SEO in 2025: tips from the experts

A Complete Insight into Helping You Understand What Needs for Your SEO to Thrive in 2025

The detailed 2025 Guide to SEO.

As we continue through 2025, one thing remains certain: SEO will fundamentally impact your business’s success. Yet, as technology evolves and we metomophasise into an AI digital landscape with sophisticated algorithms, how will your business compete, and how will you get a firm grip on this shifting environment? At SEO Sydney Experts, we lift the lid on the driving forces of remodelling SEO and how your business can best use these to its advantage.

If you have a small business or are part of an SEO team, you always look over your shoulders and worry about the next Google update and what it will do to your rankings. It’s a never-ending nightmare and drama that plays out monthly. You could sit comfortably on page one and then suddenly on page two the next day. It’s part of the challenge, and I will go into depth and explore the delicate nuances of SEO in 2025. At the end of this blog, you’ll be armed with all the knowledge you need to ultimately dominate your niche in 2025 – some would call this a game-changing document. Let’s see how you go.

The State of SEO in 2025 – the ins and outs!

Are you sitting there wondering how on earth you will get your business ranking on Google with so much online competition? You don’t know the first thing about SEO. Let me correct this: You might know a few things about SEO and might have dabbled in it before but had trouble gaining any real traction. And, with so many businesses already ranking, how will you compete? Knowing what Google looks for is a good starting place.

This blog highlights the primary issues facing all SEO businesses and those taking a DIY approach to SEO, how to understand better Google’s wants regarding rankings, and what your core focus should be over the coming year.

The Biggest Hurdles facing businesses and SEO agencies

Let’s be honest: SEO isn’t easy, even for blokes like me at SEO Sydney Experts, who have been in the SEO game for decades. I still sit here and wonder what smart little trick Google will do to confound me and my clients. It’s a never-ending uphill battle, to say the least. To get to page 1, rise from there and be up there is incredibly challenging. Don’t think for one moment that you’ll remain there if you rise to the supreme position of number 1, 2 or 3 in the rankings. Rankings are temporary unless you keep improving user content and link building and fix all technical on-page issues and the user experience.

Algorithm changes are a killer.

The BBC has written a frightening article about an air purifying business whose rankings were smashed due to one algorithmic change and which has had to sack staff. The business owner explained further: ‘Over the last few weeks, HouseFresh had to lay off most of its team. If nothing changes, she says, the website is doomed.’ This example shows the evolving nature of Google’s algorithm and what it deems informative and suitable for ranking. I want to add Google’s AI search and answer results that are now coming into the mix, which we will touch on later.

Building Site Visitors with Organic SEO Traffic

Businesses looking to maintain rankings and drive organic traffic must continuously update content. I’m reviewing old blog posts and service offerings with new copy to avoid the dreaded slip in ranking and watching a competitor jump over me just because they’ve updated a page. And let’s add that sudden ranking movement can happen for no reason when a minor Google algorithm update sees a reshuffle in the SERPs (search engine page results). In this case, it’s a win for some and a loss for others. You don’t want to be at the losing party; trust me on this! It’s a business killer. One way to combat this instability is to create a super strong backlink profile to create a solid base, boosting your domain authority and hedging your website against future nasty algorithm updates. And there’s the Catch-22 situation. You must create quality content for people to want to link back to you. It’s a never-ending cycle of content creation and backlinks. As people link more and more to your content because they want to use your web page as a reference, the more trust you build, and in turn, so do your organic rankings. Without these backlinks, rankings would be hard to attain. One other issue is the technical aspect of your SEO, which requires a specific skill set, whether on-page or off-page SEO. Both are equally challenging, but I’ll discuss the points later in this piece.

Why do clients leave SEO agencies?

Due to the competitive nature of SEO in 2025, we see client retention as a massive issue for SEO agencies. Complicated algorithms play havoc with rankings and search results displays. Let’s examine some reasons driving clients from one SEO agency to another.

The state of the Australian economy—I know this doesn’t have much to do with SEO, but the first thing most businesses cut is their marketing budget—external economic variables like interest rates, borrowing capabilities, and inflation pressure businesses to trim marketing budgets.

