SEO Pros’ Predictions for Search in 2025

For our upcoming guide to SEO trends in 2025, we asked SEO professionals around the globe about the topics that are top-of-mind for search engine optimizers as we head into the new year. Here’s what they had to say.

 

Key Takeaways: What SEO Trends are Top-of-Mind for 2025?

• The growing impact of AI and LLMs on online search was mentioned more often than any other SEO topic. 
• The role of SEO professionals is expanding alongside changes in how (and where) people search for information online.  
• SEOs are developing new skills and learning new tools to support their roles’ expanding responsibilities. This may include learning how to use new AI tools to build efficiencies into SEO workflows, learning how to optimize for brand inclusion in ChatGPT and other LLM responses, addressing more technical website factors like site speed and Core Web Vitals, strengthening your structured data/schema markup skills, potentially becoming the go-to people for social search optimizations, and understanding how to optimize for evolving multimodal search capabilities (like image, video, and voice search). 

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Anne Berlin’s SEO Predictions for 2025:

1. SEOs’ focus will become divided alongside expanded responsibilities — In addition to their core traditional SEO tasks, SEO professionals will need to develop new skills and learn new tools for an expanded remit, including for  ‘GEO’ – or generative engine optimization.
2. There is potential for a dramatic disruption in how people search (and potentially dramatic traffic losses) — Will 2025 be the year that another neologism for search takes its place alongside the phrase ‘to google’?
3. There will be a renewed interest in data privacy in both search and application data, which may lead to challenges in traffic attribution.

— Anne Berlin, Lead Product Strategist & Senior Technical SEO @ Lumar  

 

Sara Moccand-Sayegh’s SEO Predictions for 2025:

1. SEO will increasingly focus on Digital Brand Optimization for generative (AI) search.
2. SEOs will increasingly use vectors to automate tasks like website redirects. Thanks to AI, we can leverage vectors to capture the semantic meaning of content. By embedding content into vector space, we gain a deeper understanding of contextual similarities between pieces of content, enabling us to automate complex tasks, such as large-scale website migrations.
3. SEOs will increasingly enhance technical SEO aspects like structured data, site architecture, and accessibility to feed machines with a more structured website.

— Sara Moccand-Sayegh, SEO Team Lead @ BlueGlass  

 

Taryn Taylor: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. Ranking for Google AI Overviews. 
2. More enhancements and development with measurement tools regarding AI.
3. More focus and enhancements in Core Web Vitals.

— Taryn Taylor, SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant

 

Chris Spann: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. AI-powered and AI-augmented search — Whether or not it’s a long-term change, we will have to wait and see.
2. Google will increasingly become the playground of large brands, forcing smaller businesses back to social search.
3. Large websites will continue to find indexation a challenge.

— Chris Spann, Host of the Human-First Digital Podcast & Senior Technical SEO @ Lumar

 

Natasha Burtenshaw-deVries’ SEO Predictions for 2025:

1. There will be an increased focus on quality over quantity in content output.
2. Generative AI will intensify challenges in SEO hiring and talent development.
3. SEOs must develop a holistic and user-centric approach to their work. 

— Natasha Burtenshaw-deVries, Director of Organic Growth at Flywheel Digital, Marketing Instructor, and Speaker

Chris Steele’s SEO Predictions for 2025:

1. SEO tasks will be automated and scaled using AI — This is already happening, but it will increase exponentially in 2025
2. Enterprise-level sites will begin to shrink and shift their strategy from content creation at scale to continuously updating and optimizing top-performing pages. 
3. Google will add more SERP features, making the standard organic positioning even more obsolete.  

— Chris Steele, Senior Technical SEO at Lumar

 

Myriam Jessier: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. Image optimization – Multimodal search is putting images front and center. 
2. Content experience design – We move away from dark content patterns.
3. Trend analysis – Advocating for meaningful metrics and directional reporting

— Myriam Jessier, Marketing Consultant & Corporate Trainer @ Neurospicy Agency

 

Christine L. Brady: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. Structured data
2. AI optimizations
3. The expanding scope of SEO responsibilities 

— Christine L. Brady, Senior SEO Manager @ Remote

 

Natalie Stubbs: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. AI continuing to play a bigger role in SERPs
2. E-E-A-T
3. Optimizing video content

— Natalie Stubbs, Senior Technical SEO at Lumar

 

Rachael Powell: What will be top-of-mind for SEOs in 2025?

1. New search competitors
2. Voice search and multimodal search adaptations
3. Privacy-centric SEO and data ethics

— Rachael Powell, Senior Technical SEO at Lumar