signages can be seen at shopping malls, guiding customers to various shops and giving directions. But even on busy roads, they can be most effective, especially if they are bright and eye-catching. Festive season and events are the best time of the year to invest in digital signage and billboard advertising and it is the right ploy for digital marketers to get the message through to the end-users.
Digital marketing is evolving with innovations in science and technology. Making use of the phenomenal power of Virtual Reality, brands are using it as a tool to increase awareness about their products and services. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality create an immersive visual experience for consumers. It changes their whole perception of how they view a particular product and creates a new image of that product.
Digital marketing professionals can use these two technological innovations to make a brand image that’s everlasting and impactful. It is yet to take off in a big way, and the costs are staggering too. However, it does not deter marketers who are on the lookout for new ways to market their products and establish their brand in the minds of the consumers.
How do you remember a company today? More often than not, with its website. It’s the first thing that draws people towards your website. Even if you have the right SEO and content, if your web design is tacky and puts users off, you can’t expect a lot of conversions. There are, believe it or not, over 980 million websites in the world today. When there are a couple of billion people accessing the internet, cutting through the clutter asks for a great website!
Web analytics is an emerging tool in the whole Digital Marketing domain. It can be described as the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data for business and market research. Google Analytics is widely used these days to improve the effectiveness of a website. Additionally, you can track information such as user location, type of browser being used for browsing, and time spent on a website using any analytics tool.
Digital marketing is the ultimate weapon for businesses struggling to grow their influence and impact. Digital marketing covers various aspects of digital media and channels that give them diverse options to target their ideal customers.
To conclude, digital marketing is the only solution for businesses that need more revenue at low investment costs. Most importantly, the acquisition of the web can be achieved by identifying the public, having clear objectives, and constantly assessing the environment.
Utilize analyses to evolve your practice, make adjustments, and test out new methods to be at par with the market changes. Always bear in mind that digital marketing is a continuous process and a learning phase whereby marketers have to search for new techniques in marketing their products.
Finally, it is very important to stress that, like all other forms of marketing, digital marketing requires detailed planning, creative idea implementation, and account analysis. In this way being flexible and adaptive to the new trends among the consumers and with the help of new technologies, you will be able to create a strong image of the business in the digital world.
ADOPT these principles and you will be well on the way to meeting your marketing objectives and thus occupying the right strategic position in the online universe.
HERO
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This edited extract is from Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach  edited by Aleksej Heinze, Gordon Fletcher, Ana Cruz, Alex Fenton ©2024 and is reproduced with permission from Routledge. The extract below was taken from the chapter Using Search Engine Optimisation to Build Trust co-authored with Aleksej Heinze, Senior Professor at KEDGE Business School, France.
The key challenge for SEO is that good rankings in SERPs are almost entirely based on each search engine’s private algorithm for identifying high-quality content and results, which is a long-term activity.
The initial formula of PageRank (Page et al. 1999) used by Google, which used links pointing to a page to rank its importance, has evolved significantly and is no longer publicly available.
All search engines regularly update their algorithms to identify high-quality, relevant content to a particular search query. Google implements around 500 – 600 changes to its algorithm each year (Gillespie 2019).
These are product updates, similar to Windows updates. Most of these changes are minor with little impact, but a few critical core updates each year will require careful review on the majority of websites since they can result in major SERP changes.
Search engines are using artificial intelligence to improve their technology to enable them to identify high-quality, relevant content and are constantly testing new ways to present users with relevant content.
The arrival of ChatGPT by Open AI in 2022 presents a rival type of offering that has shaken the foundations of the traditional search engine business model (Poola 2023).
In such a dynamic environment, it is important to keep up to date with algorithm changes.
This can be done by following the Google Search Status dashboard (Google) and SEO-related blog posts and monitoring, including the MOZ algorithm change calendar (Moz).
In essence, a search engine’s crawler, spider, robot or ‘bot’ discovers web page links, and then internally determines if there is value in analysing the links.
Then, the bot automatically retrieves the content behind each link (including more links). This process is called crawling.
Bots may then add the discovered pages to the search engines’s index to be retrieved when a user searches for something.
The ranking order in which the links appear in SERPs is calculated by the engine’s algorithm, which examines the relevance of the content to the query.
This relevance is determined by a combination of over 200 factors such as the visible text, keywords, the position and relationship of words, links, synonyms and semantic entities (Garg 2022).
When the user of a search engine types in a query, they are presented with a list of links to content that the engine calculates will satisfy the intent of the query – the list of results is the SERP.
Typically, the list of results that are shown in SERPs includes a mix of paid-for and organic results. Each link includes a short URL, title and description, as well as other options such as thumbnail images, videos and other related internal site links.
Search engines are constantly making changes to SERPs to improve the experience for those searching. For example, Bing includes Bing Chat, allowing responses to be offered by their AI bot.
