SEO Is Not Dead. But the 2022 Playbook Is.
Every year someone declares that SEO is dead. Every year they are wrong. Organic search still drives more website traffic than any other channel, and companies that rank on page one for commercial-intent keywords still get the calls.
What has changed is how Google determines who ranks. The old formula — write a 2,000-word blog post, stuff in some keywords, build 50 backlinks — does not work anymore. In some cases, it actively hurts. Google has gotten significantly smarter about content quality, user intent, and expertise signals.
Here is a practical, no-nonsense assessment of what has changed in SEO in 2025 and what you should do about it.
The Big Shift: AI Overviews and Click-Through Rates
Google's AI Overviews — the AI-generated summaries at the top of search results — are the most significant change to search since mobile. For informational queries ("what is SEO?", "how does a heat pump work?"), Google now answers the question directly in the search results. The user does not need to click through to your website.
The impact on traffic is real. Informational queries that used to drive significant organic traffic are producing 30-50% fewer clicks than they did two years ago. That is a meaningful hit for companies whose SEO strategy was built primarily around informational content.
What this means for your strategy:
Commercial and transactional queries still work. When someone searches "marketing agency for HVAC companies" or "fractional CMO services," they are looking for a provider, not an answer. Google cannot satisfy that intent with an AI summary. These queries still drive clicks, visits, and leads.
Informational content is now a branding play. Your content may appear in AI Overviews, which gives you brand visibility even without the click. It still has value, but the value is different — it is about being cited and recognized, not about driving traffic.
Middle-of-funnel content is more important than ever. Comparison pages ("Agency vs. fractional CMO"), buying guides ("How to choose an SEO agency"), and content targeting people in the decision phase drive qualified traffic that converts.
Practical shift: allocate more of your content strategy toward bottom-of-funnel, commercial-intent topics and less toward broad informational content. The informational content still has a role in your overall presence, but it should not be the majority of your investment.
Content Quality Standards Are Higher
Google's Helpful Content Updates over the past two years have fundamentally changed what ranks. The old model — produce massive quantities of SEO-optimized content targeting every possible keyword — has been replaced by a quality-over-quantity standard.
What Google rewards in 2025:
Experience and expertise (E-E-A-T). Google wants to rank content written by people who actually know what they are talking about. Author bylines, author bios with credentials, content backed by first-hand experience — these signals matter more than they used to.
A blog post about "how to run Google Ads" written by someone who manages $5M in annual ad spend, with real examples and specific numbers, will outrank a generic article written by someone who read about Google Ads on another blog. The gap between these two types of content is wider than ever.
Original data and analysis. Content that includes original research, proprietary data, unique case studies, or novel analysis outperforms content that summarizes what is already available elsewhere. If your blog post says the same thing as 50 other blog posts on the same topic, Google has no reason to rank yours.
Comprehensive coverage of the topic. This does not mean long content for the sake of length. It means thoroughly addressing the user's intent. If someone searches "how much does a roof replacement cost," they want actual numbers, broken down by material and region, not 2,000 words of filler with a vague conclusion of "it depends."
What Google penalizes: thin content, AI-generated content without human editorial oversight, content that exists only to target keywords without providing genuine value, and content on topics outside your demonstrated expertise.
Technical SEO Still Matters — Maybe More Than Ever
While content strategy has evolved, technical SEO fundamentals have not changed much. They have just become table stakes. If your site is slow, mobile-unfriendly, or poorly structured, no amount of great content will save you.
The technical checklist for 2025:
Core Web Vitals. Google's page experience metrics — Largest Contentful Paint (loading), First Input Delay (interactivity), and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability). These directly affect rankings. Most sites that score poorly on these metrics have image optimization issues, too much JavaScript, or hosting that is too slow.
Mobile-first indexing. Google uses the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing. If your mobile experience is significantly worse than desktop, your rankings will reflect the mobile version. We cover the full list of conversion killers in why your website is not converting. Check your mobile experience with real testing on actual phones, not just Chrome DevTools.
