The question about “Is SEO dead?” isn’t a new one. In fact, this question has been asked every single year, and this phenomenon has been happening for the last decade. The clear answer to this question is a big no!
There are so many leading business organizations that can vouch for the fact that SEO is bringing in great results for their business. In fact, many online e-commerce stores are solely dependent on organic leads that they fetch through SEO for their sales.
However, the people who are asking whether SEO is dead or not don’t know the intricacies of this situation. The reality is that SEO has transformed a lot, and the old practices of SEO no longer work nowadays.
In this insightful blog post, you’ll learn about whether SEO is dead or not in 2025. So, let’s begin with the first section now!
Why do some digital marketers say SEO is dead?
There are many reasons why some digital marketers say that SEO is dead. The biggest reason is that Google’s monopoly is ending. The rate might be slow, but the train has already left the station. As per the recent data, Google still holds more than 80% of the online searches. However, there are plenty of new players that have started biting away at their chunks of the online search space. The most significant one of these players is none other than ChatGPT. The AI LLM built by OpenAI has dazzled the whole world with its once-in-a-century technology, and now they’re challenging the Goliath of the search space.
The biggest thing that’s going against Google and in favour of ChatGPT is that the latter is more aligned with the future, while the former is still stuck in the past. There’s no denying the fact that Google is doing everything it can to lessen the impact. But, they can only execute radical changes to an extent as they have to constantly keep a watch on their bottom line and keep their stakeholders satisfied. On the other hand, OpenAI is behaving like a startup(although being backed by Microsoft) and making innovative changes to the search space as we knew it. The immediate, customized, and smooth answers of their search product ChatGPT search are a lot better than the clunky search results of Google, which are laden with ads and other irrelevant features.
The second big reason is that Google is changing the rules constantly. The only reason they can do so is because they own the majority of the search space. In fact, it would not be an understatement to say that Google is not just a search engine monopoly but is behaving as one! Their core updates and other algorithm updates have contributed immensely to the traffic loss of so many websites. You need to understand that many individuals’ livelihoods depended upon these websites, but that didn’t deter Google from penalizing them. Even the industry leaders, such as Forbes Advisor and G2, weren’t spared.
One thing is pretty clear that SEO isn’t dead, but evolving into a much more sophisticated practice that will reward your focus on satisfying the users. On the other hand, if you’re someone who thinks that building backlinks or doing technical optimization alone are sufficient, be prepared for Google’s impending penalty.
Your success depends a lot on good-quality content, which is crafted by first understanding the search intent of your target audience. Furthermore, your proactiveness to adapt to these volatile changes in the search behaviour and your adaptability in terms of the futuristic technology will ensure your success.
Let’s understand all of the reasons why digital marketers are saying SEO is dead:-
1. SERP Volatility
2024 was no less than a storm for the SEO industry. In case you’re part of this industry, you must have experienced it first-hand. Google released many core and spam updates to bring down the low-quality content in the search engine results pages(SERP). Due to this, there has been a lot of volatility on the SERP lately. There are some sites that gained so much traffic overnight, while there are many that saw huge drops in their rankings and traffic. There have also been some cases where there was some traffic loss, but they regained it in due time to get the growth they deserved. So this signifies how the search results are evolving. This means it’s part of an evolution and growth.
2. Google’s AI Overviews
Google’s AI overviews have become a time-saver for so many searchers as they provide quick, bite-sized answers to user queries. These answers appear right at the top of the SERP! Google is able to show these answers by fetching relevant information from different websites that are relevant to the user’s queries. The sole aim of Google is to make search work at the speed of light and even more convenient than it is right now.
However, seeing the other perspective of website owners might paint a grim picture for you. These overviews list the original links from which the information has been pulled. But most of the users don’t really feel the need to click on these results. Due to this, the organic search results are constantly declining, and you’re bound to see a lot more zero-click searches in the coming few days.
3. Consumer Search Behaviour
Consumer search behaviour has evolved a lot in the last few years, and it is still evolving as you read this content. Google is no longer the only place where you need to go to get answers to your queries. There are so many options that you can utilize to search for your queries. It includes the AI chatbots like ChatGPT & Perplexity. Some other options that you can explore are question-and-answer forums like Reddit and Quora. If you have some simple queries whose answers you need, these forums can be the ideal choice for you. You need to understand that this trend is only going to increase in the future and change the way people search. The shift from simple keyword searches to complex conversational queries has already begun.
