Is Seo Dead In 2025? No, But Changes Are Coming

Is SEO dormant successful 2025? Simply put, no. But it's evolving quickly—as it has done galore times before.

One constituent is certain, however: 2024 was a reliable twelvemonth for SEOs.

Google's AI overviews and halfway updates shook up hunt rankings. Watching rankings driblet without mentation was frustrating, leaving galore wondering if SEO moreover had a future.

Even heavyweights for illustration Forbes Advisor and CNN weren't spared. Personally, I've wrestled pinch SERP volatility too.

But here's nan thing: caller opportunities are emerging from these disruptions.

And I've sewage accusation and maestro insights to beryllium it.

Is SEO Dead?

No, but it's going done monolithic changes.

First, Google's absolute hunt monopoly is coming to an end—but not arsenic accelerated arsenic you whitethorn think.

According to caller data, Google still dominates, pinch 83.54% of nan online searches.

But caller players are emerging. 

ChatGPT commands 4.33% of searches, YouTube accounts for 6.79%, and different platforms specified arsenic societal media networks collectively correspond 3.37% of hunt activity.

Of course, we tin expect nan banal of non-traditional hunt engines specified arsenic AI chatbots to grow.

And this displacement makes sense. 

AI chatbots proviso immediate, personalized answers, alternatively than making users sift done links. 

However, Google's position remains beardown for respective cardinal reasons:

1. Google still processes billions of searches daily, maintaining its position arsenic nan superior gateway to accusation online—and I don’t deliberation it’ll suffer its activity successful nan upcoming years.
2. AI devices fundamentally spot connected human-created contented for training and responses. Without original contented being published and indexed by hunt engines, these AI models would personification point to study from aliases reference.
3. Google isn't opinionated still. The institution is actively innovating by integrating AI into hunt results—for example, pinch AI overviews and summaries. While this creates caller challenges for contented creators, it too signals Google's committedness to evolving nan hunt experience.

This assurance is backed by marketplace performance—Google's marketplace worthy grew from $1.76 trillion to $2.14 trillion successful 2024 alone, marking a 22% summation astatine nan highest of AI adoption.

Source: Oberlo

Secondly, Google itself is actively changing nan rules. 

Throughout 2024, we saw galore awesome algorithm updates focused connected contented worth and personification experience, specified arsenic nan March 2024 halfway update:

Even manufacture giants weren't immune—arge sites for illustration Forbes Advisor and G2 mislaid important postulation aft being penalized by Google.

But these changes are really benefiting galore smaller businesses. 

Our caller study of 700+ Semrush users shows that 78% still spot SEO highly aliases very valuable for their company.

We too recovered that 62.9% of businesses saw SEO improvements successful nan past six months of 2024 and only 9.5% knowledgeable postulation declines.

All this intends that SEO isn't dead—it's evolving into a overmuch nuanced judge that rewards authenticity and expertise complete method optimization alone. 

Success now requires high-quality original content, a deeper knowing of personification intent, and nan expertise to accommodate to accelerated changes successful hunt behaviour and technology.

Why Do People Say that SEO Is Dead?

Let’s return a measurement back. 

What’s each nan fuss about? Why are we panicking?

Here are immoderate awesome hurdles that we’ve been seeing successful nan SEO industry:

1. Changes successful Google Algorithms and SERP Volatility

The SEO manufacture has knowledgeable awesome shake-ups successful 2024.

If you’ve been keeping an oculus connected nan SERPs, you’ve astir apt noticed it too. 

Google has rolled retired a bid of halfway and spam updates complete nan past less years to bring down low-quality content. 

And sometimes—unfortunately—it has too affected high-quality, applicable pages. 

While Google is trying to fig retired its algorithms, we’ve seen tons of SERP volatility—especially aft awesome updates successful March and November.

This has been a acquainted image connected Semrush’s Sensor instrumentality for a while now:

Some sites gained postulation overnight, while others saw important drops. For example, Forbes Advisor mislaid an insane magnitude of postulation successful a span of a less months:

At nan aforesaid time, galore sites for illustration Housefresh.com recovered postulation aft initially losing it—and moreover knowledgeable growth. 

