Top SEO Predictions for 2025

Prediction 1: Refinement of AI Overviews

AI integration into search engine results pages (SERPs) is already changing how users interact with search engines, and this trend will only accelerate in 2025.

AI-powered overviews, which we’ve seen increasingly in response to question-based searches, are expected to be introduced for many more types of search queries.

Currently, AI Overviews are typically used to provide concise answers to questions - this isn’t really “new” - think of it more as an evolution of Google’s "featured snippets", but with a deeper AI-powered understanding.

These overviews are particularly useful when users search for straightforward, fact-based answers. For example, if someone searches “What is the population of the UK?”, the AI Overview provides the number as an answer, along with additional context, such as the population in years gone by. Useful information, but Featured Snippets did this too.

By 2025, we can expect these AI-generated results to expand significantly across more search categories, offering a richer, more detailed response in an ever-broadening range of queries. For example, when searching for product recommendations, Google’s Gemini will likely provide recommendations on what it thinks is the best product for your needs - this will shake things up considerably.

Moreover, as Google refines its algorithms to ensure that AI Overviews are not only relevant but also accurate, we may see a further reduction in reliance on traditional organic search results - especially for simple, transactional, or informational queries. This means that businesses will need to reconsider how they optimise their content, moving beyond traditional keyword strategies to also focus on providing content that’s easy for AI tools to digest and present. (However, again, this as a concept isn’t ‘new’ - see our Guide to Structured Data for how we can already mark up pages with additional easy-to-digest information)

Prediction 2: Different SERPs for Different Needs

Gone are the days when there was a one-size-fits-all approach to search results. In 2025, I think we can expect to see even greater customisation in the way search results are presented to users. The searcher’s intent will be the guiding factor in how results are displayed, with the SERP adapting in real-time to meet the user’s needs.

For example, if someone is looking to buy a pair of shoes, the search engine might prioritise a SERP that is visually rich, displaying products, prices, customer reviews, and even delivery options - think Google Shopping but enhanced by AI.

Google has already experimented with variations of this, particularly in shopping and local searches, but by mid-late 2025, I don’t see a reason why these type of shopping results couldn’t become commonplace in the regular search results - after all, for certain transactional queries, it’s what the searcher is asking for… 

I therefore wouldn’t be surprised to see entire SERPs focused around a specific product type, allowing searchers to filter by things like colour, size, price range, and user ratings. The video below shows Google’s AI-integrated changes for Google Shopping specifically:

Prediction 3: Prioritisation of E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness

As artificial intelligence continues to be used to generate content, our job as marketers will be to ensure the authenticity and quality of information remains.

Google’s focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) has already had a significant impact on SEO strategies, and by 2025, it’s likely to become more important than ever.

With AI-generated tools being so accessible, automated content is flooding the web - this isn’t new; in years gone by SEOs (sorry!) were in the habit of creating content for content’s sake - but Google’s Panda algorithm quickly put a stop to that. Google is already very good at determining spam content versus real content, however the sophistication of AI-generated content sometimes makes this tricky.

Therefore, it’s more critical than ever for Google to ensure that high-quality, reliable sources are ranked ahead of lesser-quality content. If this weren’t to happen, people’s trust in Google’s organic results might diminish, and their market dominance could be threatened - see Prediction Number 4!

For businesses and content creators, this means that simply publishing well-written or technically optimised content isn’t good enough. Instead, demonstrating genuine expertise in a subject area - for example with thought leadership, content clusters, industry certifications, real-world examples, reviews, testimonials, video and user-generated content - will become a top priority.

Google has already shown signs of prioritising UGC, with platforms like Reddit ranking increasingly higher; Google favouring these as sources of social proof and real human data. In 2025, I’d expect this trend to only increase, and for larger, more ‘generic’ brands to struggle to keep up.

Google has shown it favours more niche websites in recent algorithm updates, in particular because they tend to better demonstrate E-E-A-T about their service or product. For example: a website dedicated to selling garden plants is naturally (as a business) more likely to provide expert-level content about their products’ care and wellbeing, automatically making them much more of an expert than a business that sells much more than garden plants.

Demonstrating this expertise, and the care that your business truly has about the service or product on offer, is going to be crucial for success in organic search in 2025.

Prediction 4: Search Engine Competition Heats Up

As mentioned earlier, Google’s shake up of its traditional search results could come with negative repercussions if people don’t like or don’t trust what they see in search results. For example, when AI Overviews first rolled out, some of the responses being provided were not very trustworthy at all.

While Google has maintained a near-monopoly on search engine market share, new players are slowly gaining traction. Search engines like Bing (now with OpenAI’s GPT integration) and DuckDuckGo are offering different value propositions, such as AI-powered search results or enhanced privacy, and they may begin to chip away at Google’s lead - especially if new Google products don’t hit the mark.

This increased competition will push Google to innovate even further, but it will also open up opportunities for other search engines to gain more recognition. Marketers and businesses will need to keep an eye on these emerging platforms and be prepared to diversify their SEO strategies. We could see a rise in the importance of Bing and other search engines in both SEO and paid search campaigns, particularly if they continue to roll out features that offer a compelling alternative to Google’s search model.

However, it’s important to note that Google’s dominance is unlikely to be easily shaken. The scale and depth of its search infrastructure will likely keep it at the forefront of search for the foreseeable future. But, marketers should be keeping a keen eye on specific changes to the way people search in particular markets - and be prepared for a more fragmented search environment where multi-platform strategies become increasingly important.

Prediction 5: The Basics Still Matter

While all these exciting trends point toward a future where AI and personalisation will excite, and competition will heat up; the fundamentals of SEO remain crucial. Optimising for users - not just search engines - will continue to be a cornerstone of SEO best practices and shouldn’t be forgotten.

Key on-page elements, like meta titles, meta descriptions, and internal linking, will still play an important role in how search engines interpret and rank your pages. Quality content, user-focused design, and fast loading speeds will continue to be non-negotiable for any website that wants to rank well.

As AI becomes more adept at understanding search intent, marketers will need to refine their keyword strategies to target not only specific terms but also the broader themes and contexts behind user queries. Content targeting will also need to become more user-centric, focusing on providing value that resonates with specific audience segments rather than simply satisfying algorithmic criteria.

The importance of making websites easy for both your users and search engines to understand will never go away - never forget your SEO basics before jumping into more advanced topics.

Key Takeaways

SEO in 2025 promises to be another year of change and advancement for our industry. From AI-powered overviews transforming search results, to increased competition and new technologies from other search engines, staying ahead of these shifts will require a mixture of technical know-how, creativity, and strategic thinking.

While the basics of SEO will continue to be of utmost importance, the rise of personalisation, E-E-A-T, and AI integrations means that businesses will need to evolve their strategies and be ready to be flexible to compete in changeable search environments.