Poor ROI — As I’ve often stated, many agencies will over-promise and under-deliver to get the work. They’ll promise rankings and more clients (check some Instagram and TikTok reels to see the prevalence of outrageous claims). Once these don’t come to fruition, they put an axe to the SEO campaign. And, let’s not forget well-intentioned SEO agencies that do the right thing, but their efforts are confounded by dreaded algorithm changes that affect rankings and, therefore, the ROI. Clients generally dump their SEO team at the end of a contract because of these poor ROI figures.

Poor Rankings — It’s one thing to get the client, but getting the rankings is another. So many factors come into play, like quality backlinks and content, that only very hands-on SEO agencies can continually maintain Google rankings, especially in competitive keyword niches.

AI and Google Updates

AI and Google’s complicated updates have forever changed the SEO landscape. Businesses that can handle shifts like AI and natural language processing can reap the benefits of these shifts, but for small local businesses, this can spell disaster. Although AI is the flavour of the month and on the lips of all SEO marketers, good old-fashioned SEO techniques will remain prevalent and the cornerstone of rankings. Fads come and go, but helpful, on-topic content is still necessary.

A New Era of SEO — What SEO Specialists are Doing Now

The future of SEO is now, and you can kiss goodbye to the good old ways in which SEO worked previously. In some ways, I miss the easy-to-score rankings and the ease at which you could create a few backlinks and rank a site. Alas, they are gone, and it’s time to embrace the future with gusto! Having said all that and getting you revved up for some dramatic seismic shifts, SEO agencies are now reverting to basics, which are all about content optimisation and conversion rates, as these are huge metrics driving eyeballs on websites and sales. Another key all-embracing metric is Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, which say that we have to put the customer’s user journey first and foremost to increase engagement and offer valuable information. I also like to look at a website’s technical aspects to help improve its overall health, like site speed, on-page structures, titles and URL slugs.

Other areas of the digital landscape that also SEO agencies need to address in 2025 are:

i) Social Media Marketing – I am a big fan of Apps like Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, but you need to be active on these platforms and post regularly to have any impact. Social media marketing requires a specific skill set that traditional SEO agencies might not have, so you might need to employ a freelancer for this role. Young kids publish endless streams of content and videos online, so make sure yours is better and has more impact.

ii) Email Marketing — If you aren’t using an existing database of clients to communicate with via email, then get cracking, as these clients have already dealt with you and will be more receptive to receiving information like special deals, sales, or just updates. Look at all the emails you get from real estate agents as an explanation after you’ve been to an open. It’s relentless, yes, but at least if you’re looking for a property, it’s effective. There are loads of email marketing solutions for small businesses, like Mailchimp, which is relatively cheap.

iii) Conversion Optimisation—I’m a massive fan of CRO or conversion rate optimisation, and it’s a driving force in my SEO strategy. You must make people who land on your website enjoy what they see and encourage them to buy, enquire, or sign up. Whatever your website goals, CRO is a deal breaker, and if you are not continually monitoring your page conversion and bounce rates, then you are hindering all your future SEO efforts. Again, some SEO agencies might not have the design capabilities for this, so they might partner with a graphic design studio like we do. The focus on the graphics will continue to strengthen our SEO efforts as the two go hand in hand.

iv) Investing in New Tools and Software – Whether investing in the latest software or tools that measure analytics, site performance, rankings or overall user engagement, SEO software is as crucial for them as a tradies tool. At SEO Sydney Experts, I’m always looking for new tools that will improve my understanding and help me become better at my job, both forensically so I can understand a website’s history and ultimately metamorphosis it into a powerhouse.

v) Studying Google Trends

Learning what sites rank well for specific niches and studying their on-page content and technical SEO is key to developing my skill sets. I watch trends and then make decisions based on the information I find online about how to implement changes to my clients’ websites.

A Complete Guide To SEO in 2025

Like or hate it, SEO is here to stay and will be the cornerstone of any digital marketing campaign in 2025. Browsers are not going anywhere, and you can bet anything that they’ll still be using Google to find products or services. Google is not going anywhere soon. In fact, the consumer’s reliance on its search capabilities will only become more dependent. As a leading SEO agency in Sydney, our clients still expect our SEO to connect their websites with ready-to-engage clients. They still want excellent rankings and tons of juicy traffic to their website.