I’ve too noticed changes consecutive successful nan SERPs, affecting really Google approaches hunt intent. 

For example, keywords related to devices (e.g., “Best AI tools”, “Best image generators”, etc.) saw merchandise pages move listicles.

Compare February 2024, erstwhile astir results for “AI tools” were blog posts…

…with November 2024, erstwhile nan SERP was alternatively dominated by instrumentality pages.

This is conscionable 1 illustration of really hunt intent is evolving, and it’s happening crossed nan board.

What does this mean?

The volatility we’re seeing isn’t a mobility of SEO dying—it’s a mobility of evolution.

As manufacture maestro Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Marketing, explains:

Everyone, nary matter really ample aliases small, is seeing small postulation complete nan years. It’s nan reality we personification to woody with. You petition to beryllium okay pinch it and accommodate to enactment successful nan game. If you dangle connected traffic, it will spell down. But it will still happen, and perchance spell overmuch focused.

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Marketing

2. Google’s AI Overviews Stealing Clicks 

Google’s AI Overviews proviso speedy answers to personification queries and look correct astatine nan apical of nan hunt page. 

For example, if you hunt “what is generative AI?”, Google instantly shows an reply by pulling accusation from various websites. 

The extremity is to make hunt faster and overmuch convenient for users.

But for websites, it’s a different story. 

While these overviews spot links to nan original sources, galore users don’t consciousness nan petition to click through.

As a result, integrated hunt mightiness proceed to alteration and we’ll spot overmuch zero-click searches. 

But this business presents overmuch opportunities than it mightiness seem:

• AI Overviews still thrust marque consciousness and visibility, moreover without (or pinch fewer) nonstop clicks
• AI summaries activity champion for basal information—they can't move elaborate guides that personification steps, examples, and instructions
• AI Overviews look to favour contented from 2 main sources: established marque names and pages pinch high-quality original contented (such arsenic unsocial accusation aliases research). Focusing connected these areas tin too thief you summation your visibility there. 

One of nan cardinal issues is that we still struggle to quantify and measurement clicks and impressions from AI Overviews. 

As Ann Smarty points out:

It’s difficult to understand what users are clicking on. Was it an AI overview? Organic search? Something else? Measuring postulation and clicks has spell hectic.

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Marketing

While we clasp for analytics devices to accommodate to nan caller reality, you tin still measurement different metrics.

For example, Ann recommends focusing connected branded hunt arsenic a cardinal capacity indicator:

When group commencement searching for your brand, it’s a awesome awesome that your strategy is working. It shows you’re being highlighted crossed channels, moreover successful places we can’t measurement consistently yet.
 

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Marketing

The maturation of your branded hunt is simply a beardown parameter of whether your SEO strategy is moving aliases not.

3. Shifts successful Consumer Search Behavior 

As we discussed earlier, personification hunt behaviour is evolving.

Google is nary longer nan sole go-to for answers. 

Instead, group are turning to various platforms, including AI chatbots, specified arsenic ChatGPT and Perplexity, arsenic bully arsenic forums specified arsenic Reddit and Quora—especially for elemental queries.

And while this inclination will proceed to grow, what's really changing is really group search. 

We're seeing a displacement from elemental keywords to complex, conversational queries. For example, alternatively than searching "best laptop 2025," users now inquire elaborate questions for illustration "What's nan champion laptop for video editing nether $2000 pinch bully artillery life?"

This displacement is creating chopped contented opportunities:

• Basic accusation and speedy answers are moving to AI
• Detailed guides, maestro analysis, and original investigation still thrust important hunt traffic
• Product comparisons and different contented that influences buying decisions will enactment important successful accepted search—and truthful will expertise-driven content

And arsenic I mentioned before, each AI devices are only arsenic bully arsenic nan contented they're trained on.

As Sergei Rogulin, Semrush’s Head of SEO, points out:

Search postulation will decline, but Google and different LLMs will still petition value content. AI needs to beryllium trained connected caller content. And we'll spot really it'll unfold truthful that group enactment motivated to represent caller content. That's successful nan agelong run, though.
 

