February 16, 2025
Is website positioning Lifeless in 2025? No, However Modifications Are Coming

Is website positioning lifeless in 2025? Merely put, no. But it surely’s evolving shortly—because it has executed many occasions earlier than.

One factor is for certain, nevertheless: 2024 was a tricky 12 months for SEOs.

Google’s AI overviews and core updates shook up search rankings. Watching rankings drop with out rationalization was irritating, leaving many questioning if website positioning even had a future.

Even heavyweights like Forbes Advisor and CNN weren’t spared. Personally, I’ve wrestled with SERP volatility too.

However this is the factor: new alternatives are rising from these disruptions.

And I’ve acquired knowledge and skilled insights to show it.

Is website positioning Lifeless?

No, nevertheless it’s going by large modifications.

First, Google’s absolute search monopoly is coming to an end—however not as quick as chances are you’ll suppose.

In response to recent data, Google nonetheless dominates, with 83.54% of the web searches.

However new gamers are rising. 

ChatGPT instructions 4.33% of searches, YouTube accounts for six.79%, and different platforms comparable to social media networks collectively signify 3.37% of search exercise.

Cross-platform share of search

After all, we are able to anticipate the share of non-traditional search engines like google and yahoo comparable to AI chatbots to develop.

And this shift is smart. 

AI chatbots present instant, personalised solutions, reasonably than making customers sift by hyperlinks. 

Nevertheless, Google’s place stays robust for a number of key causes:

  1. Google nonetheless processes billions of searches each day, sustaining its place as the first gateway to data on-line—and I don’t suppose it’ll lose its management within the upcoming years.
  2. AI instruments basically depend on human-created content material for coaching and responses. With out authentic content material being revealed and listed by search engines like google and yahoo, these AI fashions would don’t have anything to study from or reference.
  3. Google is not standing nonetheless. The corporate is actively innovating by integrating AI into search outcomes—for instance, with AI overviews and summaries. Whereas this creates new challenges for content material creators, it additionally alerts Google’s dedication to evolving the search expertise.

This confidence is backed by market efficiency—Google’s market worth grew from $1.76 trillion to $2.14 trillion in 2024 alone, marking a 22% improve on the peak of AI adoption.

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Supply: Oberlo

Secondly, Google itself is actively altering the foundations

All through 2024, we noticed many main algorithm updates centered on content material high quality and consumer expertise, such because the March 2024 core update:

Google 2024 updates

Even business giants weren’t immune—arge websites like Forbes Advisor and G2 misplaced important visitors after being penalized by Google.

However these modifications are literally benefiting many smaller companies. 

Our latest survey of 700+ Semrush customers exhibits that 78% nonetheless contemplate website positioning extraordinarily or very worthwhile for his or her firm.

Graph: How valuable is SEO for your business?

We additionally discovered that 62.9% of companies noticed website positioning enhancements previously six months of 2024 and solely 9.5% skilled visitors declines.

SEO performance in the last 6 months

All because of this website positioning is not lifeless—it is evolving right into a extra nuanced apply that rewards authenticity and experience over technical optimization alone. 

Success now requires high-quality authentic content material, a deeper understanding of consumer intent, and the flexibility to adapt to fast modifications in search conduct and know-how.

Why Do Individuals Say that website positioning Is Lifeless?

Let’s take a step again. 

What’s all of the fuss about? Why are we panicking?

Listed here are some main hurdles that we’ve been seeing within the website positioning business:

1. Modifications in Google Algorithms and SERP Volatility

The website positioning business has skilled main shake-ups in 2024.

When you’ve been maintaining a tally of the SERPs, you’ve in all probability observed it too. 

Google has rolled out a collection of core and spam updates over the previous few years to deliver down low-quality content material. 

And typically—sadly—it has additionally affected high-quality, related pages. 

Whereas Google is making an attempt to determine its algorithms, we’ve seen a lot of SERP volatility—particularly after main updates in March and November.

This has been a well-recognized image on Semrush’s Sensor instrument for some time now:

SERP volatility

Some websites gained visitors in a single day, whereas others noticed important drops. For instance, Forbes Advisor misplaced an insane quantity of visitors in a span of some months:

Forbes Advisor traffic drop

On the similar time, many websites like Housefresh.com recovered visitors after initially shedding it—and even skilled progress. 

