Have you heard? They say SEO is dead. They’re saying Google search will become obsolete soon, so all those SEO tactics won’t matter anymore.
Well, they’re wrong. We might have a future without Google’s search monopoly, but it’s not going to happen this year and probably won’t in the next five years.
Search behavior has changed so much—the tools we use, the keywords we type, the intent behind our queries. But the core of SEO remains the same: write for people, optimize for search engines. But this time, those search engines now include AI tools. High-quality, valuable content is still on demand, but we have to make sure that AI can understand them easily.
Key Takeaways
- SEO is not dead. Google is still dominant.
- More and more people are adopting AI and using AI to search, so while AI dominance is not happening right now, you need to start working on your AI discoverability game.
- Content is also not dead. AI still depends on high-quality, well-optimized content from authoritative sources.
- Your content should be clear, well-structured, in-depth, insightful, and original.
AI in Search: What Changed and What Didn’t?
If you read the key takeaways above, then you know where this is going. SEO is not dead. Traditional search is not dead. SEO is not dead—but it’s evolving.
Google Still Dominates
While many users now turn to AI to gather information, that’s still a small percentage when you look at the whole picture.
Datos shared data they’ve gathered from Jan 2024 to Mar 2025 in their report, State of Search Q1 2025: Behaviors, Trends, and Clicks Across the US & Europe.
From the chart above, we can see that of all desktop events, only 0.55% is attributed to AI tools while traditional search takes up 10.55%. AI is growing—we feel it and the numbers confirm this—but traditional search is still used 19 times more than AI.
And of those traditional search events, Google still dominates, having received the highest search volume and the most users.
What this means for you: Don’t abandon Google. Your audience haven’t. Besides, Google constantly adapts to user behavior—we’ve seen this in the past decades with feature and algorithm changes. They shift as needed. Google isn’t going obsolete anytime soon.
Click-Through Rates Are Decreasing, Zero-Click Searches Are Up
Searchers are increasingly getting their answers directly from AI summaries without ever reaching your website.
Zero-click searches have been happening in the past few years. Rand Fishkin talked about this back in 2019 and then in 2021.
The 2025 Datos report shows us that in March 2025, only 40.3% of Google searches in the US ended with an organic click, down 2% from January 2024. It also shows us that zero-click searches increased by 2%.
Google’s AI overview gives users the answers they’re looking for in structured, snackable summaries. It’s no surprise that zero-click searches increased and this will continue to increase in the coming years.
What this means for you: Start optimizing your website content for AI as well. That green bar in the chart is getting smaller, but that blue bar is getting bigger. Aim to show up in the Google’s AI overview (and other AI responses). You want your brand mentioned in these AI conversations so that you can build brand awareness and increase brand familiarity.
From Informational to Navigational
Search intent has changed drastically the past year. While more than half of Google searches are still informational, that percentage is decreasing, in favor of navigational searches. That means people are using Google to find a specific website. For these searches, they won’t be clicking your in-depth informational articles. They’re going straight for a specific brand’s website.
Below is a comparison of search intent between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025.
Informational searches on Google dropped almost 7%, navigational searches increased by almost 8%.
What can be gained from this? The buyer’s journey is shifting. Brand awareness and familiarity happens outside of Google clicks and website visits. And when buyers are ready to explore your brand, that’s when they search for you.
What this means for you: Meet your target market where they are. That could mean being more visible on LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, and other social media channels, or it could mean writing for The Economist, Forbes, WIRED, and other publications they’re reading every week. Aim to reach your target market outside of Google, because organic clicks won’t be enough to get leads and close new deals regularly.
Shift in Search Terms
Today’s B2B buyer doesn’t type “project management software.” Instead, they ask, “What’s the best PM tool for a remote creative agency with global clients under $15/user?” They want specificity, reasoning, and recommendations—not just links.
Search behavior has shifted:
- From keywords to questions
- From generic to hyper-specific
- From research to AI-curated recommendation lists
What this means for you: Optimize for long-tail keywords and answer specific questions. You want your answers to show up when users ask these hyper-specific queries. On your website, tell readers exactly what you offer and who you serve. Be clear and direct. This makes it easier for AI tools to understand your brand and recommend you when you’re exactly what buyers are looking for.
