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Future of SEO: 5 Key SEO Trends (2025 & 2026)

AI-driven SEO trends focus on AI summaries, LLM adoption, UGC importance, workflow enhancements, and E-E-A-T significance.

Almost all organizations using SEO as a marketing tool are shifting their techniques because of the currently changing environment that AI has brought.

The New Age of SEO rounds up change with user experience at the center of their requirements; thus, industry professionals must be prepared for adapting rapidly and on a regular basis.

In doing so, hereunder follows a brief analysis of the near future regarding the key SEO trends for the period from one to two years from now.


1. AI Overviews Will Dominate the SERP

Google's AI Overviews (used to be called Search Generative Experience) blend AI tools into search results.

For lots of searches, Google gives an AI-made answer, like a chatbot such as ChatGPT, at the top of the search page.

These summaries pull info from the search results, include sources, are easy to read, and give full answers so you don’t need to click on many sites.

As AI summaries become more common, the way people find info on search engines will surely change. This will also make writers, SEOs, and content creators change how they work to keep up.

The main worry is if Google’s AI summaries will lower click-through rates. And if CTR does go down, by how much?

Here's an example of AI summaries in use:

According to the analysis of Backlinko, there is an estimated average CTR of 27.6% for the #1 result. Additionally, the top 3 SERP results get 54.4% of all clicks.

With the growing AI overviews, these rates are expected to go down. New to the search engine results page, it's early days, but early signs show that this can lead to an 18–64% reduction in organic clicks for the affected queries.

Today, for example, some 15% of SERPs are estimated to include an AI summary. This number is projected to increase within the next several years.

To adapt, businesses and publishers can turn their attention toward positioning their content to be incorporated into AI-generate summaries instead of focusing strictly on ranking for blue links.

For instance, when the trend for mobile search emerged, most of the publishers expressed concerns that there would be fewer clicks because the screen size is smaller.

Contrary to the assumption, however, fewer clicks did not materialize, as it happened when more people began searching in general, and this brought more overall clicks.

The same thing happened when Google introduced featured snippets. Publishers believed they would lose clicks since the searcher could get the answer right there on the SERP.

But again, the change was negligible, and publishers still thrived. It only became another factor to optimize when creating new content.

Therefore, while AI overviews may fundamentally alter the nature of the search experience, they are more likely to become something that is included in an SEO strategy rather than something that wipes out the traffic and SEO performance of your website.

2. LLM Adoption Continues to Steal Market Share from Google

More and more consumers search Google alternatives to get faster answers to their questions.

As a matter of fact, October 2024 marks the first time since March 2015 that Google's market share has dropped below 90%.

And this data doesn't count chatbots and LLMs like Perplexity AI, ChatGPT, and Claude AI.

LLMs have become the new growing AI trend and offer some advantages over Google, specifically:

  1. Conversational Interactions: Users can ask questions in natural language and get coherent, contextual responses.
  2. Direct Answers: Rather than scanning multiple web pages, users often get direct, synthesized answers.
  3. Multitasking Capabilities: Many LLMs can write, code, and analyze in parallel with information retrieval.

I chatted with Brian Dean about LLMs and the future of SEO. He is a big proponent of LLMs, even giving me the perfect example that emphasizes how the average search experience could look in the future.

When he heard about how tart cherry juice could help with exercise recovery, he went to an LLM instead of Google to avoid sifting through lengthy articles with thousands of words.

The LLM told him briefly, within seconds, about the benefits and efficacy of the juice in aiding recovery for exercise.

The platform hopes to stay up with the competition with alternatives to LLM by using AI overviews as part of the search experience that's conversational.

The platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity AI lead the pack today due to their capability to answer follow-up questions quickly without showing any ads.

3. Search Engines Will Reward User-Generated Content

Brands are using UGC more than ever to help them drive organic traffic and grow sales.

UGC is changing how brands connect with their audience. As such, it's becoming one trend to look for in the field of SEO.

However, most businesses yet have to uncover what UGC has to do with SEO.

In fact, it's established that by 2030, 80% of SEO-influencing content will be made of UGC. It's one strategy, therefore, which a business cannot ignore moving forward.