Organic traffic recovery

I’ve additionally observed modifications straight within the SERPs, affecting how Google approaches search intent. 

For instance, key phrases associated to instruments (e.g., “Finest AI instruments”, “Finest picture turbines”, and so on.) noticed product pages change listicles.

Examine February 2024, when most outcomes for “AI instruments” have been weblog posts…

Changing SERPs example

…with November 2024, when the SERP was as a substitute dominated by instrument pages.

Changing SERPs example

This is only one instance of how search intent is evolving, and it’s occurring throughout the board.

What does this imply?

The volatility we’re seeing isn’t an indication of website positioning dying—it’s an indication of evolution.

As business skilled Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Advertising, explains:

Everybody, regardless of how massive or small, is seeing much less visitors over time. It’s the truth we have now to take care of. It’s essential be okay with it and adapt to remain within the recreation. When you rely upon visitors, it should go down. However it should nonetheless occur, and perhaps develop into extra centered.

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Advertising

2. Google’s AI Overviews Stealing Clicks 

Google’s AI Overviews present fast solutions to consumer queries and seem proper on the prime of the search web page. 

For instance, if you happen to search “what’s generative AI?”, Google immediately exhibits a solution by pulling data from varied web sites. 

AI Overviews

The aim is to make search quicker and extra handy for customers.

However for web sites, it’s a unique story. 

Whereas these overviews embrace hyperlinks to the unique sources, many customers don’t really feel the necessity to click on by.

Consequently, natural search would possibly proceed to lower and we’ll see extra zero-click searches. 

However this case presents extra alternatives than it may appear:

  • AI Overviews nonetheless drive model consciousness and visibility, even with out (or with fewer) direct clicks
  • AI summaries work finest for primary data—they cannot change detailed guides which have steps, examples, and directions
  • AI Overviews appear to favor content material from two principal sources: established model names and pages with high-quality authentic content material (comparable to distinctive knowledge or analysis). Specializing in these areas may provide help to improve your visibility there. 

One of many key points is that we nonetheless wrestle to quantify and observe clicks and impressions from AI Overviews. 

As Ann Smarty factors out:

It’s obscure what customers are clicking on. Was it an AI overview? Natural search? One thing else? Measuring visitors and clicks has develop into hectic.

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Advertising

Whereas we await analytics instruments to adapt to the brand new actuality, you possibly can nonetheless observe different metrics.

For instance, Ann recommends specializing in branded search as a key efficiency indicator:

When folks begin looking for your model, it’s a fantastic sign that your technique is working. It exhibits you’re being highlighted throughout channels, even in locations we are able to’t measure constantly but.
 

Ann Smarty, co-founder of Smarty Advertising

The expansion of your branded search is a powerful indicator of whether or not your website positioning technique is working or not.

3. Shifts in Client Search Habits 

As we mentioned earlier, client search conduct is evolving.

Google is not the only go-to for solutions. 

As an alternative, persons are turning to numerous platforms, together with AI chatbots, comparable to ChatGPT and Perplexity, in addition to boards comparable to Reddit and Quora—particularly for easy queries.

And whereas this development will proceed to develop, what’s actually altering is how folks search. 

We’re seeing a shift from easy key phrases to complicated, conversational queries. For instance, reasonably than looking “finest laptop computer 2025,” customers now ask detailed questions like “What’s the very best laptop computer for video enhancing below $2000 with good battery life?”

This shift is creating distinct content material alternatives:

  • Primary data and fast solutions are transferring to AI
  • Detailed guides, skilled evaluation, and authentic analysis nonetheless drive important search visitors
  • Product comparisons and different content material that influences shopping for choices will stay necessary in conventional search—and so will expertise-driven content material

And as I discussed earlier than, all AI instruments are solely pretty much as good because the content material they’re skilled on.

As Sergei Rogulin, Semrush’s Head of website positioning, factors out:

Search visitors will decline, however Google and different LLMs will nonetheless want human content material. AI must be skilled on new content material. And we’ll see the way it’ll unfold so that folks keep motivated to put in writing new content material. That is in the long term, although.
 

Sergei Rogulin, Semrush’s Head of website positioning

On prime of that, recent research by ProRankTracker revealed an necessary perception: your Google and Bing rankings considerably influence your visibility in AI instruments. 