Boosting Your SEO In 2025

The old days of throwing a few backlinks to your site are gone. Sure, they’re vital, but for real traction, SEO must now have a multi-pronged approach, which the following will show.

a) Putting the customer first

I remember the days when a web page just had to be on Google, and you’d get a call. It didn’t matter what it looked like or how effectively it conveyed relevant information with clear-to-follow buying pathways. Now, you cannot fool the system anymore. Google’s algorithms are far too advanced—almost frightening! Now, you must dress the site up to appeal to the consumer and deliver a fabulous experience with quality content, lightning-fast load speed times, pristine on-page SEO and relevant backlinks. For 2025, it’s all about the consumers on the page journey like below:

b) Mobile Device First

People live on their phones, and Google understands this better than any other business. They’ve introduced a mobile indexing first policy, where they’ll rank sites higher that deliver a better mobile journey. So, ensure your website renders on a mobile device and on a desktop. Look at your website on your phone and make minor tweaks for a better experience.

C) UX is now vital—it is a crucial factor in 2025 

Google aims to provide the best possible search results, favouring websites that offer a great user experience. Factors such as fast site, cutting load time, mobile-friendliness, and easy navigation are all becoming increasingly important. Some websites are just plain ugly with little or no design passion, which can impact users’ interaction with the site and whether or not they decide to trust you enough to buy from you.

D) Google’s algorithms are here to stay.

Over the last two to three years, Google’s algorithm updates have been brutal. Although designed to improve search quality and fight spammy websites, these are not the end of the changes. They will continue to become more refined throughout 2025 and beyond, so prepare for these, as you will get caught and lose rankings.

The Exponential Growth of AI

It had to happen, and artificial intelligence is now modifying content online as businesses use it for tasks for which they would generally employ a copywriter or customer service person. Google is also leveraging AI to understand better webpages’ search intent and, therefore, the results it displays. Also, Google has not implemented AI Overviews, which appear as a shaded box at the top of search results, often before organic listings and sometimes above ads. Read more here.

Protecting your Google positions in 2025

The changes in the SEO landscape above are shaping how we implement SEO. Following are some golden tips to help you take advantage of these changes and implement them into your SEO strategy to make a killing online.

AI & SEO — It’s huge!

AI is here to stay and will only become more prominent. You either embrace it or wallow in the shadows of your competitors who use it to their advantage. Here are some tips on how to use AI to help with your SEO.

AI for Creating Content Quickly

Creating AI content isn’t new and has existed for at least a few years. I use Grammarly to help improve my copy, but to be honest, I prefer to write the content myself. But, for some business owners, this task may be too complex, with time-poor restrictions and the ability to craft something worthwhile to read. And let’s not forget about relevant topics, which are always challenging. I often sit at my screen thinking about something to write, but there are tools to help with this. And in 2025, why not take advantage of them? However, the ease at which you can spew content out can be an issue insofar as SEO is concerned with questionable quality of content and its uniqueness. Also, how is it written for the Australian market or is it more generic in nature? I freak out with AI content as I reckon Google is onto this and may penalise AI copy. It’s a hunch, but they are working on ways to detect AI copy. The jury is still out on this, but let’s wait and see how it goes over the next year or two as AI becomes second nature for content creators.

AI Cheat Sheet for Content Generation

• AI for Ideas — We all get stuck with ideas and the dreaded writer’s block, but AI can suggest topic ideas, which is a good kick-start.
• Don’t Rely Only on AI — When I use AI, sometimes what it churns is absolute garbage, and anyone with a brain reading it can tell it’s AI-generated. Plus, if you are an Aussie company, you want it to have that Aussie slant without American or European overtones, and AI won’t provide this distinctive personality. So I say use the AI to draft content but give it the once over and add your personality to the text. If the AI copy sounds robotic (which it often can), dump it and start again, as you’ll just annoy your readers.
• AI Learning for your Brand — Like anything, AI must get a feel for your tone and intention – perhaps even your writing personality. So spend some time drafting a copy and then copy and paste it into your AI app and see what it comes back with. Obviously, it will change slightly, but some parts of your individuality will remain.
• Due Diligence — AI tools may present inaccurate facts that need spot-checking. Ensure you read over all your copy before posting it in case there are errors.
• Use It Proofreading—I live on Grammarly. I won’t write anything without checking my spelling and grammar. They also have a nifty new tool called ‘ Increase the impact of your text’, which takes what I’ve written and adds its magical slant.
• Images—You can now use AI for image creation without spending money on image libraries or pinch images from other websites. Issues can arise if you take rights-managed images from photo libraries without paying a fee for them.

