Episode 029: SEO Trends You Can't ignore in 2025

Janet: I feel like I felt it in my soul, but I didn’t know the number.

Caitlin: I know, my soul was kind of crushed by it a little bit.

Janet: A few times, yeah. I know my spirit was dinged and damaged, but I didn’t know the number.

Caitlin: I mean, the way I—and we’re going to talk about this—but the way I searched as just an average searching human being trying to find answers on the internet changed. That experience changed dramatically.

Janet: At least 5,000?

Caitlin: At least 5,000 times.

Janet: Holy crap.

Caitlin: So I’m prefacing all of that by saying—

Janet: Wait, 5,000? Let’s just sit on that for a second.

Caitlin: It’s a lot.

Janet: So we all use the internet every day. There are 365 days in a year. That’s how many times in a day?

Caitlin: I don’t know. I’m going to pull up a calculator.

Janet: This will be fun.

Caitlin: Janet’s going to do math. We’re going to lose listeners right now while she does math.

Janet: 13 changes a day.

Caitlin: 13 changes a day.

Janet: 13 changes a day.

Caitlin: These trends are pretty darn solid. I can’t see them changing, but just know that 2025 is a new year, and what could change could change. So take all of this—

Janet: I think it’s good advice.

Caitlin: Just also know 13 changes a day could still be happening, or 5,000 changes. We don’t know if they came 13 a day to the search engine algorithm.

Janet: Let’s dive in. What are some of these trends?

Caitlin: We’re super excited to work with our clients—

Janet: Hold on. I’m going to backtrack because we got excited talking about 5,000. What are we talking about today?

Caitlin: 2025 SEO trends. I’m just being as cartoon-anvil-on-the-head obvious as I can be.

Janet: Absolutely.

Caitlin: And we’ve already started to implement a lot of this strategy for our clients right now in 2024. Something you should be thinking about whether it’s 2025 and you’re listening to this or 2024. Please make sure you are implementing these recommendations now to help with your organic presence.

Janet: So, I’m going to list off like the big picture trends that we see for 2025, and then we’re going to come back and drill into each one.

Caitlin: Let’s do it.

Janet: The first one is AI and machine learning. Nobody is going to be surprised to hear that we’re talking about AI.

Caitlin: Probably needs its own episode.

Janet: Yeah, it probably does need its own episode, and I’m sure it’ll get multiple episodes in 2025 from us and other digital marketers.

Caitlin: So, trend number one is AI and machine learning.

Janet: Trend number two: experience and engagement-based ratings.

Caitlin: Trend number three: EAT.

Janet: EAT. What is EAT?

Caitlin: It’s an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. So it’s spelled E-E-A-T.

Janet: Experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Caitlin: Yes. So, what is the user experience? That’s going to feed into how your website ranks for that search.

Janet: So, AI, experience and engagement-based ratings, and EAT.

Caitlin: Next, voice search—which is nothing new, but it’s evolving.

Janet: Video and video search.

Caitlin: Local—those “near me” searches.

Janet: And content quality over quantity. Also not new, but very important to talk about.

Caitlin: Should we tackle these in that order?

Janet: Let’s do it.

Caitlin: Or should we skip around?

Janet: Let’s do it.

Caitlin: Well, you know us. We’ll probably skip around anyway. Don’t get too ambitious.

Janet: All right, let’s dive right in. Let’s rip that band-aid off. What have we seen in terms of how AI and machine learning have impacted just old-school search engine optimization? You want your company’s website to show up when people search for things. What has AI’s impact been on that this year?

Caitlin: Whether we’re talking about the impact or what to expect for 2025, too—because this is a trend—I guess the trend is that AI is not going away.

Janet: Yes.

Caitlin: You know, and I think if I could share a quick story in terms of what you’re talking about—currently what’s happening search-wise and where we’re going.