Their examine discovered that 45% of top-ranking Google pages (and 63% of Bing pages) appeared in ChatGPT net outcomes. For Perplexity AI, 63% of top-ranking Google URLs appeared as sources. 

This knowledge means that robust website positioning efficiency may straight affect your visibility throughout AI platforms—making good website positioning extra necessary, not much less.

4. The Rise of AI-Generated Content material

On the similar time, we’re seeing increasingly AI content material in search outcomes.

Our evaluation of the highest 20 SERP outcomes for over 20,000 key phrases confirmed that 8% of top-ranking articles have been AI-generated in October 2024. 

Whereas this quantity remains to be small, it is rising steadily. 

AI content in search results

Supply: Originality.ai

However this is what’s attention-grabbing: firms that use AI strategically are seeing outstanding outcomes. 

Our analysis of 700+ companies revealed that when AI is used as a instrument reasonably than a substitute for human experience, it could possibly truly improve website positioning efficiency. 

The info backs this up: 39% of entrepreneurs noticed elevated natural visitors when creating content material with AI help. And 33% report it performing higher than purely human-written content material.

The results of using AI to create content

The key? Profitable firms aren’t simply feeding prompts into ChatGPT and hitting Publish. As an alternative, they’re:

  • Beginning with authentic analysis and skilled insights
  • Utilizing AI to generate first drafts, construction, and optimize content material
  • Having human editors refine and personalize the output
  • Including real-world examples and case research

In actual fact, 73% of profitable firms use a mix of AI and human writing, with solely 5% counting on AI alone.

As Ross Simmonds, CEO of Basis Advertising, places it:

I believe AI is the equal of spell examine right now. It is one thing each creator ought to contemplate as a part of their toolkit to be extra environment friendly and efficient at prioritizing the areas they should deal with. This ensures their voice is coming throughout, their message is evident, and the story they’re telling is fascinating and uniquely theirs.

Ross Simmonds, CEO of Basis Advertising

5. Modifications within the website positioning and Content material Advertising Job Markets

Nevertheless, there’s a draw back to this development.

Sure, companies are more and more utilizing AI to supply content material quicker and at scale.

However this shift is impacting jobs in website positioning and content material advertising.

Within the first quarter of 2024, website positioning job listings dropped by 37% 12 months on 12 months. This implies that firms could also be leaning extra on AI and fewer on conventional website positioning roles.

SEO Jobs listings

It’s not simply website positioning roles which might be being affected. Content material advertising jobs are additionally below stress. 

In response to a 2025 Content Marketing Institute study, one in three entrepreneurs reported that their firm let go of crew members previously 12 months.

On prime of this, discovering advertising jobs has develop into more and more tough.

68% of entrepreneurs imagine it’s more durable to discover a advertising job now than it was 5 years in the past.

Content marketing job market perceptions

Most blame monetary or financial pressures (75%) and harder competitors (69%).

Nevertheless, 33% of entrepreneurs say AI is straight chargeable for these challenges.

What impacts content marketing jobs

How will you tackle these challenges and maintain your profession afloat? The hot button is to evolve alongside AI reasonably than resisting it.

Whereas AI can write content material and do key phrase analysis, probably the most worthwhile entrepreneurs right now transcend these primary abilities. They:

  • Develop complete advertising methods aligned with enterprise targets
  • Create data-driven content material plans that drive conversions, not simply visitors
  • Construct thought management by authentic analysis and business experience
  • Use AI to reinforce productiveness, whereas specializing in high-impact initiatives

How You Can Overcome These website positioning Challenges

So, what are you able to do to adapt to those modifications? Listed here are a couple of concepts.

1. Create Internet-New Worth Content material

In case your content material doesn’t provide one thing distinctive, it gained’t rank—and even make it into AI summaries. 

To face out, your content material should ship worth that AI can’t replicate. 

The most effective pages leverage actual expertise, skilled evaluation, and distinctive knowledge. Most significantly, they supply recent views—providing opinions and insights alongside helpful data.

This may very well be your crew’s hands-on expertise with a brand new know-how, knowledge out of your newest buyer survey, or your skilled predictions about the place your business is heading. 

Listed here are some examples of what you are able to do.

Carry out Authentic Analysis

Create content material based mostly on knowledge that nobody else has. Run surveys, analyze inside knowledge, or conduct experiments.