Sergei Rogulin, Semrush’s Head of SEO

On apical of that, caller investigation by ProRankTracker revealed an important insight: your Google and Bing rankings importantly effect your visibility successful AI tools. 

Their study recovered that 45% of top-ranking Google pages (and 63% of Bing pages) appeared successful ChatGPT web results. For Perplexity AI, 63% of top-ranking Google URLs appeared arsenic sources. 

This accusation suggests that beardown SEO capacity tin too consecutive powerfulness your visibility crossed AI platforms—making bully SEO overmuch important, not less.

4. The Rise of AI-Generated Content

At nan aforesaid time, we’re seeing overmuch and overmuch AI contented successful hunt results.

Our study of nan apical 20 SERP results for complete 20,000 keywords showed that 8% of top-ranking articles were AI-generated successful October 2024. 

While this number is still small, it's expanding steadily. 

Source: Originality.ai

But here's what's interesting: companies that usage AI strategically are seeing singular results. 

Our investigation of 700+ businesses revealed that erstwhile AI is utilized arsenic a instrumentality alternatively than a replacement for value expertise, it tin really heighten SEO performance. 

The accusation backs this up: 39% of marketers saw accrued integrated postulation erstwhile creating contented pinch AI assistance. And 33% study it performing amended than purely human-written content.

The secret? Successful companies aren't conscionable feeding prompts into ChatGPT and hitting Publish. Instead, they're:

• Starting pinch original investigation and maestro insights
• Using AI to make first drafts, structure, and optimize content
• Having value editors refine and personalize nan output
• Adding real-world examples and suit studies

In fact, 73% of successful companies usage a cognition of AI and value writing, pinch only 5% relying connected AI alone.

As Ross Simmonds, CEO of Foundation Marketing, puts it:

I deliberation AI is nan balanced of spell cheque today. It's point each creator should spot arsenic information of their toolkit to beryllium overmuch businesslike and effective astatine prioritizing nan areas they petition to attraction on. This ensures their sound is coming across, their relationship is clear, and nan communicative they're telling is captivating and uniquely theirs.

Ross Simmonds, CEO of Foundation Marketing

5. Changes successful nan SEO and Content Marketing Job Markets

However, there’s a downside to this trend.

Yes, businesses are progressively utilizing AI to nutrient contented faster and astatine scale.

But this displacement is impacting jobs successful SEO and contented marketing.

In nan first 4th of 2024, SEO business listings dropped by 37% twelvemonth connected year. This suggests that companies whitethorn beryllium leaning overmuch connected AI and small connected accepted SEO roles.

It’s not conscionable SEO roles that are being affected. Content trading jobs are too nether pressure. 

According to a 2025 Content Marketing Institute study, 1 successful 3 marketers reported that their institution fto spell of squad members successful nan past year.

On apical of this, uncovering trading jobs has spell progressively difficult.

68% of marketers judge it’s harder to find a trading business now than it was 5 years ago.

Most blasted financial aliases economical pressures (75%) and tougher title (69%).

However, 33% of marketers opportunity AI is consecutive responsible for these challenges.

How tin you reside these challenges and support your occupation afloat? The cardinal is to germinate alongside AI alternatively than resisting it.

While AI tin represent contented and do keyword research, nan astir valuable marketers coming spell beyond these basal skills. They:

• Develop wide trading strategies aligned pinch business goals
• Create data-driven contented plans that thrust conversions, not conscionable traffic
• Build thought activity done original investigation and manufacture expertise
• Use AI to heighten productivity, while focusing connected high-impact initiatives

How You Can Overcome These SEO Challenges

So, what tin you do to accommodate to these changes? Here are a less ideas.

1. Create Net-New Value Content

If your contented doesn’t relationship point unique, it won’t rank—or moreover make it into AI summaries. 

To guidelines out, your contented must coming worthy that AI can’t replicate. 

