3 SEO priorities to win organic traffic in 2025

With AI interfaces consuming search real estate, see where organic clicks are still occurring and how to capture them before the window closes.

AI didn’t kill search – it just made winning organic traffic more complicated.

As AI interfaces and changing search behavior shape the environment, SEO now takes more than basic tactics.

Information demands are as great as ever, yet with zero-click searches, AI-powered suggestions, and booming platforms, gaining visibility in 2025 requires a more strategic, data-based approach.

The state of search today: Top trends driving strategy

As the head of leading SEO strategy at an agency, I’m consistently asked, “With AI all around, how do we adjust our methodology to organic?”

Rather than speculate, I’ve consolidated the recent data I’m sharing with clients and what’s actually working.

Here are a few headline trends and stats to consider.

Google Search volume is still exploding despite AI

Google now handles over 5 trillion searches per year, or roughly 13.7 billion searches per day.

This growth shows that demand for information remains strong even as AI interfaces proliferate.

ChatGPT’s user base has surged

As of February, ChatGPT has 400 million weekly active users, up 33% in three months.

Of those, around 37.5 million interact with search-like queries on a daily basis, which accrues to a total market share of 0.25%.

Early brand indicators indicate referral traffic from AI chat platforms is extremely qualified.

Users have faith in AI suggestions and submit very targeted questions, for example, “What is the optimal solution to problem X?

Zero-click searches are the new normal

Almost 60% of U.S. Google searches now conclude without a click, according to SparkToro.

This trend opens up new possibilities for on-SERP visibility and raises the bar for competing with Google’s AI Overviews and direct answers from ChatGPT.

What does this imply for your organic strategy?

And, more importantly, how can you make sure your SEO work pays off today – and in the AI-driven future?

Before we panic, note that success in this new environment is still built on a solid SEO foundation.

The fundamental strategies that cut it from 2015 to 2023 are still essential but now require an AI-smart wrapper.

This post addresses the fundamentals of contemporary SEO and how I’m modifying them based on research, observation, and experience.

Each section is ranked according to what my agency prioritizes first.

1. Funnel‑driven content distribution

The most significant choice is where you play in the funnel.

AI is affecting the top of the funnel more than any other phase.

Zero‑click rates for information queries are around 60-70%, and MOFU and BOFU queries still generate actual clicks.

From a SparkToro clickstream study:

When should you prioritize TOFU?

TOFU still plays a role in establishing topical authority, but it has trade‑offs.

Informational content can increase internal linking and authority, but infrequently generate clicks or direct ROI.

Advantages

Brand visibility when your name is seen on general searches, even without a click.
Creates a base for topic authority by answering essential questions in your domain.
Aids indirect ranking benefit through enhanced internal linking and site organization.

Disadvantages

Top effort with low short-term return.
Too much informational content will reduce overall site engagement metrics.
That being said, if you opt to go after TOFU, accept that the actual play is winning the AI Overviews.

In order to do that, the classic featured snippet tactics are effective and ought to be included within your TOFU content.

Tip: Optimize for on‑SERP value, if you opt to go after TOFU.

Begin with a 1–2 sentence definition.
Continue with concise lists or tables under H2 headings.
Add FAQ schema so AI Overviews continue to attribute your brand.

Prioritizing TOFU concerns

We prioritize TOFU if the client must create topical authority by further discussing topics that they have not previously touched upon.

However, we do it when the MOFU and BOFU content has been drained for the keyword environment.

Our primary focus remains on the rankings of MOFU and BOFU.

MOFU is our sweet spot

Each SEO initiative has time and resource limitations, so we need to strategically target our efforts.

The real question is where to target – on a few select pages or a huge list?

The response varies according to the objective, but generally, the target is to enhance revenue in a speedy manner.

Considering these limitations, optimization at the MOFU and BOFU stages tends to produce better results than TOFU for most websites.

Commercial intent questions such as “best CRM software for SMBs” continue to generate clicks and conversions.

Despite accounting for just 14.5% of searches, they have a significantly lower zero-click rate.

Appearing in top three positions on these terms has had the most significant bottom‑line effect on our clients.

Winning at MOFU

Produce “best X” and “X vs Y” content, often pulled into ChatGPT and Google AI answers.
Use these pages as hubs, with concentrated internal linking to indicate their significance.
Link acquisition should be prioritized around these comparison/consideration articles.

BOFU is still key for making the sale

Transactional and navigational searches like “YourBrand login,” “product price,” or “coupon codes” experience lowest zero‑click rates.

These terms tend to suggest users are willing to buy or interact.

While search volume is lesser, conversion potential is gigantic.

Important BOFU strategies

Track rankings tightly and optimize on-page factors for user experience and readability.
Include concise calls to action and schema for price, product, and offer information.
Use remarketing to re‑engage non‑immediate converters.