As an example, my crew performed a three-layer examine to find out if AI-generated content material can rank on Google.

Can AI content rank on Google? Research example

The info from this analysis is powering a number of content material items—together with the one you are studying now.It additionally helps us to draw consideration organically and usher in new web site guests.

The most effective half? We used our personal proprietary knowledge and surveyed our personal customers to place this collectively.

Doc Actual-World Experiences

Share particular challenges, outcomes, and classes you’ve realized.

Backlinko’s weblog submit, “How to Create a Content Brief,” is a superb instance. It explains how their crew creates content material briefs for his or her writers—one thing AI won’t ever be capable to replicate.

.

What is a content brief? Original piece example

Collaborate with Consultants

Don’t depend on writers to analysis all the pieces, particularly when it’s not their area. 

Herald material specialists (SMEs) so as to add credibility and depth. These may very well be your personal workers, business thought leaders, and even purchasers.

For instance, I interviewed Ann Smarty (Co-Founding father of Smarty Advertising) and Ross Simmonds (CEO of Basis Advertising) to gasoline our AI website positioning analysis.

I then included their concepts into our content material:

Adding expert opinions - example

2. Carry out Common Content material Audits and Updates

SERPs are extra unstable than ever, with frequent Google updates reshuffling rankings. 

It’s a widely discussed topic on LinkedIn nowadays:

Post about SERP volatility

Sadly for me, I’ve even seen this firsthand.

For instance, I create loads of content material about AI, an business that’s continually evolving. 

One in every of my pages dropped from positions 1-3 down to twenty in only a few days, inflicting insane visitors fluctuations.

Traffic fluctuations

Why? 

The SERPs have been shifting: new opponents appeared, and instantly my content material wasn’t as recent because it wanted to be.

The answer? 

Frequent updates. In much less unstable industries, updates are often much less frequent.

I’ve revisited that very same piece a number of occasions over the previous six months, and continually added new insights from my first-hand expertise with AI instruments.

Every replace helped the piece regain its rating and maintain it related.

Right here’s what I like to recommend doing:

  • Regulate SERPs and search intent: Search outcomes change quick. I’ve realized to examine the top-ranking pages for necessary key phrases often. If the intent shifts and my content material turns into outdated, I adapt it accordingly.
  • Add private insights: AI instruments can summarize present knowledge, however what they will’t do is share your distinctive experiences. I’ve discovered that including real-world examples or classes from my very own work could make an enormous distinction.
  • Optimize for search engines like google and yahoo alongside the way in which: Every time I replace, I revisit key phrases, meta descriptions, and inside hyperlinks. These small updates have helped my pages stay aggressive.

3. Measure, Take a look at, and Adapt Your Content material Technique

When assets are restricted, deal with what is going to ship the very best outcomes. Earlier than making a free instrument or useful resource web page to draw visitors, ask your self:

“Will it convert sufficient customers (or attain one other goal) to justify the trouble?”

Predicting this may be powerful, particularly with natural visitors or weblog posts. However not not possible.

Monitor Historic Knowledge

First, have a look at previous efficiency:

  • Has any such content material labored properly earlier than?
  • Does this viewers drive conversions?

Then take this knowledge to form your content material technique: double down on codecs and matters which have confirmed to drive outcomes, and spend much less time on content material sorts that do not transfer the needle for your enterprise targets.

Perceive Conversion Throughout the Funnel

Subsequent, observe how customers convert at every stage of the funnel. With out this understanding, assets can go to waste.

On my crew, we collaborate with UX designers and product homeowners to watch efficiency at each touchpoint, and modify content material experiences accordingly.

For instance, our designer helped add varied conversion factors to our free instruments:

CRO on free tools

This knowledge helps us make smarter choices and repeatedly enhance our content material efficiency.

Run Experiments

Experimentation is crucial, particularly when issues are altering shortly. Take a look at new concepts, study from the outcomes, and adapt.

For instance, HubSpot appears to have shifted to writing within the first individual after inside experiments confirmed it higher aligned with Google’s E-E-A-T requirements.

Most of their articles now deal with displaying first-hand expertise:

HubSpot's articles with first-hand perspectives

Plan Distribution Early

Content material that doesn’t get any visitors gained’t convert anybody. And whereas website positioning nonetheless works, it’s a long-term recreation—and a really unstable one.