AI for Analytics

I use Google Analytics for my clients to see the health of a website, see where traffic comes from, analyse page performance, and see what keywords people use to find your site. It’s been super helpful and a great tool to use as part of my SEO strategy. But with AI, I can delve deeper and look at consumer behaviour, content performance, and competitor analysis. You can also look at trends and risks with predictive analytic platforms like Forecast and Crystal. If you want to check out what your competition is up to, sign up to SEMrush or Ahrefs to get a sneak peek at your competition’s backlink profile and opportunities you might be missing. I love to see what backlinks they have if their sites are performing well on Google and try to replicate a few of them.

Google AI Overviews: It’s here and helpful.

Because AI is such a huge innovation, Google has decided to incorporate it at the top of its search results for some keywords. I’m always asking Google questions like’ 10 best foods to lose weight,’ in their overviews at the top of the page, I get a concise set of answers, all based on their AI overview. It’s great if I’m on the go and scrolling on my mobile, as the answers are right there. Endless scrolling and searching are over with this innovation. Google now sees the power of AI with the metamorphosis of Search Generative Experience (SGE), rebranded as AI Overviews (AIO). It’s so much easier to digest this information, which Google has drawn and paraphrased into a couple of sentences with helpful snippets of drop-down information.

How can this help with my SEO?

Referred to as “zero-click searches,” people will use the information presented at the top of the page with the Google overviews without ever scrolling down to the organic results, which is dire for businesses that rely on Google to get customers and traffic to their websites. But before you start pulling your hair out and saying, “Oh no, ” it’s not another Google update that’s gonna crush my business; they haven’t rolled this out across all industries and searches. So, if I type in a local search like Plumbers Bondi, I won’t get this AI overview. It’s more for specific questions people ask in the medical field. People still want to search for products or services from different websites and make their own choices, and for now, Google hasn’t dipped their toes in this arena. But stay tuned, as they’re always messing with us.

Bullet Proof your Business for AI Overviews

Once AI overviews become more prevalent, you want to ensure that Google searches your website with a link to it in the answers. Here’s some helpful tips:

Do the Basics – AI Overviews are not necessarily a game-changer. Yes, you want to appear in their search results, so the best way to do this is to continue implementing the same SEO strategy like link building, adding quality content and ensuring your website on-page titles, descriptions and speed are all tip-top. This way, you are giving yourself the best chance of being featured in this overview. With Google, certain aspects of their search results may be out of your control, and you just have to accept this. But at least give your business a fighting chance by continuously pushing the best possible content online.

Page Intent is Critical. Google is refining its algorithms, becoming a whizz, and learning the intent behind a user’s search. Forget about keyword searches. It’s not about learning the user’s wants and providing the most relevant content. To be part of the results, you have to ascertain the intent of each page of your website and alter it to match your customer’s search queries. If you’re a plumber in Lane Cove, ensure your home page is all about your plumbing business with images, excellent copy, and a few videos.

Don’t Fluff Around – People are time-poor and want quick answers,; especially when on a mobile device. Remember, Instagram and TikTok are turning their brains and attention spans into putty. The way now is to scroll and share, like and comment, so you better have a web page that’s concise to the point and laid out with big readable headings, bullet points and large, easy-to-find call-to-action buttons. Writing extensive pages of content to game the system used to work but is outdated. Don’t write large sections of complex information. Break it up with bold headings and straightforward sentences. Again, the use of infographics and videos works very well.

Quality Content is Still The Best

Quality content triumphs over everything. Link building is essential, but if you can write well, you are ahead of the curve.

The Face of Quality Content is Changing

The face of “quality content” is evolving, and in 2025, it will all be about Google’s E-E-A-T principles: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. You can’t regurgitate content and expect it to rank because it won’t. Now, you must demonstrate a level of experience within your niche and a super knowledge that stands out. You MUST publish the best content based on your experience in the first person as a business owner, which may prove hard, but if you break it down into sections, it’s easy. Think of the Plumber in Lane Cove. He can write about these local services and why they are great and add testimonials, Google review links, and videos to establish this business as the optimal choice. I like to think that the more effort you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.

