I arrived at Brighton SEO bleary-eyed, half yawning, coffee in hand. People talk a lot in SEO about being ahead of the curve, but four trains, one taxi, and a very late hotel check in had left me feeling decidedly behind it.
Whilst the talks were varied, a few key threads ran through almost all of them: diversification, change, and the buzzword of the moment, artificial intelligence (AI). The industry is facing some uncertainty, not in its longevity or viability, but in its methodology. Clearly, the writing is on the wall: AI is here to stay, and we’re the ones who will need to adapt.
Branching out
The first talk which stood out to me was from Carrie Rose, founder of Rise at Seven, entitled ‘Proving SEO Worth in 2025 by Diversifying Your Organic Traffic’.
Carrie began her presentation by painting a picture that’s been at the forefront of many SEO-inclined minds in recent times; one of a splintered search landscape, where traditional notions of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) are all but forgotten. This is a new frontier, a changed SERP filled with extensive advertisements, maps packs, ‘people also ask’ boxes, video carousels, featured snippets, knowledge graphs, and… AI overviews!
With results pages split between seemingly endless paid ads, more and more SERP features, and organic results, things are feeling increasingly disparate - and that’s not to mention the rise of new platforms like SearchGPT, Perplexity, or TikTok, for that matter. We’re in uncharted territory, and as the saying goes, you should never ‘put all of your eggs in one basket’.
Whilst SEO is split, perhaps more than ever, it’s important for marketers to realise that clients, and by extension, brands, still have something that can cut through to audiences regardless of the channel: the brand. To be a strong brand is to be best placed for success in a fragmented marketplace, whatever the channel. By better targeting your brand messaging to the right audiences, and using the right method of outreach, you generate demand, improve visibility, and drive increased conversion.
Google, too, clearly values the brand. With domain authority scores and brand mentions as a ranking factor, the fact is indisputable. Building a strong brand and targeting the right audiences generates buzz, user engagement, and domain authority. So, how do you do this?
Well, there’s not any one way to do so. But perhaps it could be seen as a more traditional approach towards marketing; maximising visual appeal and brand messaging are a great place to start. With social media long-cemented into the fabric of most of our lives, whether it be Facebook, Reddit, X (Twitter) or TikTok, all channels have their own demographics - and many, including TikTok, allow marketers to target certain audiences within those demographics.
So, knowing your audience is imperative - we’ve established that. Visuals and messaging are relatively simple. Make sure that your brand’s outward appearance looks nice, whether that’s through advertisements, social media campaigns, billboards, whatever - they need to grab people’s attention, especially the attention of the audience you’re trying to reach.
Tailor the message you’re trying to deliver to the audience that you’ve already identified. Carrie used an example of a campaign that she’d run on social media, wherein the product itself, a holiday park, had been using social media to market towards children. And it was, in some ways, successful. Views were high, and the content was clearly very appealing to the target audience, but conversions were far lower than they ought to have been. But, as Carrie pointed out, “kids don’t have credit cards” - so the real target audience wasn’t the kids, it was the parents.
They began to shift all content to be more parent-oriented, with information about things to do in the local areas, activities on-site, nicely shot videos of the parks themselves, and aerial drone shots to show how close they were to the sea. The results were clear to see - more impressions, more conversions, the works.
So, to summarise:
- Identify your audience
- Choose the correct channels
- Employ a ‘top of funnel’ strategy that’s focused on demand instigation (visual appeal, inventive campaigns, appropriate messaging)
- Flood the chosen channels with content that’s designed to create demand in your chosen audience.
By diversifying your organic traffic, you are casting the widest possible net, so why be narrow-minded?
Future-proofing
Next, I’d like to discuss a talk by Chris Meabe, Senior Content Specialist at Foundation Marketing, entitled ‘100% Evergreen Articles to Survive Search Updates’.
This was one of my favourite presentations at the event, (apart from our own Nathan Height’s of course!) because it managed to simplify a methodology that can seem difficult to pin down, especially when the scope of the content needed is as vast as it often is on large websites.
Chris carried out an audit of a number of sites which he deemed as having great content, and determined that they share a set of common attributes which make them ‘evergreen’:
- 76% of the audited articles were based around ‘what is’ queries
- 10-20 external links were featured in each article (information sources, glossaries, external experts, etc.)
- 84% had been refreshed in the last year
So, how does this all work?
Step 1: Define your term. What question are you trying to answer?
When creating content that is informational, you are essentially (or at least should be), answering a question. To create something educational that could feasibly be drawn upon by a SERP feature, or a great organic result, you need to figure out what question it is that you’re trying to answer, then answer it well.
Step 2: Establish expertise.
The next point is something many SEOs hear day in, day out (I know I do!) - that authority is absolutely imperative. To be taken seriously by the algorithm, you first need to prove yourself to it - so do. Offer your users links to (good) sources, show statistics, give them your own insights and draw on personal experiences, or offer them someone else’s. That’s how you build trust, demonstrating both value and usefulness to users, and if users are happy, so is the algorithm.
Step 3: Keep it fresh.
Now, the refreshed content. It’s no secret that Google tracks publication dates; and after all, why wouldn’t they? Results pages are essentially one long queue, and everyone wants to be at the front. So, it follows that the newest thing in the queue is likely to be at the front. Like Chris said, “even evergreen trees need watering”, so making sure that content is up-to-date via regular, or semi-regular refreshes is a fantastic way to ensure that you’re giving the piece the best possible chance to be seen.
Chris rounded up the talk by taking the audience through a simple way of future-proofing content, anticipating the need to tailor articles for generative search engines like SearchGPT and Perplexity. A recent paper born of a collaboration between Princeton University and the Indian Institute of Technology has outlined a set of criteria by which content is judged by generative search engines.
The paper determined that to perform well in generative search results, authors need to ensure that their content is:
- Easy to understand
- Authoritative
- Fluent
And contains:
- Technical terms
- Citations
- Quotations
- Statistics
So, by defining your key terms, establishing authority through credible sources, and keeping content fresh with regular updates you’ll be helping to keep your articles evergreen, able to withstand search updates, and stay relevant even in the introduction of generative search platforms like SearchGPT and Perplexity.
To conclude
Brighton SEO’s varied talks offered a comprehensive look at the future of search and the growing role of AI in shaping the industry. As marketers, it's clear that the key to success lies in diversification, building strong brands, and creating authoritative evergreen content that stands the test of time. Whether it’s adapting to new search engines or refining your brand messaging, staying ahead of the curve requires a proactive approach.
So if you find yourself asking: “what can I do to make sure I’m prepared for the future”, you’re already in the right place - keep on that line of enquiry, and you can’t go far wrong. If nothing else, it’ll keep things interesting.
