With unprecedented changes, fast evolving algorithm updates, and a tight nit competition for visibility, the search engine is witnessing a revolutionary era that can drive millions of brands without understanding of the key SEO trends, completely out of business.
Understandably, staying on top of the latest trends in search engine optimization can be quite tricky, to drive actual and consistent growth for your business yet this is a non-negotiable requirement that must be met.
So, considering that most small businesses are not aware of the next steps to take to position their brands for improved visibility, I’ll be putting together in this guide, a comprehensive list of the top SEO trends and commentary based on expert opinion, search engine updates in previous years and our own experience working in the SEO industry for more than 7 years.
This guide will offer valuable insights and key guidelines on how to navigate your way to build a more competitive, resilient and profitable business.
Create a Great User Experience (UX)
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Over the years, User experience has become a crucial factor in search engine optimization. And in this year, it is getting even more prominent as one of the top SEO trends in 2025 that cannot be ignored.
In recent times, search engines like Google are getting more focused on delivering the best experience to its search engine users. And for this reason, the search engines are rewarding websites that prioritizes better user experiences with higher visibility.
Outside that, it is important to note that Core Web Vitals, an algorithm used in measuring a website’s speed, responsiveness and visual stability has become part of the key ranking factors in the past few years.
And with this in place, to get a more successful outcome for your search optimization efforts, it is now crucial to work on optimizing your page load times, mobile responsiveness and making the most out of the overall usability of our website.
Prioritize Mobile-First Indexing
Considering that majority of search engine traffic originate from mobile devices, search engine giants like Google have made mobile-first indexing a priority. And this is still one of the top SEO trends in this year and beyond.
With this in mind, you want to work on ensuring that your website is responsive, that it loads fast, quickly and provides a seamless user experience for mobile users.
Outside this, you also want to use a mobile friendly design for the website, while ensuring that your website’s navigation is easy and intuitive as doing this will improve your search visibility as well as encourage better conversions.
Avoid Spammy & Automated Content
In 2022, Google initiated the Helpful Content Update, targeted at getting publishers to create human focused content as compared to content specifically created to influence search rankings.
With the 2024 March core update, the HCU effectively became a part of the algorithm, helping Google classify content even better with the latest updates.
The March 2024 update introduced an era where content quality became a key ranking factors for content visibility thus making it a key part of the SEO trends in that year.
With that update, a number of websites were affected. I could count a handful of websites we worked on that were directly impacted by this update.
Although some of these websites eventually managed to evolve out of the classifier after some more recent updates that year, some of the sites could not recover the level of traffic and visibility they had prior to the update.
To keep things coming on pretty good for your brand, create content focused on providing genuine value for your audience.
Avoid at scale generated content, AI only content, thin content, low value content etc. as these kind of content will not deliver on your expected outcomes.
Embark on Strategic Link Building
Link building has evolved to become a key ranking factors for websites over the years. This is one of the reasons why it has continued to stay relevant as a key part of the SEO trends in the years past, including this year.
In particular, during the last algorithm updates, spammy links were considered a huge factor in de-ranking some websites. We noticed this with some specific websites we were working with. This identifier led to a remarkable reduction in visibility for these websites.
Starting with the March 2024 updates, websites with backlinks traced to spammy or low quality websites were given less prominence in search ranking.
For some particular websites, instead of specific back links leading to improvement in website positioning, they actually impacted the target website negatively with reduced visibility on the search engine.
Now, based on the recent updates, the role of backlinks in page ranking and domain authority is not about to reduce in any way.
So, as you embark on creating backlinks in the current year, you want to pay attention to your link sources. Instead of making efforts to get backlinks from just about any website, take steps to be very strategic about your backlink building effort.
Prioritize links from websites with lower spam scores. Avoid comment farms as much as possible.
Additionally, disavow all suspected spammy links to your website, if you already have them.
Improve your E_E-A-T & Credibility
One of the goals of the search engines is to deliver reliable and authoritative content to users. For this reason it is focused on evolving algorithms to measure the credibility, authenticity and authoritativeness of content published online.
A few years ago, Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) became evolved as part of the top ranking factors for Google.
Over the years, this factor has remained crucial as one of the key visibility influencers for content and websites thus making optimization for E.E.A.T one of the top SEO trends in the past year, even to the current year.
Right now, getting your EEAT sorted is becoming even more crucial as publishers are expected to create content on subject matters they have direct experience and expertise on, in a way that will demonstrate their trustworthiness.
So, you want to work on building a strong online reputation by establishing yourself as an authority in your niche. And beyond that, demonstrate this through your content.
This might mean sharing your experiences through your content, earning quality backlinks, and consistently delivering valuable, well-researched content which will in the long run lead to a boost on your visibility and credibility.
In addition to that, pay attention to your online reputation. Things like reviews, testimonials etc. are social credibility signals that can boost your prominence both before your audience and search engine tools.
Work on Video & Visual Optimization
In particular, video content has experienced an explosive growth in recent times thus positioning videos as one of the preferred content formats for users.
This new reality has made video optimization one of the top SEO trends in 2025. So, as much as possible, you want to optimize your videos for search engine visibility.
Using the right keywords, metadata and descriptions, engaging thumbnails and relevant transcripts, you can optimize your video for enhanced visibility on the search engines.
This also applies to Images. With evolution in image recognition technology and increasing adoption of visual search, more people are getting to search for images directly on the web.
With this in mind, work on Incorporating descriptive alt tags to your images. Use your preferred key words as part of the image title or description. And finally, be sure that all images used alongside your content are well optimized.
Diversify your Traffic Sources
2024 was a roller coaster year for most SEO experts and website publishers, with algorithm update changes staying on top of SEO trends for the most part of the year.
With back to back updates from the Google, the world’s frontline search engine provider, a number of websites and small businesses largely impacted by the periodic updates were run out of business.
Understandably, Google still commands the largest share of web search and the largest volume of visibility by number of visits for most businesses however, Google as a private business will always have its own business goals and objectives which may not necessarily be always favourable to other businesses.
With that said, you want to have some better say over your business to maintain a sort of certainty that will help you in getting consistent results for your business.
And one of the ways to create such consistency is to diversify your traffic sources. Instead of relying on a single source, take steps to create as much sources of visibility and website traffic to your business as possible.
Think about utilizing traffic sources like Social Media, Third Party Search engines, Optimizing for visibility in AI generative answers, opting for paid advertising etc.
Getting this in place will not only diversify your traffic, it will as well improve your overall visibility, website visits and brand ROI.
Final Words
In this year and beyond, SEO will continue to be a dynamic and essential aspect of marketing for businesses. By understanding and implementing these top SEO trends as part of your strategy, you will set the stage for a better success for your business.
Outside what you just learned here, consider optimizing for AI search visibility and overall search overview as it evolves and of course, pay attention to SEO trends as it changes through the year.
To get an even better SEO performance results for your business, hire our experts to have a look at your business. You can also sign up for one of our digital trainings to get equipped with the skills you need to set up your business for massive success.
Now it’s your turn! What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to SEO optimization for businesses? Drop your comments below!
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