“Quality” Now Also Applies to Traffic

I often get businesses that ask me to rank their business Sydney-wide when they are Bondi-based. Targeting city-wide is OK if you have a product and can deliver it. Still, Google now looks at relevant traffic sources and only pushes sites with the relevant copy for a particular search. So Google doesn’t want to get you lots of pointless traffic that you cannot fulfil but will give you what you can handle. That is people looking for plumbers in and around Bondi. After all, you won’t travel to Parammata to fix a leaky tap. Leave that to the local Paramatta plumbers to handle.

Link-Building is Crucial

Backlinks are still crucial and the best way for Google to tell if your site is trustworthy; hence, they’ll rank you. In the past, you could buy links and manipulate rankings, but Google sees through this and now values quality links. For this to happen, you need to publish fabulous copy that people will want to link to naturally. I tell my clients to publish excellent copy that solves people’s continuous questions by educating and informing them, which is the best way to build their brand and reputation online. If you are the go-to website for information, you’ll naturally attract links, which is absolute gold!!!

An important point here is to let you know that when you build backlinks, quality always wins out over quantity. If you go with an SEO agency that promises loads of backlinks, my advice is to watch out! Please read this article: Link Building Quality vs Quantity: Which is More Important?

Ways to Create Content Quality in 2025

• Conduct a Website Audit—I often go through all my website’s pages, such as blog posts, articles, and pages, and look at all their metrics using Google Analytics. Then, I rewrite relevant, fresh content. Rinse and repeat every year or so.
• Quality Assessment — Measure each page against the E-E-A-T principles, readability, relevance to user intent, and overall value provided. Also, look at pages not driving traffic to the site and try to improve on these.
• User Intent is massive. Learn (well, you should know by now) what your audience is searching for and ensure your main service or product pages address these search queries. As long as your page can answer the questions your audience wants, you should be OK.
• Stress E-E-A-T—If you’re in healthcare, medicine, or finance and your website is crucial to people’s lives, always back up claims and essential points with external references from credible sources relevant today. Outdated references or worse, references that link to non-existent pages) will hurt your reputation and rankings, so you must update web pages consistently.
• Readability — Make your content easy to read with short, concise points and sentences. Avoid lengthy paragraphs and break pages up with visual graphics and even videos to add impact. You can even create infographics or explainer videos to stress a point or sell your services. Remember, the more information you can give to your customers in a digestible format, the easier it will be to know your page intent and, in turn, call or buy from you.
• Don’t plagiarise—Copying someone else’s content is tempting, especially if it appears to rank well. But my strongest advice is never to plagiarise and try to offer a unique copy with your personality. You can use AI but edit it heavily to reflect your business. Simply put, Google will detect plagiarism; the pages will not rank. I love Grammarly for my content as it helps a bit with sentence structures, but I mainly use it for grammar and punctuation.
• Blog Away — I tell my clients never to give up writing copy. Sure, I’ve got clients who haven’t published a post in over a year, but I cannot stress the benefits of content creation to help improve your online visibility.

Areas of SEO in 2025 to Monitor

SEO is a changing landscape. While I stress the importance of the fundamentals, you need to be aware that as technology changes, so will SEO. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope nothing happens because it will. You have to adapt and change to survive online, and it’s even more prevalent with Google. In this section, I’ll review a few areas to look out for in 2025 that are bound to change and affect your SEO.

Local SEO

Everyone, especially ladiesdies and local professionals, wants to attract local business, but in 2025, and with local SEO, things are about to get a whole lot shakier. Things you must do to attract local customers are:

i) Use your Google My Business account; create one if you don’t have one yet. GMB is paramount to the success of your local SEO as it will help you appear in the maps section.

ii) Respond to customer reviews even if they are negative.

iii) Use local keywords in your content to highlight that you want local customers. Don’t try to be something you are not! What I mean by this is if you’re a plumber in Lane Cove, don’t expect to rank locally Sydney-wide. Many trades try this by creating extra local pages, but it doesn’t work. Spammy techniques like this are a waste of time. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with creating new local pages around your suburb. For example, if you’re an electrician in Bondi, you could go for local keywords like Electricians Eaaterde Suburbs, Electricians Rose Bay or Double Bay, etc. There are enough customers in this catchment area to focus on. Remember, each suburb has to have its unique page with separate content for each. Never copy and paste and replicate suburban pages.

iv) Get listed on local directories like Yellow Pages. Most are free, but critical local directories pay for a listing.

Voice Search — it had to happen.