So attempt to suppose past rankings and add extra content material distribution channels to your combine.

For instance, Andy Crestodina, the founding father of Orbit Media, has been getting nice outcomes together with his LinkedIn newsletter

Even with website positioning fluctuations, it helped him generate visitors and engagement for Orbit Media (I imply, over 200k subscribers):

Andy's LinkedIn newsletter

4. Use AI, however Do So Responsibly

You don’t have to keep away from AI—simply be sure to’re utilizing it responsibly. Google does not penalize AI content material: it targets low-quality content material, no matter the way it’s created.

What does that imply?

AI shouldn’t change your writers. Nor do you have to ignore AI and worry utilizing it. As an alternative, deal with it as an assistant that helps you enhance your content material’s high quality. 

For instance, 73% of Semrush customers we surveyed mix AI with human writing:

How do you primarily create content? AI SEO research

Apart from, they use AI instruments for all types of duties, from discovering content material concepts to creating preliminary content material drafts:

How businesses use AI for content and SEO

It’s additionally necessary to mix AI instruments with website positioning knowledge. Bear in mind, most instruments comparable to ChatGPT don’t truly provide real-time aggressive knowledge on key phrases and SERPs.

You’ll be able to both mix such chatbots with website positioning software program or use specialised AI website positioning instruments. 

For instance, our ContentShake AI app makes use of Semrush’s real-time knowledge that can assist you create high-ranking content material.

It generates article drafts that incorporate your goal key phrases, use authentic data, and take search intent insights under consideration.

ContentShake AI content creation

You’ll be able to then manually improve these drafts by including authentic insights, increasing the content material utilizing AI chat, producing AI photos, bettering readability, and extra.

ContentShake AI content creation

Ann Smarty sums it up properly:

“Utilizing AI is totally nice—so long as it is a part of a considerate course of. Once we work with writers, we often present briefs with inputs from material specialists or analysis. 

Writers can use these inputs with AI instruments to put in writing quicker, nevertheless it nonetheless includes about 50% AI and 50% human effort, together with writing and enhancing. The hot button is stability. Creating all the pieces from scratch in a single click on and hoping it really works doesn’t make sense. 

Zero AI tolerance insurance policies typically really feel like stubbornness to me—AI, when used responsibly, is simply one other instrument to get higher outcomes.”

5. Develop Your Advertising Skillset

I maintain seeing headlines like this in all places: “Content material writing is lifeless.” “website positioning jobs are disappearing.” “AI will change all entrepreneurs.”

LinkedIn comment - are content writers finished?

The fact is far more nuanced. 

Sure, in case your solely talent is writing primary articles or plugging key phrases into content material, AI instruments can now deal with these duties.

However profitable advertising has at all times been about far more than that.

The hot button is to evolve from being only a content material creator or website positioning specialist to turning into a strategic advertising skilled who can see the larger image. 

Deal with understanding enterprise technique, viewers wants, and the right way to create actually distinctive content material that drives outcomes.

Consider it this fashion: AI may also help you write quicker, however it could possibly’t inform you what content material your viewers wants, the way it suits into your advertising funnel, or the right way to measure its enterprise influence. 

These strategic abilities have gotten extra worthwhile, not much less.

The Backside Line: website positioning Is not Lifeless—It is Evolving (Once more)

Let’s put issues in perspective: website positioning has supposedly “died” many occasions earlier than. 

Whether or not it was the introduction of Google Advertisements, featured snippets, or video content material, every new growth was predicted to be the tip of website positioning. 

But every time, website positioning tailored and developed—simply because it’s doing now with AI. 

How will you modify to this and thrive in 2025?

Don’t run from the modifications. Embrace them—whereas sustaining deal with these elementary rules: 

  • Create genuinely worthwhile content material that serves human intent and gives a singular perspective
  • Keep agile and able to adapt to new applied sciences and search behaviors 
  • Diversify your visitors sources and content material codecs 
  • Use AI as a instrument to reinforce, not change, your advertising efforts
  • Frequently audit and replace your content material to take care of relevance

Bear in mind: whereas the instruments and methods of website positioning could change, its core goal stays the identical—serving to folks discover the data they want. 

So long as folks proceed looking for solutions on-line, website positioning will stay an necessary a part of digital advertising technique (at the least in some kind).