4. AI-Generated Content
The growth of the presence of AI-generated content in the search results has literally been off the charts. At least 10% of the top-ranking articles for most industries and keywords were generated with the help of AI tools. You might think that this percentage is too small. But you need to focus on trends instead of the current stats.
How Can You Overcome These SEO Challenges?
Some of the ideas that you can implement to overcome these SEO challenges are as follows:-
1. Create Great Value Content
In case your website’s content isn’t providing something unique, chances are that it might not rank. If you’re serious about standing apart, your content must provide something that AI can’t copy. The most awesome websites use real experience and insights from the experts. The most distinctive thing about such websites is that they provide new perspectives that are laden with the right amount of information. Here are some of the things that you can do to create great value content are as follows:-
- Carry out original research by running surveys, analyzing the internal data, and even carrying out experiments.
- You can document the challenges you face, the results you get, and the lessons you learned.
- Collaborating with subject matter experts is surely going to add authority and depth to your content pieces.
2. Perform Regular Content Audits and Updates
The SERPs have never been this volatile, and that has everything to do with the regular Google updates, which are shuffling the rankings. It has caused many new competitors to appear, so you need to do your bit to lessen the impact. Here’s what you can do for the same:-
- Check the top-ranking pages for the most important keywords and adapt as and when the need arises.
- Incorporate as many personal insights as you can to make a big difference.
- Double down on small updates such as optimizing the keywords, meta descriptions, and internal links as well.
3. Measure, Test, and Adapt Your Content Strategy
When you don’t have enough resources, you need to focus on what will provide you with the best results. But, some approaches that you can follow are:-
- Look at the historical data to shape your content strategy. You can utilize the formats and topics that have provided great results in the past. At the same time, you must spend a lot less time on those content types that aren’t providing you with the results for your business goals.
- You can also track how users are converting at each stage of the funnel. If you can’t get your head around this, you’re bound to waste your resources.
- Experimentation is key, and it holds even more true when things are transforming swiftly. So, you can test ideas, learn from the results that you get, and even adapt.
- If your content isn’t getting any traffic, the chances of it converting your leads are minimal. That’s why you need to think beyond rankings and utilize different content distribution channels.
4. Use AI, but Do So Responsibly
There’s no point avoiding AI, but you need to ensure that you’re utilizing it in a responsible manner. Google’s main target is to punish low-quality content, and it doesn’t matter how it was created. This means that different approaches, like a human writing the content, using AI to create content, or following a mix of both, are all okay.
However, the output should follow Google’s EEAT principle, which includes experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. So, you need to treat AI as an assistant that can help you improve the quality of your content.
You can also combine AI tools with the varied SEO data that you have. Another approach can be to combine chatbots with the SEO software to get better results.
Final Thoughts: SEO Isn’t Dead
The bottom line is that SEO has died a lot of times before, but only for those whose brain cells are dead. You shouldn’t be surprised to hear the news of SEO dying in the future, as well. In fact, when Google Ads or featured snippets were introduced, the end of SEO was predicted at that time as well. But every time, SEO evolved into something new.
So, the big question is, how can you adjust your SEO strategy in 2025?
First things first, don’t leave the battlefield, but fight like an SEO warrior just like how you’ve done with your online competition. But, you still need to focus on the following aspects:-
- Create awesome content that not only satisfies the search intent but also has a unique voice.
- Stay proactive and be flexible enough to adapt to new technologies along with developing user search behaviours.
- Don’t depend just on Google to get your traffic.
- Experiment with different types of content formats.
- You can utilize AI tools to improve your marketing practices.
- Don’t forget to audit and even update your content according to the current demands to maintain relevance.
At last, you need to remember that the SEO techniques and tools might change, just as it has happened in the past. But, the main purpose will always remain the same, which is to help searchers get the information that they require.
Till the time people continue searching for answers to their queries online, SEO is going to be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. So, trust SEO in 2025, and you won’t be disappointed with the results you will get for your business.
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FAQs
Will SEO be replaced by AI?
SEO can’t be replaced with AI tools. However, some crucial SEO tasks can be automated with the help of AI, freeing up valuable time for strategizing.
How is SEO changing?
SEO is transforming because of the latest changes to the search engines’ algorithms and changing user preferences. If you want to get in-depth knowledge about how SEO is changing, book our free consultation now.