My SEO in 2025 Predictions/Thoughts

As we move into 2025, I’ve been reflecting on how the role of search engines in the user journey is changing—and what this means for SEO strategies moving forward.

Search engines are no longer the first touchpoint for many users. Instead, platforms like TikTok, Amazon, and even large language models (LLMs) are becoming the go-to for initial inspiration, product reviews, and discovery.

Search engines are evolving into tools used later in the process for deeper research, price comparisons, and validation.

The role of the Search Engine in the user-journey is changing.

Users often begin their journey on platforms like TikTok, an LLM, or Amazon, gathering initial inspiration or reviews. Search engines are no longer the first touchpoint but a later-stage tool for deeper research.

Search engines, while still valuable, are likely to evolve into tools used later in the decision-making process, focused on deeper research, price comparisons, and validation of information.

This anticipated shift means brands will need to adapt their strategies to remain competitive, prioritizing visibility and engagement across emerging touchpoints.

From creating content optimized for discovery platforms to anticipating intent-based queries for search engines, businesses will need to meet users wherever they are in their journey.

This multi-channel approach will demand a greater emphasis on seamless messaging and consistent experiences, ensuring users are supported as they transition between platforms and stages of decision-making.

Is year-on-year traffic growth (in all niches) going to be possible?

Building off the previous point, users are using more than just Search Engines to engage with the internet.

For example, looking at a national courier website (according to Ahrefs) the page driving most traffic outside of the homepage is the page targeting "man with a van" type queries.

The data suggests it receives 8.6k organic traffic per month, which is 15.9% of the total site traffic. Breaking down the keywords driving traffic, the top 3:

| Keyword                                        | MSV   | Est. Traffic              |
|--------------------------------------|--------|---------------------|
| "man with a van near me"             | 2,800  | 1,449                     |
| "moving van"                                 | 2,500  | 619                       |
| "man with a van near me              | 2,000   | 585                       |        

So roughly 30% of the page traffic is driven by 3 keywords. Using Glimpse, we can see the past 5 years trends of these terms, and the forecast for next year:

"man with a van near me" - Down 43% YoY in 2024, projected down 61% in 2025.

Base on this projection, estimated traffic for this term will decrease from ~1,400 per month to ~550 per month.

"moving van" - Up 9% YoY in 2024, projected to be up 3% in 2025.

This would be a positive trend, from ~619 to ~637.

"man and van near me" - Down 50% YoY in 2024, projected down 38% in 2025.

If the projection is true, this would reduce estimated traffic from ~585 to ~293 per month.

Even with the positive trend for one of the terms, if all other variables stay the same - traffic will move for these three combined terms from ~2,653 per month to ~1,477 per month - which would be an annual loss of 15,071 for the single page.

Without substantial ranking improvement, or ranking for a much broader spectrum of search terms for this single page, it isn't likely that year-on-year organic traffic growth for this page would be possible - but as it's core to the business, maintaining visibility and a significant percentage of the market share is important.

This ties back to users using other channels for discover, and this means you need to understand the different channels and platforms your target audience over-index on. Taking the main term here "man with a van near me", the answer here is Facebook.

Ensuring SEO is part of an integrated marketing communications strategy is crucial because it aligns search visibility with broader messaging, driving consistent brand presence across all channels and maximizing the impact of marketing efforts.

We need to be more cognizant of Google tests.

We need to stay more aware of Google’s ongoing tests, especially as they adapt Search to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

For example, Google is implementing over 20 changes to how Search operates to meet DMA requirements. Currently, they are testing significant modifications to search engine results pages (SERPs) in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, focusing on how these changes impact Travel searches and user behavior.

This also ties into the potential outcomes of the DOJ case against Google.

Labeled as “three times a monopolist,” Google could face significant consequences, including the possibility of being forced to sell Chrome.

This raises concerns about how Chrome data may currently influence Google’s search rankings and what impact its separation could have on the broader search ecosystem.

It's time to be calm about Google updates.

It’s time to approach Google updates with a calm, strategic mindset.

While it’s essential to keep clients informed about ongoing changes, we must also clearly communicate the potential risks and their impact.

This is where the Torino scale can be a useful framework, helping to quantify and contextualize the level of disruption an update might cause, enabling more measured and actionable responses.

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