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: Literally yesterday, I broke my phone in a way that I won’t even go into detail about. But the person I was with—we used ChatGPT on his phone to figure out the steps to unlock my phone. We didn’t even go to Google. We went straight to ChatGPT and described with words what had happened.

Janet: Can we please tell everybody what you did to your phone?

Caitlin: I’m going to tell them.

Janet: Caitlin was driving—

Caitlin: I’m going to tell them. I’m going to tell them. I’m going to tell them.

Janet: —and did something to her phone.

Caitlin: I was trying to leave a voice note to myself.

Janet: Okay.

Caitlin: Trying to leave a voice note, not text—because that’s not safe. While I was driving, I turned on some feature for the blind.

Janet: Correct. On your phone.

Caitlin: So, anybody who’s visually impaired—iPhones are made for you. And I found that feature yesterday.

Janet: Accidentally.

Caitlin: Accidentally. And I used ChatGPT for those steps to unlock it. We didn’t even go to Google.

Janet: I just think that’s not going to change. I think people are going to continue to use services like ChatGPT to get answers to complex problems.

Caitlin: Oh my gosh, yes. And those problems could be “How do I replace my windows?”

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: “How do I replace my roof?”

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: Is your website going to be providing content to that learning machine that is AI-driven? That’s just a trend that’s not going away.

Janet: One thousand percent. We’ll keep talking about it in a separate episode.

Caitlin: And, you know, again, we’re being vulnerable and transparent. I mean, we have an agency built on helping our clients show up in search. And what we’re seeing is the population—U.S. citizens—are moving away from what we’ve called “search” to solve their problems.

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: And they’re asking AI algorithms instead.

Janet: Yeah.

Caitlin: So what does that mean?

Janet: If you searched on “How do I unlock my phone?” or “How do I make my phone where it’s not configured for a blind person?”—

Caitlin: Correct.

Janet: —you didn’t do a Google search. You did a ChatGPT search.

Caitlin: Yes.

Janet: And spoiler alert—your phone got fixed instantly.

Caitlin: Instantly! Through those steps. I didn’t have to go anywhere else to get any more information. We followed that prompt, and it unlocked my phone.

Janet: So this is—

Caitlin: And I know we’re talking about SEO trends for 2025, but I’m going to throw out there that one of the SEO trends for 2025 is to diversify your marketing so that, you know, if you’ve been doing really, really well with SEO, you might need to have some different channels in there.

Janet: Yes.

Caitlin: In an earlier episode, we talked about offline things that you could do.

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: So, I mean, I’m just being as honest as I can be. Things are changing so fast on the internet.

Janet: Yep.

Caitlin: The tactics that we have used—we know they’re going to keep changing in 2025. We’re going to optimize them to the absolute best of our ability. But if the overall volume of searches is going down on Google because people are using other tools—

Janet: Exactly.

Caitlin: —what I think is going to happen is the competition for that is going to get even more fierce.

Janet: It should.

Caitlin: Think about it. I mean, let’s say there are four million searches a day on a given topic. And some portion of those go to ChatGPT instead, and now there are three million a day.

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: Then the competition to show up for those searches is going to be even more intense—and expensive.

Caitlin: Then the competition to show up for those searches is going to be even more intense—and expensive.

Janet: So, I mean, I guess like we said, we weren’t going to bounce, but let’s bounce. Because we’re talking about AI and using AI as an option for search and keeping your content on your website to feed that AI machine. Other places you search with your voice—I mean, this hasn’t changed. This has been something that’s been going on for quite some time.

Caitlin: This is number four. I’m pointing to Janet.

Janet: So, voice search.

Caitlin: Voice search. So, do you see that trend growing in 2025?

Janet: Absolutely. And making sure your site’s optimized for voice search.

Caitlin: What do you mean by optimizing your site for voice search?

Janet: That’s a really good question. I mean, we’re going to talk in a second about some of that content, you know—that EAT content, which is going to be authoritative. Is your site able to answer questions? Like, does the content on your site literally and figuratively answer a question?