Takeaway: Content funnel stages

These trends highlight a foundational change.

TOFU content is no longer a traffic guarantee.
MOFU and BOFU assets continue to be the dominant vehicles for organic clicks and conversions.
In practice, that looks like:

Audit your content by funnel stage

Classify existing pages as TOFU (informational), MOFU (comparisons, “vs.”), or BOFU (price, demos).
Flag high‑traffic TOFU pages with extremely high zero‑click rates.
Make the choice whether to optimize them for featured snippets/AI Overviews or to transfer efforts to deeper‑funnel content.

Transfer to MOFU/BOFU

Spend on comprehensive product comparisons, solution guides, ROI calculators, and strong pricing/demos pages.
Although they draw lower raw traffic, these pages convert at 4 to 5 times the level of TOFU content, and bring more value per visitor.

If you DO TOFU, optimize TOFU for on‑SERP value

For key informational posts, apply formats that Google’s AI Overviews like:
Begin with a brief 1–2 sentence definition.
Followed by a simple list or table under H2 heading.
Include FAQ sections with schema so your brand continues to “own” the answer even when users don’t click through.

2. Deep, structured content creation

Once you’ve determined your strategic funnel focus, next is how you produce content.

Classic SEO best practices remain, but we’ve optimized our methods for long-term performance.

Detailed, user‑focused long‑form content

If you’ve worked in SEO for the past couple of years, you’ve likely observed that content takes significantly longer to get indexed.

Also, large blocks of text often fail to get indexed at all.

Google has become more discerning with its crawl budget allocation, and a few crucial factors can no longer be overlooked.

These considerations necessitate additional steps in your content creation process.

Fewer, but deeper articles, will outperform several shallow ones in an AI-replete environment.

In-depth guides that go through a topic end‑to‑end will have a greater chance of achieving AI citations and backlinks.

To make your content index‑worthy:

Gain internal and external links to the page.
Add distinct graphics or infographics that explain primary concepts.
Add video demos or explainer videos where necessary.

Organize for readability and machine consumption

Scannability is not up for debate. Utilize straightforward H2 and H3 headings, HTML lists, and tables.

ChatGPT and AI Summaries tend to copy and paste directly from table markup.

Focus on original research and expert opinion

As AI spews out regurgitated content, original data, and expert opinions, differentiate yourself.

Moz’s 2024 survey points out that audiences and search engines favor proprietary surveys and case studies over bland summaries.

Google’s leaked Original Content Score also validated that original‑source research is vital for ranking.

3. Strategic markup and link authority

Two very important factors – schema markup and links – are vital in order to keep being seen and have authority.

Here’s how to leverage structured data for AI‑powered search results and optimize your link building strategy to get ahead.

Schema markup

Schema markup simplifies content for AI crawlers to understand.

In “When and how to use knowledge graphs and entities for SEO,” I demonstrated how structured data can make it obvious to Google exactly what your page is about.

Adding schema might only slightly improve your site, but its true strength is making engines comprehend and bring to the surface your content.

By implementing FAQ schema, entity markup, and other relevant structured data formats, you’ll position your pages to appear more prominently in AI‑driven search and chat results.

As AI content floods the web, Google’s crawl budget has tightened, raising the standards for indexing.

The following changes will help get pages indexed and ranked:

Incorporate as much first-hand research as possible.
Include custom graphics in all of our content.
Employ strategic FAQs and instant responses.
-Incorporating short FAQ passages captures People Also Ask and other snippet elements.
-Surround each question with a 1-2 sentence response, then open up below.
-This two-layered approach meets both instant AI answer and readers desiring depth.

Example:
Question: What is zero‑click search?
Answer: A zero-click search is when a user’s question is answered on the results page directly without clicking any link. Such questions usually provide AI Overviews or featured snippets.

Backlinks: Quality over quantity

More content is being created than ever before, so Google is depending more and more on backlinks to determine site authority.

Recent evidence continues to demonstrate a robust correlation between backlinks and rankings, although Google’s internal leaks indicate the significance of site authority (‘siteAuthority’) metrics overall.

In this dynamic environment, backlinks continue to be among the leading ranking signals.

But effective link building in 2025 is not as much about volume as it is about quality.

Our agency has found that high-quality backlinks have a much larger effect than ever before.

The 2025 SEO trifecta

To be competitive, concentrate on these three pillars:

Funnel-driven content allocation: Prioritize MOFU and BOFU content that drives clicks and conversions.
Deep, structured content creation: Produce definitive, well-organized guides with rich media and tactical FAQs.
Strategic markup and link authority: Use schema to boost AI features and prioritize high-authority backlinks.
By building on core SEO principles and adding AI-savvy tactics, you’ll not only adapt to changes but thrive in the evolving search environment.