Google introduced a knowledge graph or a summary answer box, found underneath the search box on the right of the organic search results.
The Bing Chat as well as Google knowledge graph provide a direct and relevant summary response to a query without the need for a further click to the source page (and retaining the user at the search engine).
This offering leads to so-called 0-click searches, which cannot be tracked in the data relating to a digital presence and are only seen in data that relates content visibility to SERPs.
Some Google SERP snippets can also appear as a knowledge graph (Figure 12.8) or a search snippet (Figure 12.9).
The volatility of the SERPs can be evidenced by the varying results produced by the same search in different locations.
The listing for the US market (Figure 12.10) and carousel for the European market (Figure 12.11) for “best DJs” shows that geolocation increasingly comes into play in the page ranking of SERPs.
Personalisation is also relevant. For example, when a user is logged into a Google product, their browser history influences the organic SERPs. SERPs change depending on what terms are used.
This means a pluralised term produces different SERPs to searches that use the singular term.
Tools, such as those offered by Semrush, include functionality to quickly identify this form of volatility and understand sectors that are being affected by changes.
Recent innovations by Google include the search generative experience (SGE) currently being tested in the US market. This is a different search experience that is more visual and uses artificial intelligence.
The 2015 introduction of RankBrain and other algorithms means that Google now better understands human language and context.
Industry publications, including Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Land, keep pace with this dynamic landscape.
Identification of the most relevant search terms is the starting point for developing a website map and themes for content.
The search terms will also define the focus for individual pages and blog posts. This approach has a focus on the technical/on-page, content, and off-page aspects of the website.
Any SEO activity begins with prior knowledge of the organisation, including its objectives and targets as well as the persona that has been defined.
The initial phase of optimising a website for Google search involves:
SEO plays a critical role in enhancing an organisation’s digital presence, and the dynamic nature of search engine algorithms provides a way to address the immediate pain touchpoints of a persona.
This focused around the imperative for organisations to offer content that not only resonates with a persona’s needs but also aligns with the evolving criteria of search engines like Google, Baidu or Bing.
This latter alignment is crucial given the stakeholder tendency to focus only on the first SERP. It is important to adhere to ethical SEO practices employing ‘White Hat SEO’ tactics that comply with search engine guidelines, as opposed to more manipulative techniques.
There is a need for continuous monitoring and reviewing of any SEO activities.
Frequently changing search engine algorithms, which now heavily incorporate AI and machine learning, means that a campaign’s parameters can change quickly. SEO is not a “set and forget” activity.
Staying informed and adapting to these changes is essential for maintaining and improving search engine rankings.
The environmental impact of digital activities should also be a consideration in SEO and wider marketing practices, optimising websites not only aligns with SEO best practices but also contributes to sustainability.
Search engines offer marketers one of the largest big data sets available to refine and target their content creation activities.
Historic search behaviours are good predictors of the future, and the use of these resources helps marketers to optimise and be better placed to offer value to their persona.
To read the book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 20% discount until the end of 2024 using the code DSMM24 at Routledge.
The book officially launches on October 7 2024 and you can attend the event with a chance to hear from some of the authors by registering through this link.
More resources:
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Large AI Overviews on SERPs are affecting visibility and causing a dramatic decrease in traffic.
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Large AI Overviews on SERPs are affecting visibility and causing a dramatic decrease in traffic.
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Large AI Overviews on SERPs are affecting visibility and causing a dramatic decrease in traffic.
The best practicing SEO professionals tell us what they think are the best areas to focus on for SEO in 2025 and how to adapt as search is changing
This year continued with the same theme as the year before – a bombardment of updates and rapid developments in AI.
AI Overviews were introduced in May, which then saw a drop in organic traffic alongside major drops from Google updates.
It’s not been an easy year in SEO.
Whereas last year was considering how AI tools could be leveraged to augment our work, this year has been the acceptance that Google SERPs are changing and not delivering the same levels of organic traffic as before.
This introduction of AIO and the uncertainty of Google organic traffic has accelerated the move towards SEO becoming “marketing.”
Moving forward, SEO is now as much about branding and marketing as it is about what we used to know about SEO.
To make this transition, everything that you were doing in SEO needs to be reconsidered. The future of online marketing will involve being found in generative AI apps, AI-powered search engines, social media, forums, and communities.
The bottom line is that SEO is now marketing, and that could be challenging for anyone who holds on to a one-dimensional SEO mindset.
As is our tradition this time of year, we turned to some of the best minds in the industry to get their thoughts on where the industry is going and what might happen next.
We asked 22 of the best practicing SEO professionals: In your expert opinion, what should SEO pros focus on in 2025 to maintain visibility and get results?
