SEO is constantly evolving.
What worked three or four years ago may no longer be working. If you’ve been left scratching your head in the wake of Google’s latest algorithm updates, it may be time to review your approach to search engine optimisation (SEO) in 2025.
To get you started on the right foot, we’ve compiled a list of our top recommendations to improve your SEO strategy in 2025. Whether you’re an experienced SEO professional, or you’re just starting out on your SEO strategy, the tips in these articles are actionable and can be implemented across any SEO strategy and any industry.
1. Review Existing Content
When marketers think about improving their SEO strategy, they tend to think that creating new content is the answer. And while publishing new content can be a great way to improve your SEO efforts – It’s not always the answer.
The fact is, reviewing existing content is usually your best starting point.
Creating content isn’t a one and done activity. Publishing content is just one part of the equation.
Reviewing and updating content in-line with changing search behaviour, changing information, and improvements in-line with Google’s helpful content guidelines is an important part of every SEO strategy.
Reasons to update your existing content:
Too often, marketers get caught up with publishing new content without reviewing existing content that could be updated.
Use Google Search console to review pages that are down on previous periods to identify pages that might need to be refreshed. Similarly, look at content that you have previously published that may have never performed well in organic search.
In many cases, refreshing and aligning content with user search intent is the easiest way to improve your organic search performance.
2. Audit for Keyword Cannibalisation
After conducting thousands of independent SEO audits, we can say with complete certainty that keyword cannibalisation is one of the biggest on-page SEO issues.
Keyword cannibalisation is when more than one page on a website targets the same keyword or intent. The result is that search engines like Google don’t know which page to show to users, and as a result, both pages will end up poorly.
Back on the 6th June 2019, Google rolled out the Site Diversity Change which aimed to increase the diversity of search results by showing no more than two pages from the same website for a single search query.
Have you ever done a search and gotten many listings all from the same site in the top results? We’ve heard your feedback about this and wanting more variety. A new change now launching in Google Search is designed to provide more site diversity in our results….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 6, 2019
Following this change to Google’s ranking system back in 2019, keyword cannibalisation became a much bigger issue.
Keyword cannibalisation is the result of poor content planning or a fragmented marketing strategy. Having multiple pages targeting the same keywords does not enhance your chances of ranking for those keywords, it dramatically diminishes them and makes it more difficult for Google to figure out which page to rank.
To audit issues of keyword cannibalisation, you can use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and rank tracking tools. Look for search terms that are jumping between different pages as their ranking page. If Google is showing a different page for the same search term on different days, then it means that there could be an overlap in these pages and search engines are struggling to decipher which page to show users.
3. Understand Keyword Intent
Keyword intent, search intent, or user intent – whatever you want to call it. Understanding why users are searching for different queries is the key to creating better content and increasing SEO performance.
Doing keyword research is just one part of the equation. Grouping keywords and understanding the intent of the user when they search for that key phrase is far more important. By understanding the “why” behind different keyword searches, marketers can effectively create content that provides value to the user. Targeting a keyword isn’t just about writing content that uses that keyword, it’s about creating content that understands the type of information that the user is seeking when making that search. Once
Search intent can be broken down into four key categories:
Navigational intent: This is when the user is effectively using the search engine as a directory and searches for a brand or specific website instead of typing in the website address into the search bar. Navigational intent keywords are what we see as “brand name searches” when we segment website traffic.
Informational intent: This is when a users is looking for more information about the topic. These “top of the funnel keywords” are usually addressed through content marketing and are a way that brands can build trust and authority with their target audience by providing value that is not directly related to a transaction.
Transactional intent: Transactional intent keywords are when users are looking to make a purchase. They may be looking for a product category, or they may be searching for a specific product by name or even by the product code. Transactional intent keywords are no exclusive to e-Commerce. For service businesses, transactional intent keywords may be someone searching for “Roofer near me” or “Lawyer in Location”.
Commercial intent: Commercial intent keywords are what we would consider mid-funnel keywords. For users, they may be seeking more information about a product or service, reviewing listicles that contain the “best products” or the “best restaurants”.
As far as SEO mistakes go, marketers tend to look at search volume far too much without properly understanding intent.
4. Be Realistic with Your SEO Strategy
One of the biggest mistakes that we see brands make is overestimating what is possible in the short term and underestimating what is possible in the long term.
Being realistic in your SEO strategy means aligning the keywords that you want to target with your short, mid, and long-term goals.
As an example, a new business should look carefully at keyword competition, search volume, and the websites that are currently ranking for the search terms that they are looking to target. If the search results are dominated by large websites and household brands, it can be very difficult to outrank them – at least in the short term.
Your SEO strategy needs to align with the energy and effort that you are willing to put into your SEO. Not all SEO strategies will result in an immediate outcome. So, it’s important to understand the timeline for results before you embark on your SEO journey. By understanding what is required to achieve results, you can set realistic goals and effectively manage expectations so that you are not discouraged.
Unlike Google Ads, SEO takes time to show results. As a rule, going after highly competitive keywords takes far longer to rank than going after longtail, local keywords. When you work with an SEO provider, they should be able to provide guidance on what is possible in the short, mid, and long term.
5. Create Link Worthy Content
Building backlinks is hard. Creating content is hard.
Creating link-worthy content can help to alleviate one part of the equation.
Linkable content means content that is unique, informative, authoritative, and worth linking to. Creating informational resources is the best way to build high-value, organic backlinks that can increase your website authority and build trust with users and with search engines.
Types of link worthy content or link bait content, include:
• Statistics articles and roundups
• Informational content from first-hand data sources
• News content that is timely and interesting
• Evergreen content that provides a definition or guide for users
The best way to find “link worthy content” in your niche is to look at what is working for your competitors. Using a tool like Ahrefs, filtering the informational content and then finding the content that has the most # of links is a great way to understand the type of content that is generating organic links for your competitors.
Looking at informational pages vs. transactional pages when doing this is the key. Most brands won’t invest in backlinks for an informational resource on their website because it is unlikely to result in a direct conversion. As a result, the majority of links that are going to their ‘blog’, ‘news’, or ‘research’, pages are usually the role of “link bait” articles.
6. Focus on Providing Value to Users
Now, more than ever, SEO is about creating value for users. Instead of looking at arbitrary SEO metrics like keyword density, focus on creating content that meets the expectations of the users and provides real value.
Content and quality questions that Google wants you to ask when creating content:
• Does this content provide original information and demonstrate research
• Is the content substantial and comprehensive
• Is the content interesting and goes beyond the obvious (demonstrate topical authority)
• Does your content accurately align with the title of the page or article?
• Is the title of the article factual and not overly “click-baity” in nature
• Is this content worthy of being linked to by other websites?
• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to what already exists?
• Is the content well-researched and well produced?
• Does the content address the shortcomings of the competing websites that already rank for the same search terms?
As Google continues to lament the importance of “Helpful Content” in their search ranking algorithm, it’s more important than ever to create content that provides real value to users. Forget creating overly long content that provides little value to users. Instead, focus on search intent to create succinct, well-researched, and easy to read content that provides answers and valuable information for users.
