You’ve addressed all the probable factors affecting your SEO, and your content efforts have finally caught some traction. Your website traffic is picking up steam, engagement metrics are booming, and your webpages are landing on the holy grail of visibility – Google’s first page. Congratulations, you’ve cracked the code, and your SEO efforts are firing on all cylinders.
What could go wrong? Quite a bit, actually.
SEO is like a wave. Search algorithms are constantly shifting, and what works today can be dead weight tomorrow. Your first page ranking is rented and can soon go to a better tenant. Many B2B companies find themselves blindsided when their website rankings suddenly plummet, and they are left asking why SEO is not working.
To avoid this, you must surf the SEO wave and stay in touch with how search engine ranking systems work in 2025. Google released its latest Search Generative Experience (SGE) update in AI search, which can greatly influence your SEO ranking. It all boils down to what you can influence with your content and how many evolving SEO requirements you can accommodate.
We break down the things that can mess up your SEO rankings and show you how to tune your strategy. We’ll focus on proactive measures, like spotting website SEO issues early, common SEO mistakes in 2025, the AI factor, and more.
What’s messing with your SEO in 2025?
Let’s say that you have cleaned up the obvious things: no flimsy content, no keyword stuffing, and your pages load fast too. Your rankings are still mediocre at best, traffic is stagnant, and Google is downright ignoring your pages.
So, what can be done to identify and fix this?
Here’s the thing: in a world dominated by AI summaries and intent-driven searches, SEO tripwires are not always easy to detect. There’s a high chance that below the surface, many website SEO issues might be chipping away at visibility. Here’s what’s hiding from your team’s radar:
- Low-value AI-generated content: Generative AI is great, but only when the content has purpose. Are you churning out generic AI content with the same recycled phrasing like most brands? That won’t make the cut. Google’s SGE picks up content that shows value with attention to detail, relevance to user intent, and clarity.
According to Google, your AI-generated content can miss the mark if it reads artificial. You have to introduce human oversight to AI-generated content, with tight intent alignment, editing, and clear POV. SEMRush notes in their research that 8% of the content they surveyed in a research shows generative AI and it’s growing every month. Think of AI content as your cake’s sponge; the icing is your distinct brand voice and key insights that make it worth serving.
- New SGE requirements: The content and websites on the internet are constantly changing, and so are the ways Google crawlers detect and adjust to this change, says the search giant. They keep checking how often the content they visited before has changed and make adjustments to their search results.
Some common SEO mistakes, like messy schema structure, absence of multimedia on your pages, misaligned redirects, and slow-loading, can drag down your rankings. It doesn’t matter if your content is solid; the above SEO factors can impact search engine crawling and indexing.
- Overlooking voice and natural language queries: Search is evolving, and users aren’t just typing keywords; they are asking full-blown questions like, “Why’s my SEO not working?” No pun intended!
It means your content should do more than just targeting stiff, keyword-heavy phrases. You need to uncover how your users are searching with conversational language and using mobile devices. Google’s SGE is tuned to these patterns, and so should your content.
- Inconsistent implementation across digital assets: If you are a B2B brand, disjointed execution hits harder than any other factor affecting your SEO. For example, if your blogs, website, and social media run separate strategies, the inconsistency confuses search engines and fragments your domain authority.
It also weakens your brand signal, lowering your chances of landing in the AI summaries section. You need to align your digital assets using the same voice, schema logic, and intent. Otherwise, it might look like you are driving with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake.
- Poor governance: Remember, when everyone owns SEO, no one owns SEO. Check who drives and controls the SEO strategy in your organization. Do you have an SEO expert, or is it your marketing specialist? Lack of internal governance and no shared guidelines or coordination between your marketing and IT teams can create chaos.
To fix SEO, you need one source of truth (read SEO specialist) between your marketing, content, design, and technical teams. Allow the SEO expert to create, monitor, and govern your SEO strategy with regular performance audits. SEO issues could be as small as an inconsistent URL structure or duplicate meta tags, which crop up because your teams can’t collaborate effectively.
To counter this, you also need a department-wide SEO playbook that defines roles, responsibilities, and workflows. It helps you identify issues to fix quickly, with proper escalation frameworks for cross-functional teams.
What’s changing with Google search?
SGE has completely changed the search game. It’s constantly looking for content that shows experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, aka E-E-A-T by Google. Think of your content as a briefing note, informative, tight, and ready to be quoted by AI.
- User behavior signals matter: Google’s crawlers watch how users interact with your content. Are they bouncing? Scrolling? Staying? Clicking? These signals will always speak louder than any SEO-optimized title tag.
For example, Google crawlers check on-page keywords and website freshness. They identify if users regularly use your website for clear and impactful information, elevating your SEO rankings.