Caitlin: Yeah.

Janet: Like, what do you do? You use—I mean, I’ve got Alexa. I’ve got Siri. Do you use your voice to search for things?

Caitlin: I’m old. I forget.

Janet: Okay, well, I’m in my early 30s, and so I’m shouting out in the middle of chaos, “Alexa, can my baby taste a lemon?” And she gives me an answer.

Caitlin: Yeah.

Janet: Day-to-day questions like, “Alexa, what’s the weather?” or “How do I fix my sink?” That’s just something that I think—whether it’s lemons and babies or roofing and windows—voice search is going to become even more important.

Caitlin: Right.

Janet: And I think right now, Google has an option on your phone where if you’re searching, you can just use the microphone to speak your search instead of typing.

Caitlin: Totally.

Janet: Here’s how I use it. Again, I’m going to play the old person in the room.

Caitlin: Perfect.

Janet: Every morning, I drink my coffee. I sit on the couch. I eat my breakfast. I eat my oatmeal, and I surf the internet.

Caitlin: Stop.

Janet: I do!

Caitlin: You eat your breakfast, and then?

Janet: I surf the internet. But because my hands are busy with my coffee and oatmeal, I use voice search on my iPad to look for things.

Caitlin: OK, hold on. Wait. You just touched on another trend: video.

Janet: Yes!

Caitlin: So, video is a trend for 2025. You’re using your voice to search YouTube for how-to videos.

Janet: Yes!

Caitlin: How does that work?

Janet: I’m sitting there with my oatmeal, and I’ll use the little microphone button in the YouTube app to say what I’m searching for. It’s a voice search, but it’s tied to video content.

Caitlin: That’s so interesting. And this ties into another big trend: creating content that answers common questions people might ask.

Janet: Exactly.

Caitlin: So if you’re optimizing your site for voice or video search, think about how your content is formatted. It should be an answer to a specific question: “How much do new windows cost?” “What’s the lifespan of a roof?” “How can I reduce my energy bill?”

Janet: And when people ask those questions, your site should be able to provide clear, authoritative answers.

Caitlin: Which brings us to EAT.

Janet: Yes! Trend number three on our list: EAT.

Caitlin: So, EAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s the foundation of great content.

Janet: This means building content that shows you know what you’re talking about and that users can trust your business to deliver.

Caitlin: Exactly. For example, we work with a roofing contractor in the Midwest. They’re passionate about their industry, and they want to educate their customers.

Janet: Right.

Caitlin: This summer, we helped them create a series of videos answering questions like, “Will insurance cover my roof replacement?” or “What’s the process for filing a claim?”

Janet: Yes!

Caitlin: That content is a perfect example of EAT. It’s based on their real-world experience and expertise. It positions them as an authoritative and trustworthy source.

Janet: And Google loves that.

Caitlin: Absolutely. So, if you’re creating content for 2025, focus on answering questions that your potential customers are asking.

Janet: And if you can, use video! Not only does it showcase your expertise, but it also gives you an edge in video search results.

Caitlin: 100%.

Janet: All of these trends—AI, voice search, video, EAT—they’re interconnected. They reinforce one another to help your site rank better and engage users.

Janet: OK, so to wrap this up: AI is here. It’s not going anywhere.

Caitlin: Nope!

Janet: It’s going to shape how search works in 2025.

Caitlin: Absolutely.

Janet: Your content needs to be optimized for engagement, trust, and quality. Focus on answering questions, providing value, and building authority.

Caitlin: And don’t forget about the basics: make sure your website is mobile-friendly, fast-loading, and easy to navigate.

Janet: These trends are evolving, but the core principles of good SEO remain the same: create great content, deliver a great experience, and always put the user first.

Caitlin: That’s it. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors!

Janet: If you’d like to learn more or get advice for your business, visit us at fatcatstrategies.com. Check out our blog and resources.

Caitlin: Thanks, y’all!

Janet: Bye!