With everyone on their phone and access to a microphone, all you have to do now is speak into the phone, ask a query, and presto—the answer results appear in the search. Voice search adds a new angle to how users interact with search engines. I dare say that it will greatly impact local searches as people will use voice search on the go, looking for a local doctor, plumber, physiotherapist, or lawyer. Following are some helpful tips for optimising your website for voice search.

Focus on Long-Tail Local Keywords — Always write naturally for your customers and definitely include long-tail local keywords that Google can index. For example, use words like ” drain specialists Bondi’ or ‘best curtain cleaners Eastern Suburbs’ in your content.

Prioritise Mobile—I can’t believe the number of people who still ignore their website’s mobile version, preferring the desktop version. But in 2025, with Google’s mobile indexing first, you MUST prioritise the mobile version of your website for load times, readability, and a strong, clear call to action.

FAQs —Create an FAQ section on all your pages that answers a user’s question. A well-articulated FAQ section will increase the likelihood of your website being featured as Google snippets in voice searches or even in the AI overview.

Video Content & Image Search is a big winner in 2025

People love to watch video content. Just look at the explosion of TikTok, YouTube or Instagram reels and feeds, and you’ll soon see why video is here to stay and will only become a prominent search alternative. Video will impact SEO strategies and the way businesses promote themselves. Social media platforms are a great alternative to throwing a few blogs together online, offering users a far better experience. In fact, they can become massive fans of your business if your video content is engaging and offers something worth watching. Watch this space moving forward, as it only gets bigger! Plus, there’s Google Lens, where users can search via an image and click on the image to go to the relevant website. Moving forward, you’ll always have to optimise your web images for this new Google feature.

The Price of SEO Success in 2025

SEO isn’t cheap anymore. Go back 10 or so years, and yes, it was really a case of link building, but in 2025, SEO is by far a more complex beast. Suppose you have a new business start-up or have a limited SEO budget. In that case, there’s no point in setting unrealistic expectations about your Google rankings, especially in niches dominated by big businesses with deep pockets. Focus on what’s achievable and what tools you have available for cheaper options. Yes, you’ll have to put in more time and effort, but that’s how it works online nowadays. I recommend:

Do what you can – free tools online will let you drill into your website, track its performance, and make any changes based on its data. Check out Google’s Search Console and Analytics as starters. It’s 100% free, and most people can get a handle on it without being too much of a techie.

Try using a freelancer for your SEO – many freelancers don’t work for big agencies. If you can find the right one, it will be a massive win for your business. If you have more of an SEO budget, consider outsourcing to a local Sydney SEO agency. Yes, this is a plug for me and my business, but if you want the best results, you must work with professionals. Consider all the time you’ll save to focus on what’s important: servicing and building your client base. Plus, any decent SEO agency will have a whole bunch of online tools at their disposal that they can use to analyse and report on your website’s performance and offer constructive ways for improvement.

Reality check – SEO takes time, and if you expect quick results, don’t go down this path, as Google wants to see an organic approach to all your SEO efforts. Be super-realistic about what you expect in 2025 and adhere to these goals. Being frustrated and craving quick results won’t happen, and you’ll bounce from one SEO agency to another. I’ve seen this countless times where businesses’ SEO mindset changes (even after a month or two of working), and they move on. Try to remember that SEO is a long game, so be on it for the long haul. If your SEO provider promises quick results, you should start looking at another SEO agency.

Look at Other Marketing Opportunities—Consider other cost-effective, free digital marketing strategies that will bring eyeballs to your business. You’ve got to be creative here, but that’s half the fun and the challenge. Social media is now massive, so don’t ignore TikTok or Instagram.

Concluding Thoughts on Improving Your SEO for 2025

If there’s one thing I would like to instil here, it is that SEO is always shifting and changing, and the sands are constantly drifting into new terrain. As a business owner in 2025 and in the next couple of years, you better be aware of this. As Google evolves, you must adapt and survive this online jungle. To be competitive, you must always be one step ahead of the curve. Failing to recognise search changes and trends will only lead to your competition taking advantage of this.

Dealing with Algorithm Updates and SERP Volatility

The trick here is not to panic. Yes, I know that seeing your website drop a feeling place puts that fear of God into you, and you start to imagine the worst, but in 2025, online ranking volatility is the new norm. So now, to mitigate these rises and falls, you have to look to the long term for SEO and build quality high-authority links with great content throughout the site, which should help you weather any online Google storms they like to create. Remember, you should be OK if your site is trustworthy and you’ve been 100% kosher with links and content. If your site has dropped, and you feel that you’ve done everything by the book, you might have to tweak your SEO strategy, fine-tune content, and perhaps do some extra link-building or pruning old, outdated links. Also, I’m trying to do this now by looking at other marketing areas besides Google. Social Media is giant, and I reckon it will be the way of the future. Google can’t last forever.

