How To Prepare For SEO Changes in 2024 and 2025
SEO changes are coming, and we want to help prepare you and your team for them. Mandel Marketing is all about SEO, and now, so are you.
To help us navigate this ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization, we’ve gathered insights from CEOs and Founders to stay ahead of the curve. From optimizing for Core Web Vitals to investing in quality content and training, explore the fifteen strategies these experts are using to prepare for recent and upcoming SEO changes.
Optimize for Core Web Vitals
One significant shift is the importance of page-experience signals introduced by Google’s recent updates, including Core Web Vitals. At our company, we’re rigorously optimizing our clients’ websites for these new metrics, focusing on speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.
By deploying advanced tools to monitor and improve these factors, we ensure that each site not only performs well according to Google’s standards but also provides a seamless and engaging user experience. This proactive optimization helps in significantly boosting our clients’ SERP (Search Engine Results Page) rankings.
We also prioritize mobile optimization as part of the page-experience strategy, recognizing the increasing dominance of mobile traffic. Enhancing mobile UX is crucial, as it directly impacts SEO performance and user satisfaction, which are critical for our clients’ success in today’s mobile-first world.
Jason Hennessey, CEO, Hennessey Digital
Voice Search Optimization Strategy
As SEO continues to evolve rapidly, staying ahead of the curve is necessary for maintaining the effectiveness of our clients’ digital strategies. Here’s how we’re preparing for the upcoming changes in SEO to ensure our clients in the SaaS and e-commerce sectors remain competitive and visible.
The main focus is on improving our expertise in voice search optimization. With the rise of AI assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant, voice search is becoming increasingly important.
We’re researching keywords that are more likely to be used in spoken queries and adjusting our content strategies accordingly. This involves structuring content to answer direct questions and providing concise, clear information that AI can easily parse and deliver to users.
Marc Bishop, Director, Wytlabs
Stay Informed and Diversify SEO
Staying informed about industry updates and algorithm shifts is crucial in adapting to recent and upcoming SEO changes. I keep myself updated by following reputable SEO blogs, attending webinars, and participating in relevant forums and discussions. This helps me stay ahead of the curve and adjust my SEO strategies accordingly to ensure my website remains optimized for search engine visibility.
I conduct regular audits of my website’s SEO performance, analyzing key metrics such as keyword rankings, organic traffic, and backlink profiles to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary adjustments. This proactive approach allows me to address any issues promptly and maintain or improve my website’s search rankings and overall performance.
Diversifying my SEO strategy is another key aspect of my preparation for SEO changes. By optimizing for multiple channels such as voice search, local SEO, and mobile optimization, I spread my efforts across various platforms and techniques. This helps minimize the risk of being overly reliant on any single channel or tactic, ensuring that my website maintains its visibility and rankings across different search environments.
Tim Woda, Founder, White Peak
Focus on Conversions and E-E-A-T
I’m already prepared for the potential impacts of AI overviews in search results and the expected decrease in traffic for informational queries. Therefore, I’m tailoring my SEO strategy to focus more on metrics like conversions, sign-ups, and client bookings instead of rankings and traffic. This means a greater emphasis will be placed on commercial pages and their complementary informational content, while boosting the site’s E-E-A-T will also be a major focus. This will involve pursuing opportunities for high-quality, niche-relevant backlinks, increasing the site’s off-page reputation and mentions, and clearly demonstrating experience and expertise in all content.
On the other hand, I will still continue to publish blog posts, but now I will be utilizing more narrowly focused, low-volume keywords. Since these keywords are very specific, I believe AI overviews will likely miss the mark there.
I’ve also started doing content audits for clients to see how to make their content more helpful. This may even involve unpublishing some pages without clear intention and thin content, if it can’t be properly optimized and used for their audience.
Sonja Marinkovic, Founder, Leadin Therapy
Prioritize Foundational SEO Elements
I always monitor reputable industry sources and the search engines’ own communications closely for insight into their roadmaps and focus areas. Things like the annual Google Search On events, Google News blogs, Bing Webmaster blog posts, and statements from search liaisons often provide advanced directional guidance.
That said, I’ve learned to take pundit speculation and survivorship bias case studies with a grain of salt. For every “recommended practice” that pans out, there are just as many that fall flat or have unintended consequences when real-world tested at scale.
My main preparation approach is prioritizing foundational elements under my control – continued technical optimization, a long-term content strategy focused on comprehensiveness and quality over tricks, and an unrelenting focus on delivering superior user experiences aligned with searcher intent and situational context.
When curveball updates do inevitably hit, I rely on my robust data analysis capabilities to quickly identify tangible impact areas rather than reactive panic. I’ll dig into performance dips and pattern shifts across regional/demographic segments, content clusters, SERP features, and intent categories to pinpoint the root causality drivers.
