April 1, 2025
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5 min read
We’re just four months into 2025 and there have already been new developments in the way AI is impacting SEO.
Companies are introducing advancements and products every month, including Google, which announced in February that Gemini 2.0 is now available to the masses.
If you were to believe everything you read on LinkedIn (which you shouldn’t, by the way), you might be inclined to think that AI has already destroyed SEO.
While there have been significant shifts in how artificial intelligence is changing how we find information online, the truth is…
SEO is not dead.
However, it is changing, and knowing how to navigate those changes will be important for any business with a website that is hoping to be found by potential customers online.
So, where do you start?
We did a deep dive on the latest updates and insights from SEO professionals and compiled them here.
We answer questions like:
Curious about what is going on with SEO in 2025 and what your business can do to navigate the challenges ahead? Let’s dive in!
For years, people have turned to Google for valuable information, and businesses that have worked to include helpful content on their websites have seen major benefits, including increased website traffic.
However, the truth is that organic traffic is down across the board, with some websites reporting anywhere between an 18-64% decline due to a number of factors, including:
Fun Fact: A recent HerCampus study found that 74% of Gen Zers use TikTok for search and 51% prefer it to Google, thanks to its short-form video format.
This is all to say that yes, organic search has dropped in the last few years, but it isn’t all AI’s fault. How we use the internet is evolving. The big question is…
While your website may receive less organic traffic than it used to, it also means your other platforms are receiving more as people turn to alternatives for helpful information.
Take social media, for example. With more people turning to platforms like TikTok, Reddit and LinkedIn, if you have a strong content strategy, you can be there to answer questions and gain major brand exposure.
Consider other acquisition channels, too. Creating a monthly newsletter to send to a highly engaged list of subscribers could help you garner attention and avoid the unpredictability of Google’s algorithm and AI's increasing impact on organic search.
An incredible study by Semrush released in February 2025 explores how AI, particularly ChatGPT, is transforming how people search for information online.
More specifically, they analyzed over 80 million lines of global clickstream data from the second half of 2024 to identify how people interacted with ChatGPT.
While there were tons of incredible data and insights available in the study, we combed over it to answer one simple question:
Are people replacing Google with ChatGPT?
The short answer is no.
The long answer?
While ChatGPT is growing in popularity, seeing approximately 560 million visitors worldwide over the latter part of 2025, Google still drew almost eight times as many visitors in the same period.
People are also using Google and ChatGPT very differently, too.
Data shows that people use Google for four typical purposes:
SEMRush found that queries on ChatGPT were significantly different.
Only 30% of ChatGPT prompts were identified as one of the above traditional categories.
The other 70% consisted of unique queries you might not be able to answer with Google, like “Analyze this spreadsheet for me” or “Help me write this report.”
This suggests that of most of the people using Chat GPT (about ⅛ of the number of people using Google), approximately 70% of them are using ChatGPT for different types of information and services, while roughly 30% of people use it as a direct replacement for Google.
This means that between the two, Google is still the primary tool people use to find valuable information online.
While we know organic search is dropping, a recent study by HubSpot found that over 60% of all internet users still read blogs, while another study found that 77% of internet users read blogs every day.
That’s over 4 billion people looking for and reading content online daily!
So while people are still very much reading blogs, the types of blogs people are reading (and Google is showing on the SERP) are changing. This means your blog content and strategy need to change, too.
No longer are blogs answering common queries enough to generate major traffic to your website.
Your blogs need to have something original to say. The internet is already full of billions of webpages. If your idea is to write content that simply emulates one of these pages without any original insights or ideas, your blog will likely get lost in a sea of online information.
This is especially true as we see more AI-generated content which does a great job of summarizing what is already available online. Your blog content should add something new to the conversation, like research, unique processes or integrated content such as video and graphics.
Consider this blog we wrote on the principles of good UI design. We had our very own expert brand designer provide her original takes on emerging trends, coupled with new research and resources from other leaders in the field.
As you might have guessed, the future is impossible to predict.
AI is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with companies like OpenAI and Google even developing large language models that can now “reason”, making them better at even more complex tasks, like coding and product development. It’s difficult to predict what these advancements will mean for the future of SEO.
What we do know is this:
The future of SEO is not about survival but adaptation. As AI continues to reshape how we discover and consume information, businesses and content creators need to remain agile and creative.
While organic search traffic may be declining and AI tools like ChatGPT are changing search behaviors, the fundamental goal remains the same: providing valuable, original content that genuinely helps your audience.
Your content must do more than simply exist—it must offer unique perspectives, original research, and compelling storytelling that AI can’t replicate.
People still use Google daily to find businesses and their services and products.While traditional SEO may be changing, we recommend leveraging your social media platforms and creating multi-channel content experiences so that there are more opportunities for people to find you, both on and off Google.
That means creating a robust social media strategy or an integrated content marketing plan complete with newsletters, unique blogs and more.
Show behind-the-scenes footage of your business on TikTok or keep your clients updated through a monthly newsletter. Content marketing is the future of connecting and engaging with existing and potential customers.
The emergence of AI has led to more content being published online every day. That has made it more complicated for Google to determine which websites to serve people on the home page.
One of the most significant ways Google decides who gets seen and who doesn’t is based on authority (AKA a website's credibility).
How do websites establish credibility? Branding.
Branding is about clearly defining who you are and crafting a consistent image for people through the things you create, from your visual identity to your social media content.
Everything should reinforce your values to establish credibility and build trust, not just with your customers but with Google, too.
Working with brand experts like us will help you ensure that everything that comes from your business looks and feels just right. You can explore some of our recent branding work here.
The Google Algorithm is constantly changing. Once recent update we found significant is Google expanding upon its 2014 guidelines “E-A-T” (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) in 2022 to add “Experience” - making it “E-E-A-T”.
Google says that while they don’t use these guidelines for ranking specifically, it is clear that they do place a high level of importance on the overall experience your website offers visitors.
That means it has never been more important to invest in the design of your website. This includes having a homepage with a clean layout, a well-organized navigation at the top and a contact process that makes getting in touch with you easy.
The better the experience on your website, the better the impact on your SEO and the chances of you getting found online are.
While AI is undoubtedly changing the game, SEO remains vital for businesses, with 53.3% of website traffic still coming from organic searches.
So, if you are investing in keyword strategy on your website, keep it up! But now is the time to start to diversify by investing in things like content marketing, branding, and offering people a strong user experience on your website in order to stay agile in a rapidly changing online world.
The future is bright for those who adapt!
Have questions about content marketing, branding, or websites? Contact us to book a coffee chat. You can also explore our website services here and check out our work here.
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