Jono Alderson, Consultant at Jono Alderson
Make 2025 the year you actually optimize your website. Forget shiny new toys and focus on the fundamentals.
Fix your errors. Make it faster. Make it more accessible. Improve the UX. Correct the typos. Redirect the broken links. Clean up the mess.
And while you’re at it, trim the fat. Remove the zombie pages that nobody visits. Prune your bloated navigation. Consolidate duplicate content.
Fix those annoying forms that never seem to work. Make your images smaller. Stop auto-playing videos. Test your site on a cheap phone on bad Wi-Fi and see how frustrating it is. Then fix that, too.
SEO professionals are so busy chasing trends, tweaking metadata, and begging for backlinks that we’ve lost sight of what really matters: creating a website that works beautifully for users.
A faster, simpler, cleaner site isn’t just better for people – it’s better for search engines, too. Do the unglamorous work. Google notices, and so does the market.
Arnout Hellemans, Consultant at Online Market Think
Here are a few tips for SEO pros to focus on in 2025:
Stop focussing on keywords and shift to user intent. Look at SERPs into all the questions users have.
Check the People Also Ask (PAA) features and check if your article satisfies that intent on the page.
Focus more on the UX (usability, site speed).
If you want to get traffic from other AI discovery engines, check your website without JavaScript. You can use SSR or pre-render your webpages, so that other crawlers can consume your content too.
Ryan Jones, Senior Vice President at Razorfish
2025 will be the year when we finally treat SEO like full-funnel marketing. 
SEO pros will have to move beyond just measuring clicks and start considering awareness and upper funnel metrics as users less frequently desire websites in favor of AI, instant answers, and other search features. 
SEO pros will still be needed to help influence these features and ensure brands show up, but we’ll have to focus on user intents – the queries where users want to do or accomplish something – over high search volumes.
Mark Williams-Cook, Digital Marketing Director at Candour
Over the past 20 years, we’ve consistently seen Google take steps to keep users on their SERP, as it’s more profitable for them.
In its Q3 announcement, it revealed a 90% reduction in the cost of generating AIOs, signaling even more aggressive deployment of these and AI-organized results in ecommerce.
This likely means a decline in traffic to “solved” knowledge and informational spaces – though that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the web (how many lasagna recipes does humanity really need?).
On the other hand, we can expect increased traffic from sources like Google Discover and Lens, particularly for non-text content such as video.
I believe those who rely solely on GenAI to generate content directly from LLMs will struggle.
However, those leveraging LLMs to enhance original material – such as generating transcriptions from video—are positioned to benefit, as this top-down approach now feels even more strategically aligned with current trends.
In 2025, I am going to be encouraging clients to start with video-first content and work backwards, with a special focus on Discover and Lens search, which has now been integrated.
Miriam Ellis, Consultant at Miriam Ellis Consulting
A trend to pay particular interest to in 2025 is the diversity of digital platforms to which your potential customers may be going for local business information and recommendations.
2024 has seen many developments that may not be increasing searcher satisfaction, such as the rise of AI Overviews, which can’t be relied on for factual information, and a growing sense that Google search has become less skilled at intent matching.
I’ve fielded sentiment from a range of users encompassing some of the best SEO pros in the world to everyday searchers stating that it’s simply harder than it used to be for them to find what they’re looking for in Google.
While all the traditional SEO and local SEO skills and work remain relevant, diversifying your picture of where your community might be spending time online will be smart work for the year ahead.
In the U.S., we’ve reached a state in which half our counties no longer have access to local news, so people looking for trustworthy, authentic communications about their community will have to look elsewhere. This could include the big social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but don’t stop there.
I recommend taking a very good look at Discord to see if it has become a community hub, or if you could turn it into one to increase your neighbors’ awareness of your brand taking an active role in your town or city. YouTube, Reddit, and hyperlocal podcasts are also very strong candidates for contributing to community life.
In summary, while normal SERP visibility will still be essential to your marketing strategy, be sure you’re studying consumers’ shifting behaviors so you can learn to be present wherever they feel information can be trusted.
Motoko Hunt, Founder & President at International SEO & SEM Consulting
Many SEO pros have been focusing so much on content generation in recent years, especially in 2024 with the help of AI.
It’s time to better organize generated content based on the target audience’s intent and business goals.
By organizing and structuring the content hierarchy, you can touch searchers at each stage of their journey and influence their decision-making.
You should also update the content as needed. You want your content to stand out in the sea of similar content out there. Make sure that your content adds value.
With this, the content will not just generate traffic but will contribute to the business growth.
John Shehata, CEO & Founder at NewzDash and Former Global VP of Audience Strategy at Conde Nast
I believe these key areas will be crucial for SEO success in 2025:
Google’s emphasis on experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness will be even more critical.
