Search engines like Google regularly evolve to provide users with the best experience possible. As a marketer, you must stay on top of this evolution to ensure your content ranks high, drives traffic, and produces the desired results.
That said, staying current with the latest SEO technologies and industry developments is critical.
In this article, we will discuss the current SEO technology landscape. From there, we’ll call out some specific technologies to keep an eye out for. We’ll also talk about how professional SEO services can open doors to success in this fast-paced digital marketing landscape.
What’s new in SEO?
AI and machine learning have taken the world by storm over the past few years. Marketers, who focus on search engine optimization (SEO) should be mindful of these advancements. Some of these technologies have proven to be fads, and others are helping to bring progress to the industry.
Many tried-and-true SEO technologies continue to serve the industry, as well. These technologies have evolved in some ways and become more important in others. We will get into these shortly.
What remains constant in SEO is the need to roll with the punches and adapt to changes. Despite the recent developments, creating high-quality, original content remains of the utmost importance.
9 Latest SEO technologies
Let’s review some of the SEO technologies you should consider in 2025 and beyond.
1. Google’s “AI Overview”
One of the most significant recent developments in SEO technologies is Google’s “AI Overview.” This replaces the “Featured Snippet” at the top of most search engine result pages (SERPs) with an AI-generated summary. This information is pulled from different sources and is meant to provide a summary of the top results and answer the user’s query.
Screenshot provided by author
This new feature is controversial from a UX standpoint. In theory, it should provide a quick way for users to find the information they are looking for. It cites the sources for each line, which is excellent.
However, sometimes, the information is not contextually accurate, so it misses the search intent. This can lead users down the wrong path, which is definitely not ideal. Furthermore, sometimes, the AI Overview presents redundant information that would feel rambly if it were written by a human.
Even with its flaws, AI Overview has caused a decrease in organic traffic and other SEO metrics across the board. This is ironic since the inconsistencies with accuracy and relevance should leave viewers reading deeper for answers, but this does not seem to be the case.
Since this technology is relatively new, we will keep watching to see how it evolves.
2. Generative AI
Although controversial, it’s hard to talk about modern SEO tech without calling out generative AI. If you’re unfamiliar with it, generative AI is any AI used to create something. This includes written content, graphics, and those sorts of digital assets.
When ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools sprung up, many marketers thought they’d found a solution to automate blog content writing. Unfortunately, the quality of AI-spun content is questionable. Even if it’s grammatically correct, it lacks the human touch that provides unique context and perspective. Without that human perspective, creating anything genuinely original with AI is hard.
On the other hand, generative AI can help create outlines for articles. Of course, any time you use this technology, it’s important to tweak it to ensure that it encompasses the context you want to convey. It’s also important to fact-check anything AI generates, even a simple outline.
Keep in mind that generative AI is only one form of this technology. AI has other uses for SEO, and we will cover them throughout this article.
3. Graphic design for UX
For the past few years, Google has prioritized people-first content over search-first content. This means marketers should craft content that provides value for their target audience instead of writing solely for ranking. Although this update isn’t new, it remains as crucial as ever.
Optimizing your website’s user experience (UX) is essential to creating people-first content. That’s why it’s important to leverage a website builder to customize your UX so visitors can easily access the information they need.
Some of the best website builders geared toward creating an optimal UX include:
- Wix
- Duda
- WordPress
- Squarespace
- GoDaddy
These website builders are great for optimizing the UX because they offer the most customizability, giving you more control over the viewers’ journey through the site.
4. Track your content’s performance
Assessing and iterating continue to be essential parts of SEO. By understanding how your audience responds to your content and how it performs in search, you’ll be able to optimize your existing content and become more intentional with your SEO strategy moving forward.
You simply can’t be at your best without Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Google Analytics shows how visitors navigate your site, and Google Search Console looks explicitly at search traffic to your site. Since both tools are completely free, there’s no excuse not to use them.
Looking for even more insight? Leverage top SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to measure performance.
You can also use tools like Hotjar to assess the user behavior on your current website and inform the UX design of a future version of your site.
5. Advances in on-page optimization tools
On-page optimization tools are becoming increasingly relevant in SEO. In the past, this sort of technology was less intuitive than it is today. The content was previously graded on metrics like keyword density that we now know to be arbitrary (and even harmful).
Now, metrics like Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) are used to grade content since they have proven to be a more effective SEO metric.
Frase, Surfer, and Content Harmony are all great tools that continue to evolve in this space. Frase is slowly rolling out Frase 2.0, a new and improved version of the already powerful technology. In addition to assessing TF-IDF, these platforms are useful for quickly browsing SERPs for related keywords, generating article outlines, and more.
Screenshot provided by author
6. Assessing competitor sites
SEO continues to become more competitive. More websites are posting more content, but only one site can take the top site of each SERP. With that in mind, keeping tabs on your competitors is important.
