By Debbie Friez

The volatile and rapid evolution of SEO can feel impossible to predict. And to some extent, it is. But by listening to the foremost experts in the field — those who spend their days closely tracking and analyzing shifts in the search landscape — you can stay one step ahead of those who take a more passive and reactive approach.

What are some of these very smart SEO leaders saying is on the horizon, and what should people pay attention to in the new year?

A resounding key takeaway is to make sure your content resonates with the audience. Seems pretty simple. Provide value to your readers. 

Also, measurement is in flux. What will your benchmarks be and how you will measure performance is changing. Are you ready for this long race?

We spoke to some of the top experts and pioneers in SEO to get their thoughts on what lies ahead for SEO in 2025 and beyond. Here are some of their key insights.

Keys to brand visibility in 2025

How can your brand keep getting discovered as trends evolve? This is the million-dollar question, right? With AI jumping into the search game in a serious way, marketers are in a different world where the original rules don’t seem to apply. 

Let’s turn to one of the preeminent leaders in the search world for insight. Rand Fishkin, Cofounder and CEO at SparkToro and Founder of Moz, has some ideas on what marketers should be paying attention to in 2025.

“Interestingly, I think (smart) digital marketers are finally moving away from traffic being the dominant KPI toward visibility and engagement from the right audiences. There are two big things I’d pay attention to here:

1) Are you creating something that not only resonates with your potential customers, but creates an incentive for amplification among those with a platform (creators, journalists, editors, YouTubers, podcasters, bloggers, social creators, etc.)?

2) Are you present in the places where your audience pays attention? (The right sources of influence make all the difference.)

This is vastly different from the classic SEO process of simply being at the top of Google. But digital marketers (even old school SEOs) have exactly the right skills to make this work.”

Whew! You can do this with your current skills. 

Resetting KPIs and communicating value

TopRank Marketing’s SEO strategist Molly Owens, agrees it’s time to rethink our benchmarks. She notes, “2025 is going to be all about resetting our baselines. After a year or more of impactful algorithm updates plus the launch of AI-powered search (whether it’s AI overviews or search engines like Perplexity), traffic patterns are going to look different going forward. SEO teams will need to focus on communicating the value of what …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog

Author: Aaron