From there, it’s an agile process of formulating theoretical solutions, implementing measured test cases, evaluating results against control data, and iterating until regaining traction. I’ve found perpetually operating in a state of reasonable experimentation prevents any single update from derailing sustained progress.
Santosh Jha, Digital Marketing, GoXwide
Embrace Continuous Learning and UX
As an SEO expert, staying ahead of the curve is crucial, especially with the frequent updates and changes in the SEO landscape. Here’s how I’m preparing for the recent and upcoming changes this year:
Continuous Learning: I make it a priority to stay updated with the latest SEO news and updates. This involves regularly reading industry blogs, attending webinars, and participating in SEO conferences and forums. Websites like Search Engine Journal, Moz, and Google’s Webmaster Blog are invaluable resources.
Emphasis on User Experience (UX): With Google’s increasing focus on user experience, signaled by updates like the Page Experience update, I am working more closely with web developers and designers to ensure that the websites we manage are not only content-rich but also user-friendly, fast, and mobile-optimized.
Enhancing Content Quality: Quality content has always been king in SEO, and this continues to be a focus area. I am concentrating on creating more engaging, informative, and well-researched content that satisfies user intent. This involves deeper keyword research, including long-tail keywords, and understanding the user’s journey.
Technical SEO: I am doubling down on technical SEO aspects like site speed, structured data, and security (HTTPS). Tools like Google’s Lighthouse provide great insights that help in optimizing these areas.
Voice Search Optimization: As voice search becomes more popular, optimizing for voice search is increasingly important. This includes focusing on natural language queries and featured snippets, which are often sourced in voice search results.
AI and Automation: With AI becoming more integrated into SEO, particularly with the advent of tools like ChatGPT and other language models, I am exploring how these technologies can help automate and enhance SEO tasks, such as content creation, keyword research, and even some aspects of link building.
Adapting to SERP Changes: Search engine results pages (SERPs) are constantly evolving. I keep an eye on these changes to understand how features like featured snippets, knowledge panels, and video results are affecting organic search and adjust strategies accordingly.
Brandon Leibowitz, Owner, SEO Optimizers
Enhance Titles and On-Page Engagement
To prepare for the recent SEO changes highlighted in the Google leak documents, I am focusing on several key areas. First, I’m optimizing titles and meta descriptions to increase click-through rates (CTR).
Second, I’m ensuring content is comprehensive and valuable to meet user intent. Third, I’m enhancing on-page elements to boost user engagement metrics like time on page and bounce rate. Additionally, I’m improving mobile usability and page speed, as these factors are increasingly important.
Andy Hathaway, Google Ads Expert, Clarity PPC
Create Comprehensive, User-Centric Content
This year, as major SEO changes come into play, one of my primary focuses is to ensure our content remains highly relevant and useful to our audience. Over time, I’ve learned that SEO is not just about stuffing keywords anymore.
Firstly, I’m gearing up to provide more comprehensive, well-researched, long-form content that addresses user queries in-depth. The reason behind this is Google’s growing focus on user intent, which has made us shift our strategy from keyword-centric to user-centric. Secondly, with Google’s Core Web Vitals becoming a ranking factor, I’m closely working with our technical team to optimize website speed, interactivity, and visual stability. A positive user experience can significantly contribute to better ranking, and I’m putting concerted efforts to enhance it.
Additionally, the anticipated rise of voice search this year requires websites to feature more conversational and natural language, an area which we’re actively refining. Lastly, since Google launched its mobile-first indexing, we’ve prioritized mobile optimization to provide seamless experiences across devices. These steps help us stay ahead of SEO changes and ensure that our users find us easily, offering them valuable insights and solutions.
Gabriel Lukov, Head of Inbound Growth, Businessmap
Implement Robust Schema and CRO Techniques
The SEO industry is always changing; this has been true since the first algorithm update and the time when people realized they could make money by influencing search algorithms.
SGE is potentially one of the biggest events to hit the SEO industry since the Penguin algorithm. One of the more important things to remember is that solid fundamentals stand the test of time, which means there is often no need to be super reactive to new features and algorithm trends.
That does not mean you can’t plan for and be prepared for such events. One of the bigger things we have been doing to prepare for SGE is to ensure robust and detailed schema markup is in place across a site. I maintain that SGE is schema in disguise.
SGE also necessitates a shift away from top-of-the-funnel content and more of a focus on mid-to-lower funnel and CRO techniques. With that, it makes sense to increase brand presence and include brand mentions within your top-of-the-funnel content.