Understand and Adopt Advanced SEO Analytics

The only way to change your SEO strategy is through detailed data from Search Console, Google Analytics, or even outside Google, such as Ahrefs. Based on data-driven results, learn and understand what’s happening to your website, traffic flows, and consumer interaction with your site. Only then can you adjust your SEO slant. You must always remind yourself that Google has many tricks and will constantly change its search results. So, what worked in 2023 and 2024 will probably not work in 2025. I tell my clients to stick with the fundamentals and always address and answer online search inquiries. Content, especially with AI and Google overviews in play, will be central to your SEO strategy.

4 SEO Takeaway Trends in 2025 you need to know

Page Intent and AI Overviews: I see page intent as one of the most important ranking factors in 2025. No longer is Google matching websites simply based on keywords—yes, that’s super old school, but now it’s about delivering results that are more personalised based on the query. And AI overviews are also a big area to look out for as discussed above. These AI overviews are grassroots and will evolve into something bigger. I don’t know exactly what it will become, but AI-generated page results are here to stay and may eventually replace organic search results. With AI overviews dominating the top of the search results, it will impact how users interact with Google, and the outcomes do not look good for your website’s click-through rates. It’s a wait-and-see approach, and then you should adjust your SEO strategies to conform to this new landscape. Some quick adjustments you can make right now are:

Focus on featured snippets and knowledge panels — Featured snippets and Google’s knowledge panels are worth looking at, and the best way is to look at what people are searching for online related to your business and then answer their questions in a concise, structured format. To understand what people are looking for, head to the website; Answer the public. Just Google it, and you’ll get all the questions people ask for specific keywords.

Create the best content — AI algorithms favour content that will answer a user’s question. I suggest writing as many blog articles, news articles, and guides as possible and publishing these on your website. Cover as much as you can about all topics related to your business, and always have a decent FAQ section at the bottom of your main service or product pages.

Add Schema Markup – According to Backlinko; schema markup creates a web of context that helps search engines help you by improving your click-through rate (CTR) and conversions. It tells Google the meaning of your page with address, reviews, opening hours – anything related to the business that will help Google learn more about it.

Watch your Core Web Vitals (in the Google search console)

You’ll need to have your core web vitals up to scratch and operate efficiently to get better search results. Site speed is the number one core web vital, so make sure it loads fast.

Important site speed factors:

Largest contentful paint (LCP): Have you got a big image on your website that takes ages to load? Maybe it’s your top image slides that’s slowing things down. Well, this is super frustrating and will contribute to people leaving the site because they can’t be bothered waiting for the damn thing to load. Ensure these large, cumbersome images are optimised to load quickly to avoid significant bounce rates and frustrated customers.

First input delay (FID) — How long does it take for a person to hit the inquire /buy now or contact us button on your website? If there’s a significant lag in these times, it must mean (well, at least according to Google) that people cannot navigate your site easily, which is a no-no! Make sure all CTAs are clear and in a prominent position.

Cumulative layout shift (CLS) — This tracks the visual stability of a page. If visual graphics pop up or move randomly as the page loads, it results in a high CLS score, which can disorient users, increase bounce rates and result in users leaving the site. Bad for everyone, including your Google rankings and potential placement in AI overview.

Stick to the fundamentals, and you’ll be fine — content will still be king for SEO in 2025

I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it: content is key to dominating online. Although there are vast advancements such as AI and ChatGPT, you still need to publish content. Use these tools to a degree to help you. Still, the key takeaway here is consistency—Google’s algorithms are now advanced and intelligent to the point where they will promote genuine content that answers a user’s question.

SEO Sydney Expert’s conclusion

If you’ve made it this far in this blog, well done! You’re on your way to a better understanding of the basics of SEO in 2025. There’s a lot to digest here, but I’m always happy to help dissect this and help you get a better picture of what’s needed to become more aggressive with your internet marketing. But I want to emphasise that you must know your audience and what they’re searching for online and religiously cater to these questions with the best business content.