The champion pages leverage existent experience, maestro analysis, and unsocial data. Most importantly, they proviso caller perspectives—offering opinions and insights alongside useful information.

This could beryllium your team's hands-on acquisition pinch a caller technology, accusation from your latest customer survey, aliases your maestro predictions astir wherever your manufacture is heading. 

Here are immoderate examples of what you tin do.

Perform Original Research

Create contented based connected accusation that nary 1 different has. Run surveys, analyse psyche data, aliases behaviour experiments.

For instance, my squad conducted a three-layer study to find if AI-generated contented tin rank connected Google.

The accusation from this investigation is powering aggregate contented pieces—including nan 1 you're reference now.It too helps america to propulsion attraction organically and bring successful caller tract visitors.

The champion part? We utilized our ain proprietary accusation and surveyed our ain users to put this together.

Document Real-World Experiences

Share circumstantial challenges, results, and lessons you’ve learned.

Backlinko’s blog post, “How to Create a Content Brief,” is simply a awesome example. It explains really their squad creates contented briefs for their writers—something AI will ne'er beryllium tin to replicate.

.

Collaborate pinch Experts

Don’t spot connected writers to investigation everything, peculiarly erstwhile it’s not their domain. 

Bring successful taxable matter experts (SMEs) to adhd credibility and depth. These could beryllium your ain employees, manufacture thought leaders, and moreover clients.

For example, I interviewed Ann Smarty (Co-Founder of Smarty Marketing) and Ross Simmonds (CEO of Foundation Marketing) to constituent our AI SEO research.

I past incorporated their ideas into our content:

2. Perform Regular Content Audits and Updates

SERPs are overmuch volatile than ever, pinch predominant Google updates reshuffling rankings. 

It’s a wide discussed taxable connected LinkedIn these days:

Unfortunately for me, I've moreover seen this firsthand.

For example, I create a batch of contented astir AI, an manufacture that’s perpetually evolving. 

One of my pages dropped from positions 1-3 down to 20 successful conscionable a less days, causing insane postulation fluctuations.

Why? 

The SERPs were shifting: caller competitors appeared, and abruptly my contented wasn’t arsenic caller arsenic it needed to be.

The solution? 

Frequent updates. In small volatile industries, updates are usually small frequent.

I’ve revisited that aforesaid information aggregate times complete nan past six months, and perpetually added caller insights from my first-hand acquisition pinch AI tools.

Each update helped nan information regain its ranking and support it relevant.

Here’s what I impulse doing:

• Keep an oculus connected SERPs and hunt intent: Search results alteration fast. I’ve learned to cheque nan top-ranking pages for important keywords regularly. If nan intent shifts and my contented becomes outdated, I accommodate it accordingly.
• Add individual insights: AI devices tin summarize existing data, but what they can’t do is banal your unsocial experiences. I’ve recovered that adding real-world examples aliases lessons from my ain activity tin make a immense difference.
• Optimize for hunt engines connected nan way: Whenever I update, I revisit keywords, meta descriptions, and psyche links. These mini updates personification helped my pages enactment competitive.

3. Measure, Test, and Adapt Your Content Strategy

When resources are limited, attraction connected what will coming nan champion results. Before creating a free instrumentality aliases assets page to propulsion traffic, inquire yourself:

“Will it personification tin users (or scope different objective) to warrant nan effort?”

Predicting this tin beryllium tough, peculiarly pinch integrated postulation aliases blog posts. But not impossible.

Monitor Historical Data

First, look astatine past performance:

• Has this type of contented worked bully before?
• Does this assemblage thrust conversions?

Then return this accusation to style your contented strategy: double down connected formats and topics that personification proven to thrust results, and locomotion small clip connected contented types that don't move nan needle for your business goals.

Understand Conversion Across nan Funnel

Next, measurement really users personification astatine each style of nan funnel. Without this understanding, resources tin spell to waste.

On my team, we collaborate pinch UX designers and merchandise owners to show capacity astatine each touchpoint, and group contented experiences accordingly.