And here are the Reddit and Quora platforms, reaping in some of the fruit from Google's ongoing efforts to rank content best serving user intent, relevance, and authenticity.

Take Reddit, for example. Its organic search traffic grew 603.41% since June 2023.

Similarly, Quora traffic has surged by 379.33% since June 2023.

The reason traffic is growing to platforms like this is that search results are flooded with AI generated content.

There is a psychological need for reading content from another human being. Humans go to Reddit, Quora, or other niche forums to get the real-life insight and recommendation of other humans.

We expect that this trend continues into 2025 and further.

But the question is: how can you use UGC for SEO to increase organic traffic?

First, you can join these platforms, build a presence, and generate traffic directly from a forum like Reddit or Quora.

Without a community, there is no place for users of your product or service to have open discussions.

But Reddit bridges the gap and allows users to discuss what they like, their experiences, problems, etc.

And we are now seeing bigger brands include Reddit in their SEO strategy.

For instance, ChatGPT is bringing in millions of visits directly from Reddit from only two posts within their r/ChatGPT subreddit.

4. AI Tools Will Change Existing SEO Workflows

The use of AI in SEO has officially gone mainstream, as 86% of SEO professionals use AI in their workflows.

Not only are SEOs using AI to work, but they are seeing positive results from it.

Among companies with 200+ employees, 83% of them have reported improvements in SEO performance since they started using AI.

Those using AI are also saving an average of 12.5 hours per week.

While the fears of AI replacing jobs are valid, it is more probable that AI will only fully replace tasks and not an entire full-time job, such as generating summaries or transcripts.

Instead, SEOs and marketers will only become more efficient with the help of AI. High-performing SEO teams are now relying on AI co-pilots in different areas of their workflows.

For instance, building up a statistics-based post about Exploding Topics would involve very manual research.

In the case of an AI co-pilot like Perplexity, aspects of the research phase can be automated.

This is how Brian Dean and his team quickly put together stats before compiling those posts or generating keyword lists for new posts that traditional keyword tools might not include.

Another potential role for AI tools is to act as SEO consultants. Most tools can analyze market trends, identify potential threats, and spot opportunities.

For example, Semrush Market Explorer utilizes AI to offer insights into market dynamics, competitor strategies, and audience behavior.

AI tools will be the new normal for every SEO. While AI is changing the workflows of SEO, it's not replacing human expertise altogether.

It's actually augmenting human capabilities, making SEO professionals work more efficiently and focus on higher-level strategic tasks.

5. Publishers Will Need E-E-A-T & Brand Signals More Than Ever

Google is updating its algorithms and ranking factors on an ongoing basis, however, the two elements that have remained true for years now are E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and brand signals.

Now, as search engines and AI models continue to get more sophisticated, E-E-A-T and strong brand signals are going to be even more important.

This is how Google separates trusted sources from just anybody. It works as, in a way, their last layer of defense to ensure the SERP is full of quality results for a searcher.

For instance, Brian Dean mentioned that in his experience, Google updates have most impacted sites with high organic traffic but little to no brand traffic.

This is an indicator that a particular publisher is not a big brand.

That's where building a brand off of Google can be helpful for SEO.

Being a real brand on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, or hosting live events, such as SEO conferences, will help you rank better.

Specifically, this feeds into how brands will rank featured snippets and be featured as a source in the AI Overviews at the top of the SERP.

Here's an example of Google's AI Overview sources for the query "What is an LLM."

As AI Overviews become larger, that real estate and the source links likely will add even more to this panel.

As of today, Google is rewarding real brands that the internet would miss if they lost their search traffic with source links and AI Overview real estate.

Final Thoughts

That ends our list of trending SEO.

The influence of AI and machine learning on how search engines understand and rank content is only going to be growing. At the same time, the role of E-E-A-T signals and UX remains as important as it has always been.

The most effective SEO strategies going forward will balance AI with a human touch.

Stay ahead of the competition with Pave Agency's AI-integrated SEO services. Our advanced techniques ensure your business adapts to the latest trends and ranks higher on search engines. Ready to transform your SEO strategy? Contact us today for a free consultation and discover how AI can revolutionize your online presence!

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James Dooley, an industry-leading SEO speaker, delivers innovative strategies, real-world case studies, and actionable insights for businesses worldwide.

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