Search Engine Optimization in 2025

Posted by: David Hall

In the old days (pre-2012) there were certain tricks we could use to get top rankings in Google for a website. We were masters at those tricks and were able to get a #1 ranking for any client willing to pay us for the time and resources required. Those days are long gone. Google has so obfuscated how they determine their rankings that it is driving people to use paid search as the only reliable way to get top rankings.

Two Major Shifts at Google

Let’s give you some history.

I remember when Google launched. It was 1998. I had launched my dental practice website in 1995 and had begun learning SEO tricks. The first search engines focused entirely on the content of the website. Google brought in a new idea—rank websites based on links from other websites. It worked so well that Google quickly became the dominant search engine. However, in time, smart webmasters were able to figure out link-building schemes and other tricks to bring top rankings for their websites. So Google began launching major updates to defeat these webmaster tricks. Major milestones were the Panda update (which focused on quality content) in 2011 and the Penguin update (which focused on figuring out which links were artificially generated versus which were natural) in 2012. Combined, these two updates resulted in a major disruption of rankings.

Then in 2017, they began another major initiative that was first rolled out with what became known as the Medic update. It totally changed their algorithms again and resulted in another major disruption in website rankings. They had been using external signals to help determine quality websites and accurate information. But they now decided that they wanted to determine themselves which websites they would reward with high positions. Internal sources at Google revealed that their primary motivation was wanting to use their influence to shape public opinion. They refined their algorithms to filter out information they considered unreliable, regardless of how many links it had attracted. It was a shift from a “democratic” approach to information—letting the public rate the quality of information—to an “authoritarian” approach where Google would decide what was good information and bad information. It has been somewhat controversial because it has been shown to favor some candidates and political positions and to penalize others. It has progressed to where Google is now using sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to guide its rankings.

Since their inception, Google has been refining each of these major updates and introducing other strategies into their algorithms.

Search engine optimization experts are now left with incomplete knowledge about how to help their websites rank well. While there are mistakes they can make that will penalize their websites, there are no sure-fire tools that will assure high rankings. Here is a guide to what, in 2025, can be done. Let’s start with clear principles that will meet Google’s requirements and help avoid penalties.

Structured Data

A few years ago, Google began asking webmasters to put certain data, such as office hours, location, services provided, etc., into a structured format. This helps Google and other search engines to gather the data in a way that helps them understand it. A good webmaster should use updated data markup language (Schema.org) for any data recognized by search engines.

Core Web Vitals and Other Technical Issues

Google’s Core Web Vitals, which measure factors like page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, have become crucial for SEO. Other technical issues, if ignored, can result in rankings downgrades. Google recommends attending to the following issues:

• Page Speed: Minimize HTTP requests, leverage browser caching, and compress images to speed up the website’s loading time.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure that the website and content are mobile-friendly. Ensure the website loads quickly and functions smoothly on mobile devices.
• User Experience: Focus on improving the overall user experience by reducing elements that cause layout shifts and by optimizing interactive elements.
• Navigation: Google wants users to be able to easily navigate your website. Confusing navigation structure and broken links will cause problems.

Attention to these Core Web Vitals and other technical issues and continually tweaking them for improved performance is a major ongoing activity by our search team at Infinity Business Web.

Then there are some guidelines to getting higher rankings. While nothing is sure-fire, these will help.

Creating Helpful, Reliable, People-First Content

Here’s how Google puts it:

“Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results.”

So take that statement and try to digest it. They are telling us that the way to get top rankings is to not try to get top rankings. Really!? The way I’m reading that is that Google is trying very hard to disable any tricks you might be thinking of using. Anyway, let’s get into some specifics about what they are looking for.

They Don’t Want AI-Generated Content

One thing Google is NOT looking for is content generated by artificial intelligence. Say you use an AI app such as ChatGPT, to write your content. AI tools use the internet to assemble information. So what are you adding that is useful? Nothing, really. Your visitor could use the AI tool themselves and get the same result. While AI is a useful tool, Google is working to downgrade content generated in this way. You can use AI to help you write, as long as you use it only as a guide. You need to heavily edit the AI-generated content, verify anything it provides for you, combine it with personal knowledge, and add some research of your own.

The Ingredients of Quality Content

Here are a few selections from questions Google suggests that you ask yourself in creating what they would consider quality content:

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
• Does the main heading or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
• Does the main heading or page title avoid exaggerating or being shocking in nature?
• Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
• Is the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
• Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?

There are many more questions in their list, but this gives you an idea of what they are looking for.

Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness

This concept, which Google labeled E-A-T, was introduced when they decided they wanted to become the decider of which information they would promote. They have since expanded that to E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Critics complain that if you disagree with Google on an issue, they don’t consider you trustworthy. Further, no one has figured out just how they determine which information they consider correct. But here are some guidelines they have shared:

• Author Bios: Include author bios with credentials and links to social profiles to establish expertise.
• Backlinks: Build high-quality, authoritative backlinks to the content from reputable sources.
• Quality Control: Regularly audit your content for accuracy and update it as needed.

Another problem with this E-E-A-T concept is that it is geared toward informational websites, and exactly how it applies to sites promoting local businesses isn’t clear.

Local SEO

Local SEO is informed by a separate algorithm and populates rankings in Google Maps. Getting top rankings in Google Maps is a major focus of ours because this is what people tend to use to find local businesses. And while optimizing work here is tedious, the results are more predictable.

We won’t address here what goes into local SEO. That could be the subject of another blog post.

Accessibility

Google seems to be giving signals that it plans to penalize websites that aren’t accessible to people with disabilities. Some experts suspect that this is already a small ranking factor.

Coming: Optimizing for AI

Beginning in March of this year, our research department has noticed people beginning to use AI tools, with ChatGPT being the favorite, to find a dentist. Currently, Google also uses a customized version of Gemini, its AI assistant, to give an AI summary at the top of certain search results. It doesn’t currently give that AI summary when searching for a local business, but it’s possible that this is coming. AI summaries do show up when doing shopping research. Here is what Google delivers as an AI summary when asking Google, “What is the best refrigerator to buy?” (Highlighting is provided by Google as part of the AI summary.)

“The ‘best’ refrigerator depends on individual needs, but LG’s French Door models, particularly their counter-depth and smart models, consistently receive high praise for reliability, features, and user satisfaction. Whirlpool, GE, and Samsung are also strong contenders, offering various styles and features to suit different preferences.”

AI search is in its infancy and, in time, search behavior will change and Google will adapt to that behavior. We’re currently watching and analyzing results of AI search to determine how to get our clients showing up in results.

Bottom Line

While there are things we need to do to meet Google’s guidelines and prevent a website from being penalized in rankings, there is no longer any sure-fire formula for getting high rankings organically in general search. We are limited to just following their guidelines and hoping for the best.

What this is doing is pushing businesses into paid search. Some speculate that this is Google’s goal. We don’t know that, but we do know that is the effect of their policies. Paid ads are now, for some search terms, dominating the above-the-fold listings in search results.

Meanwhile, our clients can rest assured that you have recognized experts managing your search engine optimization..