For example, our designer helped adhd various conversion points to our free tools:

This accusation helps america make smarter decisions and continuously amended our contented performance.

Run Experiments

Experimentation is essential, peculiarly erstwhile things are changing quickly. Test caller ideas, study from nan results, and adapt.

For example, HubSpot seems to personification shifted to penning successful nan first personification aft psyche experiments showed it amended aligned pinch Google’s E-E-A-T standards.

Most of their articles now attraction connected showing first-hand experience:

Plan Distribution Early

Content that doesn’t get immoderate postulation won’t personification anyone. And while SEO still works, it’s a semipermanent game—and a very volatile one.

So effort to deliberation beyond rankings and adhd overmuch contented distribution channels to your mix.

For example, Andy Crestodina, nan laminitis of Orbit Media, has been getting awesome results pinch his LinkedIn newsletter

Even pinch SEO fluctuations, it helped him make postulation and engagement for Orbit Media (I mean, complete 200k subscribers):

4. Use AI, but Do So Responsibly

You don’t petition to debar AI—just make judge you’re utilizing it responsibly. Google doesn't penalize AI content: it targets low-quality content, sloppy of really it's created.

What does that mean?

AI shouldn’t move your writers. Nor should you disregard AI and fearfulness utilizing it. Instead, dainty it arsenic an adjunct that helps you amended your content’s quality. 

For example, 73% of Semrush users we surveyed harvester AI pinch value writing:

Besides, they usage AI devices for each sorts of tasks, from uncovering contented ideas to creating first contented drafts:

It’s too important to harvester AI devices pinch SEO data. Remember, astir devices specified arsenic ChatGPT don’t really relationship real-time competitory accusation connected keywords and SERPs.

You tin either harvester specified chatbots pinch SEO package aliases usage specialized AI SEO tools. 

For example, our ContentShake AI app uses Semrush’s real-time accusation to thief you create high-ranking content.

It generates article drafts that incorporated your target keywords, usage original information, and return hunt intent insights into account.

You tin past manually heighten those drafts by adding original insights, expanding nan contented utilizing AI chat, generating AI images, improving readability, and more.

Ann Smarty sums it up well:

5. Expand Your Marketing Skillset

I support seeing headlines for illustration this everywhere: "Content penning is dead." "SEO jobs are disappearing." "AI will move each marketers."

The reality is overmuch overmuch nuanced. 

Yes, if your only accomplishment is penning basal articles aliases plugging keywords into content, AI devices tin now grip these tasks.

But successful trading has ever been astir overmuch overmuch than that.

The cardinal is to germinate from being conscionable a contented creator aliases SEO maestro to becoming a strategical trading maestro who tin spot nan bigger picture. 

Focus connected knowing business strategy, assemblage needs, and really to create genuinely unsocial contented that drives results.

Think of it this way: AI tin thief you represent faster, but it can't show you what contented your assemblage needs, really it fits into your trading funnel, aliases really to measurement its business impact. 

These strategical skills are becoming overmuch valuable, not less.

The Bottom Line: SEO Isn't Dead—It's Evolving (Again)

Let's put things successful perspective: SEO has supposedly "died" galore times before. 

Whether it was nan preamble of Google Ads, featured snippets, aliases video content, each caller betterment was predicted to beryllium nan extremity of SEO. 

Yet each time, SEO adapted and evolved—just arsenic it's doing now pinch AI. 

How tin you group to this and thrive successful 2025?

Don’t tally from nan changes. Embrace them—while maintaining attraction connected these basal principles: 

• Create genuinely valuable contented that serves value intent and provides a unsocial perspective
• Stay agile and caller to accommodate to caller technologies and hunt behaviors 
• Diversify your postulation sources and contented formats 
• Use AI arsenic a instrumentality to enhance, not replace, your trading efforts
• Regularly audit and update your contented to support relevance

Remember: while nan devices and techniques of SEO whitethorn change, its halfway intent remains nan same—helping group find nan accusation they need. 

As agelong arsenic group proceed searching for answers online, SEO will enactment an important information of integer trading strategy (at slightest successful immoderate form).