Future-Proofing Your B2B SEO Strategy
Recalibrating Success Metrics
Rand Fishkin said “traffic is a terrible goal.” He said traffic is a vanity metric—it always has been—because more visitors don’t necessarily lead to more sales. And sales, ultimately, should be the goal.
”My traffic dropped 40% from search, but my business grew 10%.” – Will Reynolds, Seer Interactive
That said, I wouldn’t go as far as to say traffic doesn’t matter. I still believe it plays a role. A website visit is a touchpoint. It’s someone getting to know your brand. In my view, that’s still one step closer to the end goal—a deal.
What Fishkin reminds us of is this: traffic is not the goal. Revenue is. And obsessing over attribution won’t help much either. Because truthfully, getting a full picture of where your leads come from is nearly impossible today. When someone Googles your brand and lands on your website, that moment could have been triggered by any number of things—a mention in an AI summary, a LinkedIn post, a referral, a lead magnet shared in a company Slack channel.
Instead of fixating on clicks, focus on outcomes. Ask better questions:
- Since launching your new social strategy, have qualified leads increased?
- Since updating old content for AI discoverability, have branded searches gone up?
- Are there measurable results tied to visibility—whether or not you can trace every click?
Eventually, we may be able to measure AI brand mentions accurately. Some early tools are emerging. But today, it’s still too early for precise, reliable tracking.
So, zoom out. Focus less on attribution and more on the bigger picture: are you building brand visibility across multiple channels? That’s how you future-proof your marketing. That’s how you stay discoverable—regardless of where the click comes from.
Content Strategy for 2025
What content works today? Content written for people, optimized for both search engines and AI. So that’s the traditional SEO + AI optimization, so that your content can show up in AI responses and featured snippets.
A. The Anatomy of AI-Optimized Content
Content must serve both human readers and AI interfaces. Effective content includes:
- Clear structure (headers, FAQs, summaries). This isn’t new. This has always been best practice for SEO. Structure your headings properly, use lists, and keep your language simple and clear.
- Questions in headings. Since Google and AI users now type in full questions, having those same questions as headings on your content will make it easier for these tools to find the answer. It’s similar to how keywords worked before.
- A summary in the beginning. This makes it easier for AI to understand what your article is about right away.
B. Topic Cluster Strategy
Instead of one-off posts, create interconnected content around buyer problems and industry concepts. This will build your authority on this topics and signal to Google and AI that you’re an expert on this field. Use:
- Pillar content (comprehensive, strategic)
- Supporting content (how-tos, case studies, comparisons)
- Internal linking that demonstrates topical authority
C. Prioritize In-Depth
Easy questions can be answered in Google’s AI Overview without needing to click any links. That’s why you need AI optimized content—so that your insights show up there too, and maybe you get mentioned.
But if you still want those organic clicks, think about what content will earn those clicks. In-depth, original, insightful. Comprehensive guides are difficult to sum up in short AI responses. If users want that complete guide and go into the details, then they’d be more willing to click on an article that gives them all the information.
D. Be Original
Your unique viewpoints, proprietary data, and case studies will set you apart from other sources. Be original, be niche. When people search for specific viewpoints, for specific data, then you might be the only one to give the information they’re looking for.
Your unique experience might earn you that website visit (or even a newsletter opt-in)—because where else will they go?
E. Be Human
Don’t shy away from engagement. Show your face. Show your audience who you are and join conversations. Be visible on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, or other social media channels. People want to listen to people. People want connection.
And when you publish on these channels, it’s best not to keep information behind a link. Don’t force them to go to your website. Remove that friction and keep the conversation going where it already is.
Show up authentically. Be genuine in your desire to help. When you get a chance to engage with prospects, don’t be salesy—answer questions and meet them where they are.
SEO is evolving. So should you.
The way we search is changing and businesses need to adapt as fast as possible. We need to show up where our target market hangs out. Is Perplexity their new dictionary? Do they trust answers on Reddit, because these are real people?
Google’s monopoly is ending, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Buyers are getting their power back. They want to find out information on their own terms, and they want to reach out to brands when they’re ready.
We need to be discoverable. And at the top of the funnel, that means going to the buyers, not forcing them to visit our website.