SEO pros need to build Author Authority by showcasing expert credentials and first-hand experience, and digital and social footprint, especially in niches like health and finance (think doctor bios with links to publications).
Strong Domain Authority still relies on high-quality backlinks, but focus on those that drive traffic.
For Document Authority, create in-depth, entity-focused content that satisfies user intent better than competitors. Think comprehensive guides with clear attribution and original research.
AI is transforming search. Optimize for AI-generated answers by structuring content around topics and entities.
For example, instead of just targeting “best running shoes,” create content around “best running shoes for trail running” and “best running shoes for flat feet.”
Use AI tools to scale – not to write – content creation, but maintain a human touch for quality and originality. Think of AI as a research assistant and editor, not a replacement for your own expertise.
Expect fewer Google clicks with all the new SERP updates, and don’t put all your eggs in the Google basket.
Explore alternative traffic sources like Threads, Reddit, newsletters, and even push notifications.
A diversified approach makes you less vulnerable to algorithm updates and opens up new audience streams.
Stay informed about algorithm updates and adjust your strategies accordingly. Pay close attention to user behavior on your website to identify areas for improvement.
Tools like heatmaps and scroll maps can provide valuable insights.
Kevin Indig, Growth Advisor and publisher of The Growth Memo 
In my opinion, the big question is, “What is the story of your brand in an LLM world?”
Track sales/revenue/leads from LLM referral traffic like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc. See if this could become meaningful when extrapolating the trend from the last six months out over the next two years.
If so, you want to invest in technical SEO to make crawling easier and create more structured content (like Q&A style content) to be more present in LLMs.
Jes Scholz, Marketing Consultant at JesScholz Consulting
The Bing index powers ChatGPT (and thus will be integrated into Siri), as well as Microsoft Copilot and many answers of Meta AI.
It’s also leveraged by smaller search engines, including Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia.
While other players, like Perplexity, aim to build their own index, it’s clear that index licensing will become increasingly important as the search landscape diversifies.
This means SEO marketers need to expand their focus beyond Google from an indexing perspective.
Now is the time to revisit Bing Webmaster Tools. Conduct a content audit using XML sitemaps for each page type to compare indexing rates on Bing versus Google.
If either search engine is missing valuable content, prioritize crawling and indexing optimization.
Because no matter the surface – whether it’s in traditional SERPs, AI-powered SERPs, chatbots, Google Discover, Google Shopping, or elsewhere – if your content isn’t indexed, you have no chance to earn visibility.
Glen Allsopp, Fonder at Gaps.com
One recommendation I have for 2025 is to actively study as many of the main search results you’re trying to rank in, see what Google is rewarding, and look to get involved in those sources.
Bear with me – it gets better.
Besides traditional service or shopping pages, there’s a good chance you’ll also see:
While a simplified goal of SEO is to get more targeted search traffic to your own website, you shouldn’t ignore the possibility of getting more exposure via creating videos, being involved in relevant Reddit communities, and so on.
One of the most effective things I’ve done is build relationships with other well-ranking sites in relevant industries. Even better if you’re in the same space but don’t compete on the end product you’re selling.
You would be surprised how open people are to also cover your product, service, or content when they get to connect with a human who actually cares about what they’re working on.
It’s far from the most important or only thing you should be doing, of course, but it’s always good to expand your marketing horizons.
Andrea Volpini, CEO and Co-Founder of Wordlift
SEO professionals and marketers should optimize for both human and AI audiences, particularly large language models (LLMs).
LLMs excel at processing structured, concise text but often struggle with complex, visually rich websites.
Providing clear, organized, and dense content – such as markdown files or LLM-specific resources like /llms.txt – helps LLMs better understand and represent your brand to users.
Structured data remains essential for search visibility and enhancing AI-driven customer experiences. It enables training models, improving content suggestions, and supporting advanced features like conversational search.
Understanding how LLMs function is equally critical. These models can be interpreted through monosemanticity – the ability to extract precise, entity-like features from their deep neural networks.
SEO pros should focus on creating clear, entity-rich content and evaluating how these entities align with openly distributed models.
Building and enriching Knowledge Graphs with well-defined entities is key. This approach ensures LLMs can effectively contextualize your content, unlocking new optimization opportunities and improving both AI and human experiences.
Mordy Oberstein, Founder of Unify Brand Marketing
Let’s define “maximum visibility” for a second. Do we mean as many eyeballs as possible as quickly as possible? If so, I have no tips for you.
On the other hand, if we mean being visible as much as possible in as meaningful a way as possible, then I have one tip for you: Sit and sync with comms.
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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).
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.
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.
Integrating SEO into product and development workflows, highlighting the importance of SEO as a core component rather than a marketing afterthought.
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.
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
Shelley Walsh is the Content & SEO Strategist at SEJ & produces IMHO, a show where experts offer their opinions …
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