- Search Volatility: The latest Google AI search launch has already caused a lot of SEO volatility, according to the Search Engine Roundtable. This means your latest rankings can either go up or down depending on several factors, like how easy your website navigation is and how many media types you have on a page.
If your page has smooth navigation and a rich mix of content, images, and videos, you have a higher chance of showing in the AI overview. Google also gives value to certain webpages when it has credible author profiles and links that build context.
Google recently also introduced MUM (Multitask Unified Model), which helps it draw better context for a user’s query. MUM can know everything about the usefulness of your content and if it qualifies for the overview.
- Zero-click search dominance: Users are increasingly getting answers on the SERP without clicking on a single link, meaning your goal is no longer just rankings; it’s owning Google’s answer box. How-to answers, definitions, and rich snippets—this is where today’s SEO visibility lives. Make your content simple, to-the-point, and authoritative to address this new normal.
According to a Google report, it is not yet offering tracking for AI overview impressions in the Search Console separately. So, unless a user clicks on the link, there’s no direct way of knowing if you are getting a front seat in the AI overview. If you see a sudden spike in impressions, with a corresponding click-through rate spike, there’s a high chance you’ve made it.
What does modern SEO look like?
To fix your website SEO issues, you need to build a system that scales. You need to ditch the patchwork to stay in Google’s good graces and work on building long-term content muscle. Here’s how you can fix some serious and common SEO mistakes:
- Topic clusters and intent-based content: Focus on building an ecosystem around topics rather than writing one-off blogs. Try to group your content by user problems and not keywords. The key is to answer multiple related questions on one page; it builds topical authority and tells Google, “We’ve got this covered.”
- Routine technical SEO audits: You’ve got to do regular website auditing to identify SEO problems. Think of your website as a machine that needs regular diagnostics and servicing. Look for factors affecting your SEO and don’t waste time perfecting plans; implement immediately, and optimize as you go. Empower your team to avoid the common SEO mistakes in new content and let them fix issues as soon as they are identified.
- AI-assisted but human-led: Use AI to find patterns and add speed to your content creation operations, but don’t drive blind. Have proper human-led safety checks in your editorial process to ensure the right brand tone, credibility, and insight.
- Distributed execution, central oversight: Create a unified SEO playbook, but let individual teams create their own content. Have a centralized brand voice and SEO watch, and create processes that align your content with the new thinking.
- Integrated SEO and UX planning: Always aim to create a unified language for your sitemap and website’s information flow. Make it easy for users to surf through your pages. See UX as a fuel for your SEO, and remove all clunkiness from your site. For example, don’t let ads break the flow of your content, and avoid using full-screen pop-ups unless you are an e-commerce site.
The path ahead: Turning SEO into a strategic growth lever
The AI-centric SEO update is the next frontier of how users engage with your brand. Be it zero-click or landing on your pages, AI search brings a paradigm shift in our SEO understanding. It completely changes the meaning of SEO and goes beyond building leads, and when done right, it can establish your brand as a thought leader.
You can’t simply optimize for the SEO algorithm, you need a transformation. It’s time to create content processes and systems that allow you to pivot with this change, shape demand, and own your category. Visibility fueled by SEO turns into authority, authority builds trust, and trust becomes a pipeline.
Curious to align your SEO strategy with a human-centric and AI search-ready approach? Reach out and see how it all falls into place!
FAQs on how AI Search Impacts SEO in 2025
Q1. How will AI overviews impact SEO in 2025?
AI overviews can answer user questions with greater accuracy and context. For example, if a user is searching for a jacket in winter, there’s a high chance the AI overview will suggest pages with information about parkas or snow jackets. If your site demonstrates E-E-A-T in the winter apparel domain, Google can cite you in the AI overview.
Q2. What are the best practices to boost my SEO rankings in 2025?
The top best practices include:
- Use keywords with context
- Create a UX that complements different content and media formats on your site
- Create content that helps and educates your audience
- Have credible authors for your published content
- Add structured data markup to tell Google if your content is a DIY blog, a math puzzle, or a travel itinerary
Q3. How can I optimize for Google’s Visual Search?
Google Lens is a quick way to make an image search. Update and optimize your image labels, alt text, and meta tags. Have high-quality pictures on your website, and explanatory content supporting the media.
Q4. How to align my SEO in 2025 to give the proper signal to Google SGE?
Ensure a unified voice and conduct due diligence across all brand channels. Simplify content, make it as informative as possible, and consider the user’s search intent.
Q5. What’s the direct impact of voice search and NLP queries on my SEO ranking?
AI search favors content that directly addresses user queries. Use simple, conversational language, but give information-rich and contextual content. For example, what are the top customer concerns in your industry? Try creating a list of questions and answering them as you would in a one-to-one conversation.
