It’s 2025, So SEO is Dead. Right?…Right!?
Here we are just about a week into the new year and the articles about SEO being dead or dying are already coming out. I’ve been in this industry for a long time now and I’m fairly certain that this has been said pretty much every year. Call me someone who only views the world through their non-augmented rose-colored glasses, or maybe I’m just an old man yelling at the clouds, but I’m still of the opinion that these declarations are overblown. Yes, things are changing, but that’s just the nature of the world, fam (I use that word so my kids will think I’m cool). Over the past 20 years I’ve seen SEO change and evolve just as search engines and people’s behavior have. As Charles Darwin once said “Turn and face the strange, ch-ch-changes”. Maybe that was David Bowie… Anyway, what I’m getting at is that SEO isn’t dead. I think this is where I’m supposed to add that Mark Twain quote that everyone uses in these things. Nah, I’m not that cliche.
SEO Snake Oil
Years ago, when “SEO experts” would talk about the death of SEO, I’d think to myself “Oh <bleep>! What should I do!?” In no time, these same “experts” (maybe we’d call them influencers now) would have some tool you could use or weird new thing to do (anyone remember rank sculpting?) that would help keep SEO alive for you. Eventually I learned what many of you may have as well, that these experts were full of <bleep>. I’m not saying they were all charlatans, but a lot were saying whatever would get them money and clicks. Don’t worry, I fully realize the irony of saying that when I’m sitting here writing a blog post about SEO, presumably to garner clicks. Once I got out of the mindset the “experts” were trying to sell me, I looked back at what I was doing and understood that SEO wasn’t “one weird trick” or “gaming the system”, it was giving people the information that mattered to them and presenting it in a way that search engines and people could understand.
So, where am I going with this? Those core tenants are not changing. Our job as SEOers… SEOians… SEOites… folks who do SEO, is to make it so people can find information that is relevant to them. How we go about that is changing, but not the fundamentals. What is changing, then? Right now, the changes are being driven by AI and the way it’s changing how information is being presented and somewhat, how people are searching. Let’s take a look at those changes, what some people at Google are saying, and what isn’t changing.
What’s Changing with SEO
AI has become the big disruptor in the world of search. It’s not just the flashy chatbots and virtual assistants we’re talking about anymore (sorry Siri), it’s the behind-the-scenes tech like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which is making search results more dynamic and conversational. With this, search engines are better equipped to provide direct answers to complex queries, pulling information from a vast array of sources. Sundar Pichai himself has said that search will change “profoundly” by 2025, with AI leading the charge.
What does this mean for SEO? For starters, natural language processing (NLP) is influencing how content is evaluated and ranked. Keywords alone won’t cut it anymore, and in my opinion haven’t since Google rolled out EEAT. The intent behind the query is what matters even more than ever. It’s about creating content that not only aligns with user intent but also stands out in a landscape where AI can surface the most relevant data in seconds.
Furthermore, the prominence of organic search results has been shrinking, with features like AI-powered summaries, knowledge panels, and featured snippets taking center stage. But does that mean SEO is dead? Nope. It just means that the playing field is shifting, and we need to adapt.
What Isn’t Changing with SEO
Despite the shiny AI toys, the fundamentals of SEO remain rock solid. At its core, SEO is still about making sure the right information gets to the right people. This means creating crawlable, indexable, and relevant content that answers real-world questions. Sure, AI might be better at answering “What’s the weather like in Kansas today?” (We just finished getting 12 inches of snow as I write this, if you care) or “Who won the World Series in 2023?” (Apparently it was the Texas Rangers, but I don’t follow baseball) but it can’t do everything.
For instance, AI isn’t booking appointments for a plumber to fix your sink or enrolling someone in a nursing program at their local college. Home service companies and colleges, amongst others, still rely on good ol’ SEO to help potential customers and students find them. If someone is searching for “HVAC repair near me” or “nursing programs in California,” your website needs to show up—and not just show up but stand out. AI may help answer broad informational queries, but when it comes to transactions or making personal connections, people still need to find a company or school to trust.
The Role of SEO in 2025 and Beyond
So, where does that leave us? SEO isn’t going anywhere, but it’s evolving. We’re no longer just optimizing for search engines; we’re optimizing for an ecosystem where search, AI, and human behavior collide. It’s about understanding not just what people are searching for but how and why they’re searching.
As SEOs, our job is to stay ahead of the curve while sticking to the basics. That means:
- Creating content that answers specific, high-intent queries that is relevant and important to our audiences.
- Making sure our websites are technically sound, easy to navigate, well organized, and structured in a way people and bots can find the information they want.
- Understanding how AI integrates with search and using that knowledge to craft better strategies.
Ultimately, AI might change the “how,” but it won’t change the “why.” People still need information, services, and solutions to their problems, and SEO remains a key part of making those connections.
So, to the folks writing the yearly obituaries for SEO: maybe hang onto that pen or keyboard or stylus or, for some of them, finger paint. SEO isn’t dead, it’s just evolving, as it always has. And if history is any indication, we’ll adapt and thrive, just like we have every time someone declared the end was nigh. After all, there’s still work to do, and that work, dear friends, is the art and science of SEO.
Note: All videos in this post were created using Sora AI.
