Even though Google still drives the largest share of web traffic in most regions, SEO is no longer what we know it to be. Of course, billions of people still use the internet to find answers to their questions, but now, the way has changed. And this is why, as a marketer, you need to stay updated so you don’t lose your relevance.
From the launch of new SEO tools to Google rolling out 12-plus algorithm changes daily, this sector is really changing. We haven’t even mentioned how generative AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming key players in search engine optimization.
In fact, it’s actually becoming more about search everywhere optimization than search engine optimization. But that doesn’t mean SEO is dead in 2025, and reading this article will help you discover the changes affecting it.
As much as Google does not share its search volume data, approximations by HubSpot place it at more than 22 billion daily searches. The search engine meets this need by indexing more than 80 billion websites, which have approximately 400 billion documents (which is expected to increase). By relying on a finely honed algorithm that depends on numerous ranking factors, the engine knows how to display search results.
Surprisingly, these are the very same factors that make up SEO. And while most of them might remain an important part of SEO going forward, you want to keep a close watch on emerging trends to avoid missing out. For instance, Google recently shifted toward becoming an answer engine after rolling out AI overviews in 2024. This innovation uses AI to gather information from numerous sources to provide concise answers to users’ queries.
A good number of individuals have actually been led to think that SEO could die because of such improvements. Generally, the top three positions in the search results perform better than lower positions. According to SmartInsights, these positions have a double-digit click-through rate compared to lower positions, which explains why Google is steadily shifting to a ‘zero-click’ search experience.
Already, snippets and answer boxes provide concise information on the SERP without users needing to click through websites. Think of it as a user finding comprehensive and satisfactory information without clicking on a website.
Given that finding the right information can be a hassle for internet users, many may prefer this trend. As a result, it could cause organic clicks to reduce by 18-64% for affected queries, as some experts suggest. To align with this shift, businesses may start focusing on positioning their content to be included in these AI overviews rather than just ranking for blue links.
Can you imagine that, since March 2015, Google’s market share dropped below 90% for the first time in October 2024? And this is minus data from chatbots and LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI, highlighting how users are steadily turning to Google alternatives to find answers to their queries.
LLMs, for instance, boast conversation interactions that Google does not offer. You can now ask these AI tools questions in natural language and get very coherent answers. Plus, they are pretty direct, as you don’t have to read through multiple web pages to get synthesized responses. On top of that, LLMs allow users to perform numerous tasks like writing, coding and analysis.
But surprisingly, Google’s traffic grew by about 1.4% between May 2023 and May 2024 amid the rising popularity of these AI tools. One way it’s probably used to keep up with LLM alternatives is by implementing AI overviews. However, the ability to ask follow-up questions and find quick responses without ads still gives ChatGPT and other LLMs the edge.
UGC has become another popular way of driving organic traffic and increasing sales. In fact, studies predict that it could drive up to 80% of SEO-enhancing content by 2030, so you don’t want to ignore it. According to backlinko.com, more than nine in ten marketers who use it claim it outperforms traditional branded content by a long way. And about 60% of consumers think that UGC is the most authentic form of marketing content.
Reddit and other platforms like Quora have been taking advantage of Google’s continued efforts to rank user-focused content. Just recently, Exploding Topics released a report claiming that Reddit’s organic search has increased by 603.4% since mid-2023. Quora, on the other hand, saw its traffic surge by 379.33% within the same duration.
With the rising popularity of AI-generated content on the internet, people are increasingly shifting to these platforms because they want to read and interact more with human-generated content. And it’s on these platforms that they can find real-life insights and recommendations.
From this discussion, it is quite clear that SEO as it was in 2015 has actually died. Especially now that people are becoming fast-paced, the need to find satisfactory and concise information quickly has become very apparent.
And this is what gives LLMs like ChatGPT an edge over Google. At least with ChatGPT, you can have a conversation search experience and find exhaustive answers without dealing with ads.
However, to cater to this need for quick access to comprehensive information, Google recently launched AI overviews. But these have caused a lot of commotion among marketers since some experts believe they might negatively affect click-through rates. With all these things going on, you want to keep a close eye on this sector to avoid missing out on important trends.
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