As always, we test and verify. In order to stay ahead, you have to constantly test and analyze.
Trevor Stolber, Co-Founder and CTO, VibeLogic
Shift Focus to Active Social Platforms
In the past, we used to get sales every day from SEO. However, recently we have noticed a significant drop in this trend since the Helpful Content Update (HCU).
As a response, we have shifted our focus towards platforms where our target audience is more active.
We’ve increased our focus on Facebook groups and Twitter.
Additionally, we’ve started a newsletter to diversify and own our audience, reducing reliance on platforms.
Victor Hsi, Founder, UGC Creator Community
Improve Click-Through and Engagement
It’s important that people continue to review and understand Google’s most important updates and trends. Of particular note, Google’s focus on interactions in the search results and data collected by their Chrome browser can’t be ignored.
This means marketers need to spend more time thinking about how to get people to click on their search engine result and stay on their page longer.
David Pagotto, Founder and Managing Director, SIXGUN
Establish a Structured SEO Update Process
To prepare for recent and upcoming SEO changes, we’re establishing a robust process to implement necessary updates. After dedicating a few weeks to gathering information about AI
Overview, Google Leak, and other updates, we’ll create a detailed plan for our clients’ websites. Emphasizing semantic optimization, increasing FAQ content, and enhancing structured data are key steps. This structured approach allows us to adapt quickly and maintain strong SEO performance amidst evolving algorithms.
Marco Genaro Palma, Freelance CMO and SEO Consultant, GenaroPalma.com
Adapt to Mobile-First and Semantic Search
In the rapidly evolving world of SEO, being vigilant and adaptable forms the core of my strategy as a digital agency leader. Recently, we’ve been focusing heavily on Core Web Vitals, preparing for Google’s announced update. We are optimizing all aspects of user experience, from loading speed to interactivity and visual stability.
Furthermore, we’re placing an even greater emphasis on content relevance and semantic search. With advancements in AI and the increased use of BERT by Google, understanding user intent is becoming more crucial than ever. For instance, producing in-depth and contextually relevant content, making use of natural language, has proven to be more effective in our campaigns.
Another significant focus for this year is mobile-first indexing. Given that the majority of global web traffic comes from mobile devices, we have prioritized ensuring our clients’ websites are fully optimized for mobile experiences. This includes simple fixes such as improving site design for touchscreen navigation, optimizing site load speed, and revamping pop-ups for a better mobile user experience.
Gianluca Ferruggia, General Manager, DesignRush
Invest in Quality Content and Training
Being at the forefront of digital marketing, I constantly ensure that I stay updated with the ever-evolving SEO landscape and guide my team at Digital Silk accordingly. In light of recent changes and upcoming ones, we have adopted a few proactive strategies.
Firstly, enhancing our content quality is a top priority. Recent Google algorithm updates prioritize high-value, reader-centric content over keyword-stuffed copy. So, we’re investing more in creating rich, contextually relevant content.
Secondly, we’ve shifted our focus toward Core Web Vitals, keeping a close track on metrics like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of our web pages. Google is set to make this a ranking factor this year, making it extremely vital.
Lastly, we’re incorporating voice search optimization into our approach. With the rise of digital voice assistants, optimizing for voice search is set to become a crucial aspect of SEO. We’re revamping our keyword strategy and content creation process to resonate with natural language and query-based searches.
All these adaptation strategies have been underpinned by continuous training and learning among our team, ensuring that we’re always ready for the SEO tides that lie ahead.
Eva Miller, VP of Marketing, Digital Silk
Optimize for Speed and Voice Queries
To prepare for recent and upcoming SEO changes in 2024, we’re focusing on a few key areas. First, we’re making sure our website loads quickly on all devices, especially mobile, because Google values page speed. We’re also updating our content to be more helpful and engaging, aiming to answer user questions directly, which aligns with Google’s emphasis on user experience.
Additionally, we’re optimizing for voice search by incorporating natural language queries into our content. For example, instead of just ‘best coffee shops,’ we include phrases like ‘Where can I find the best coffee shops near me?’ We’re also building more high-quality backlinks by partnering with reputable sites in our industry.
Lastly, we’re closely monitoring Google’s updates and adapting our strategy as needed. This means staying informed through SEO blogs and forums, attending webinars, and continually testing and tweaking our approach to stay ahead of the curve.
Umair Hussain, Digital Marketing Manager, Cloudways (DigitalOcean)
Reach Out To Mandel Marketing For Help With SEO Changes in 2024 and 2025
Perhaps the best way to deal with the upcoming SEO changes in 2024 and 2025 is to reach out to an expert digital marketing agency such as Mandel Marketing. We’re here to help, so contact us today for a free consultation.