It’s SERPs kid, but not as we know it.

You spend hours crafting the perfect blog post. You optimise it. Add your spicy little H2s. Even sprinkle in some schema like it’s SEO seasoning. Then Google goes, “Thanks, I’ll take it from here,” and slaps it in an AI Overview — without the courtesy of a click.

Welcome to 2025, where the search engine’s new best friend is generative AI, and your best-performing article just became a snack for the algorithm.

Here’s what the latest chatter from SEO-land says about surviving — and maybe even thriving — in this new era.

1. Niche Hard or Go Home

Topical authority is the new domain authority. Google’s AI doesn’t care if your website’s been around since the Ice Age if you’re still posting lukewarm takes on 25 different subjects. Pick your lane. Own your lane. Build so much good content around one subject that Google has no choice but to say, “Ah, yes, the [your-niche-here] person.” Jack-of-all-trades content isn’t fooling anyone anymore — especially not an algorithm that reads more in a day than you will in your lifetime.

2. E-E-A-T: It’s Not Just a Cute Acronym

Experience. Expertise. Authoritativeness. Trustworthiness. If your content doesn’t scream “real human with a brain wrote this,” AI won’t scream your name back. Think case studies, personal insight, and quotes that didn’t come from ChatGPT. Add author bios. Quote experts. Inject actual personality. Make the algorithm and the reader believe you’ve got skin in the game.

3. Google’s AI Likes Going Deep

Not emotionally. It’s still a robot. But it does prefer linking to deep content pages with meat, not fluff. The homepage? That’s just the lobby. Google’s AI wants to head straight for the good stuff: the kitchen, the library, the secret stash in the back. So if your individual blog posts, product pages, or help articles are weak, it won’t matter how shiny your homepage is.

4. Helpful Content Still Wins

You know what never goes out of style? Genuinely solving someone’s problem. Google’s been screaming “write helpful content” for years — and AI Overviews take that even more literally. The AI is picking up pages that answer questions well, not just quickly. Forget keyword density and focus on usefulness. Real tips, real insight, real clarity. And yes, clarity includes writing like a human.

5. Brace for Fewer Clicks (and Fewer Tears)

If your strategy relies solely on SERP click-throughs, it’s time to diversify. AI Overviews are like a clingy middleman: they love your content, but they don’t always want people visiting you. That’s frustrating, sure — but if your name, brand, or ideas are being cited, that’s still visibility. In a world where trust is currency, being seen in the AI answer box can be just as valuable as a visit.

6. UX Still Counts

Just because AI’s reading your content doesn’t mean you can ignore the humans. Google’s still factoring in how quickly your page loads, how mobile-friendly it is, and whether the design screams “I built this on GeoCities.” If your site feels like a punishment to use, you’re going to struggle. AI can parse your words, but it still cares about signals that users like what they see.

7. Your Homepage Isn’t a Celebrity

It’s not enough to have one polished front door. If the rooms behind it are empty or ugly, no one’s staying for tea. Every page on your site should serve a purpose — and be proud of it. That means no sad, generic subpages. Give people something good wherever they land. Build them like you expect someone to arrive and stick around.

8. Long-Form Isn’t Dead. Lazy Content Is.

If your first instinct is “Ugh, no one reads long stuff anymore,” then you’re probably writing the wrong kind of long stuff. AI Overviews cherry-pick the best parts of great, detailed content — so the more high-quality material you give them, the better your chances of getting featured. That doesn’t mean waffle. It means depth. Opinion. Examples. Thought.

9. Think Billboard, Not Billboard Chart

Yes, clicks still matter. But so does being seen. Think about AI Overviews as a new kind of PR. If your brand shows up in enough of them, you start to become the go-to name in that space — even if users don’t click through every time. Brand building through visibility is subtle but powerful.

10. Adapt or Be Invisible

The rules are changing. Fast. What works today might flop next month. So stop chasing yesterday’s algorithm update and start building a strategy that can flex. Test things. Refresh your old content. Watch what the winners are doing. And remember: the AI doesn’t hate you. It just has very high standards. Meet them, and you’re in. Miss the mark, and well… there’s always page two.

Final thought?

SEO isn’t dead. It just grew up, got a robot friend, and stopped tolerating mediocrity. So sharpen your content, back your expertise, and stop writing like you’re trying to win at word count. Google’s AI can now tell the difference between “good enough” and “damn, that’s useful.”

Be the latter.