SEO strategy isn’t just about ranking #1 on Google anymore.
In 2025, your audience might find you through ChatGPT, browse YouTube tutorials, then hit Reddit for real reviews — without ever clicking your site.
Meanwhile, Google is showing more AI Overviews and fewer traditional results.
1. Define Your SEO Goals
Before you research a single keyword or write a line of content, you need to know what success looks like for your business.
The biggest mistake I see SEOs make is chasing rankings and traffic instead of revenue.
What matters is if SEO drives qualified leads, reduces customer acquisition costs, or increases brand awareness in your target market.
2. Research Keywords Across Platforms
A single keyword is the starting point for much deeper exploration.
People use natural language, ask questions across multiple platforms, and expect answers that go beyond a simple list of links.
It starts with what you already know about your customers.
3. Analyze Search Intent & Competition
Your content is more likely to fail if you’re guessing what users want instead of analyzing what actually works.
Skip this analysis, and you could waste months creating content that doesn’t get seen. Do it right, and you’ll know exactly what format, depth, and angle will win before you create anything.
4. Create Authority-Driven Content
Your goal is to create something that not only matches search intent but also shows people they’re in the right place.
The best content is clear, useful, and written by someone who knows what they’re doing.
5. Optimize for Clarity and Context
On-page SEO in 2025 is all about clarity and context.
You want your content to be clear for users, search engines, and the AI systems that increasingly pull answers from your pages.
But here’s the thing: this is about doubling down on what quality-focused SEOs have always known works.
The difference now? The stakes are higher.
Poor content structure and unclear messaging get left behind faster than ever.