If you want to stay at the front of the pack, you must regularly audit what your competitors are doing and get strategic to do it better. Your content should fill in the gaps where your competitors are lacking. Plus, you can use your competitors as inspiration to brainstorm topics to cover on your site.
SpyFu is an excellent tool for scanning a domain to assess its traffic, top-ranking pages, keywords, and more. Similar AI tools can also provide page-specific reports.
Keywords Everywhere is another excellent option for assessing content directly on a SERP for any search query. With just a click, this keyword research tool helps you quickly evaluate the top keywords any specific link ranks for. This technique is excellent for identifying secondary keywords to target in an article or brainstorming topics to cover in future articles.
Screenshot provided by author
7. Natural language processing (NLP)
Natural language processing (NLP) technology is a crucial example of evolution in SEO. This machine-learning technology allows search engines to contextualize content to rank more relevant results.
For SEO, this means that the days of stuffing irrelevant keywords are over. If the people-first quality metrics Google used weren’t enough to influence SEO professionals to create valuable, high-intent content, the evolution of NLP should do the trick.
8. Non-text SEO
Non-text SEO remains integral to ranking your site since Google and other search engines scan images, videos, and other assets on a page to develop additional context. What this means for SEO is that the metadata on non-text assets needs to be optimized just like the text assets.
For example, alt text must be customized on any image you publish. How this works depends on the platform you use to manage your website. Typically, the blogging tool on your website CMS will allow you to add alt text by clicking on an image or image settings in your blog editor.
Often, the alt text defaults to the image name or alt text from its source, so you can also edit this metadata in Google Docs or whatever word processor you use. As you optimize this metadata, ensure it’s accurate, relevant, and uses your target keywords.
Image provided by author
How SEO services pair with SEO tech updates
Even though some SEO workflows can be automated with technology, a few still require hands-on labor. This is especially true regarding keeping up with the technology search engines use to rank content.
Fortunately, you can streamline these processes by outsourcing to an SEO provider. Since these people live and breathe SEO, tapping into their expertise is usually more efficient than trying to keep up with the fast-paced industry to carry out SEO initiatives by yourself.
With that in mind, here are a few types of professional SEO services that you can invest in rather than trying to DIY it with technology.
1. Link building
Link building is integral to SEO because it provides search engines with important context to understand how to rank your site’s content. Since this process can be tedious, it is usually best to outsource it to a service that specializes in building links.
A reputable link building service should have a strong network of connections with digital media publishers, in-house strategists, and a team dedicated to content creation. It should also offer white-hat link building that leverages techniques that abide by Google’s link-building rules.
If you are looking for a service provider that prioritizes relevant backlinks from high-quality domains, uSERP is an excellent option.
2. Content creation
Outsourcing content creation to writers highly skilled in SEO is a great way to ensure you’re publishing content that will resonate with your readers and help you rank in the SERPs.
With that in mind, as you compare content creation services, look for a provider prioritizing quality over quantity. Ask about their content writing process and how they always ensure high-quality work. Also, ensure they understand the importance of originality so you don’t end up with some AI-spun content.
uSERP also offers content creation services if this is something you need help with anything.
3. Technical optimization
Since a lot happens on the back end, covering your bases with technical SEO is essential. Some technical elements of SEO that a backend specialist can help you with include:
- Site speed
- Schema
- Metadata optimization
- Identifying issues that prevent indexing
- Setting canonical links for duplicate content
Keep in mind that most SEO professionals specialize in on-page or off-page optimization. Unless you hire a full-service team that offers both, you may have to invest in dedicated support for each initiative.
4. SEO strategy
A solid strategy is the foundation of every successful SEO campaign. Without an intentional plan of action, it’s hard to curate the content you need to reach your target audience.
If you don’t have a dedicated member of your marketing team to handle SEO content strategy, it’s worth outsourcing this, as well. An SEO strategist can help you position your brand by choosing the best keywords to target. This specialist can also guide you in creating intent-driven content.
Another important role of an SEO strategist is internal link building. They can help determine which internal links you should build. They can also provide some insight into an external link strategy for your site.
Furthermore, this specialist can help you choose providers for link building, technical SEO support, and more.
Final thoughts
Since the SEO landscape is ever-changing, the only path to success is to adapt and pivot as the changes come. What remains the same is the need to create high-quality content that provides value to your audience.
Remember this as you embrace new technologies and techniques to improve your search engine rankings. Since these changes can be a lot, your best bet might be tapping into the services of SEO professionals.
Are you seeking a partner to help you with link building and SEO content creation? uSERP is here for you. Book a call to learn how uSERP can help you ensure that your SEO initiatives are up to speed with the most recent technologies so you can boost your search rankings.