Site architecture. Flat, logical site structures with clear internal linking help Google understand your content and pass authority between pages. Deep, complex architectures where important pages are 4+ clicks from the homepage tend to underperform.
Schema markup. Structured data helps Google understand what your pages are about and can produce rich snippets in search results. FAQ schema, review schema, and local business schema are the most impactful for most businesses.
Security and accessibility. HTTPS, proper redirects, no broken links, accessible design. These are not glamorous, but they are foundational.
Link Building Is Different (But Still Necessary)
Backlinks still matter. A page with quality backlinks from authoritative sites will outrank a similar page without them. What has changed is what counts as a quality backlink and how to earn them.
What works in 2025:
- Original research and data. Publish something worth citing and people will cite it. This is the most reliable link building strategy and the least spammy.
- Expert commentary. Being quoted as an expert source in industry publications. HARO and similar journalist-source platforms still work.
- Partnerships and collaborations. Co-authored content, joint webinars, guest appearances on podcasts — these produce natural, relevant links.
- Digital PR. Getting your company covered in news outlets, industry publications, and blogs through genuine newsworthy activity.
- Mass-produced guest posts on low-quality sites
- Buying links from link farms or PBNs (private blog networks)
- Directory submissions to hundreds of irrelevant directories
- Comment spam and forum link drops
Local SEO: The Most Underrated Opportunity
For businesses that serve specific geographic areas, local SEO remains one of the highest-ROI activities available. We go deep on this topic in our guide to how service companies can dominate local search. The Google Maps 3-pack (the three local results shown at the top of local searches) captures a disproportionate share of clicks for service-related queries.
Local SEO in 2025 involves:
Google Business Profile optimization. Complete every field. Choose the right primary and secondary categories. Post regularly. Upload photos (businesses with 100+ photos receive 520% more calls, according to Google's data). Respond to every review.
Review generation. Volume, velocity, and rating all matter. You need a systematic process for requesting reviews from satisfied customers. Aim for 10-20 new reviews per month for competitive markets.
Local content. Service pages and blog content targeting location-specific keywords. "AC repair in Charlotte" and "best HVAC company in Mooresville" are real searches with real volume.
Local citations. Consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) across all online directories. Inconsistencies confuse Google and hurt local rankings.
We helped an extermination company rank in the local 3-pack for 15 high-value service terms in their market. The result: 60+ additional calls per month from local search. The investment was $2,500 per month for local SEO services. The revenue from those calls far exceeded the cost.
What to Stop Doing
Some SEO tactics are not just ineffective — they are counterproductive:
- Keyword stuffing. Writing content with an unnaturally high keyword density reads poorly and can trigger Google's spam filters.
- Creating content on every possible keyword. Quality over quantity. One excellent piece on a topic is better than five thin ones.
- Ignoring user experience for SEO. Intrusive pop-ups, aggressive above-the-fold ad placements, and poor navigation hurt both rankings and conversion rates.
- Expecting overnight results. SEO takes 3-6 months for measurable movement and 12+ months for significant impact. Anyone promising page-one rankings in 30 days is selling something you do not want to buy.
- Treating SEO as a one-time project. SEO is ongoing. Competitors are actively trying to outrank you, Google updates its algorithm regularly, and the search landscape evolves. A "set it and forget it" approach will lose rankings over time.
The SEO Strategy That Works in 2025
Summarized simply:
1. Fix your technical foundation (speed, mobile, structure) 2. Target commercial-intent keywords that drive leads, not just traffic 3. Create content based on genuine expertise with original data and examples 4. Build authority through legitimate means (original research, expert commentary, partnerships) 5. Invest in local SEO if you serve specific geographic areas 6. Measure results by leads and revenue, not just rankings and traffic 7. Be patient and consistent
Fusion Marketing manages SEO programs that produce measurable business results — leads and revenue, not just rankings. If your organic traffic is flat or declining, or you are not sure whether your SEO investment is producing results, call (704) 255-5147 or email contact@fusionmarketing.biz for a free SEO audit. We will show you exactly where you stand and what it would take to improve.
