What Are the Top Content Marketing Trends in 2025? (LLM Search, AI Content, and More)

It’s probably the best year to be doing a mid-year update on a content marketing trends blog. That’s because there has hardly been a year that’s been so packed with updates, changes and upheavals than the months that followed the release of Google Overview in October, 2024. So much so that even the blogs written about content marketing trends in the beginning of 2025, need a refresh.

This blog on content marketing trends in 2025 is a must-read because of the following reasons-

Google has just launched the AI mode.

So, What is AI Mode?

AI Mode is a more personalised, intuitive and powerful AI search experience than Google AI Overviews ever was. It brings in the chat experience of Gemini into SERP. Think of Google’s version of ChatGPT, Claude or Deep Seek. Just put in any long conversational query and you get the answer, just like other LLM search platforms give you. So, Google is no longer bothered to be your traditional search engine. It wants to become your answer engine.

If AI Overviews impacted your Top of the Funnel organic traffic, there is more coming. What does this mean for marketers? It means marketing cannot be done the way it used to be done.

Brands can no longer rely on traditional keyword strategies alone. You need content that can be interpreted, cited, and surfaced by large language models (LLMs), voice interfaces, and vector search systems.

It’s not all doomsday. What you need to do is shift your marketing strategies, double down on the good stuff that has worked, create content the right way, and get your core web vitals and UX working correctly.  

In this blog on content marketing trends of 2025, we look at what needs to be done in terms of marketing in order to move the needle in the new landscape of AI marketing.

Make sure you don’t miss any point.

Trend 9# – More of AI – which means you need to focus more on being human and customer centric

So our first content marketing trend is not about how “AI will change everything and how it will impact and change marketing forever” (nope that we already know). It is about how we choose to use AI to make our content production and marketing more interactive, more personalized, more engaging.

While we will be using AI to come up with blog structures, video scripts, ad voiceovers, social media content calendar ideas, and maybe even pitch decks, we need to remember that AI cannot give us something original or fresh.

Here’s what the best marketing teams will do:

They will use AI to improve the quality of content assets they will create and level up the game. AI will no longer be used to speed up content creation or scale up content creation because that will result in pretty shallow content. The best of marketers will use AI to get more ideas, create interactive tools or short pieces of content formats that they can use in the larger content asset.

I can share 2 recent examples of that.

While redoing our home page, there was this central thought process that we wanted to relate to our clients through a visual image. And yet, we were not able to put it together.

So I used ChatGPT to create a prompt that would help me a generate an image that would help explain to our customers the idea that content lies at the centre of the entire organic growth engine.

I then used the prompt to create some visuals on Ideagram.ai. It did throw up a nice design but there were spelling mistakes and we anyway needed to change the main headline.

And this is how we refined the image and used it on our new home page

Use AI to help with –

• Gap Analysis and Creating Synthetic Data – What’s our article missing in comparison with top ranking articles and why is it not showing up in AI results.

Editor’s Note
Try this: Use AI to tell you’re the best (product or service which ever category you fall in) and then check whether you are being named there. If you are not, then ask why it didn’t show your brand in that list. Based on the reasons, you can then modify your page, making it ready to rank in LLM searches.

• Get Suggestions on how to improve quality – Can we add a table, or a graph, a tool or a widget that can offer more value to the users? How can the content be made more LLM friendly?
• Improve UX and Design Elements – How can we improve layout and make it more conversion friendly. Tools like Lovable, Ideogram, Infography, Visily help a lot in helping people like me (who is not a designer but has a good design sense) visualise ideas and content architectures better.
• Content ideations, headlines, structures, topics etc

Let us remember that AI will help you go faster, but faster doesn’t mean better. If everyone’s pumping out the same mass-produced, generic content, are you going to stand out? 

Takeaway: AI is your co-creator, not your content. Use it to scale ideas, but do expect AI to generate thought leadership. The best marketing teams will combine AI speed with human depth.

FAQs

Q: Should I use AI to write my blogs entirely?

No. Use AI for ideation and support, but human insight is still key for authority and originality.

Q: How do I make AI-generated content less generic?

Add unique examples, real-world data, and personal perspective to every AI draft.

Trend 8#: Owning your audience through Communities

This is what has been bothering me recently: we’re all building our content empires on rented land.

Here’s what’s happening across the board:

• Organic traffic from Google is getting harder to come by – More competition, more AI-generated content flooding the SERPs, and Google prioritizing their own products and wanting to keep users on its platform.
• Social media algorithms are becoming more unpredictable – What worked last month might not work this month
• Paid reach keeps getting more expensive – CPMs are up, attention spans are down, and everyone’s fighting for the same eyeballs

So is there something you can do. Yes you can. Invest in getting users to channels you can own, channels that give you higher margins and result in lower costs. 

The great migration to smaller spaces

Think of all channels where you have full control over your messaging, the content that you publish and your audience.

These channels include:

• Email
• SMS
• Your website
• Mobile apps
• Communities, loyalty programs and membership programs

Every channel listed above gives you chance to build your own community.

Why these communities actually work (when most marketing doesn’t)?

Authentic content

People share their real struggles, their actual wins, their honest questions. You can’t fake that kind of authenticity.

Trust builds faster

When you’re consistently showing up in a community, answering questions, sharing insights, being helpful, people start to see you as a real person, not just another marketer trying to sell them something. That trust translates directly into business relationships.

Niches become incredibly powerful

In a community of 200 freelance graphic designers, every single member is your exact target audience. Compare that to posting on LinkedIn where maybe 2% of people who see your content actually care about what you’re saying.

The SEO bonus you didn’t expect

Here’s something most people don’t realize: communities can be SEO goldmines.

When you’re running an active community, you’re constantly creating fresh, relevant content. People are asking questions, sharing solutions, discussing industry trends. All of that becomes searchable content that can drive organic traffic.

The great thing is even if those forum posts didn’t rank, the community would still be valuable because…

…Communities are retention machines

You might come for the content, but you stay for the community.

People start participating, make connections, get value from the discussions. Six months later, they might not even remember how they found the company, but they’re a loyal customer because they feel like part of the family.

That’s the real power of owned communities. They turn customers into advocates, advocates into evangelists, and evangelists into extensions of your team.

Building your owned audience: Multiple channels, one strategy

• Newsletters are still the backbone of owned media. Platforms like Ghost and Substack make it easy to get started, but even a simple email list through ConvertKit or Mailchimp gives you direct access to your audience’s inbox. No algorithm can take that away.
• Your website becomes your command centre. It’s where your blog lives, its where you can capture email addresses and build a community.
• Mobile and web apps are becoming more accessible for businesses of all sizes, and they do play a big part in creating successful communities. The Justwords team has been part of some really great mobile app journeys, the goal of which was to create dedicated communities which keep returning to the platforms for information, queries, and curated content.

For Nestle India, we have closely seen how the AskNestle web app has played a big part in creating a community that is interested to know about nutrition, especially parents. For HDFC Ergo, the Here app has become a unique ecosystem that addresses concerns of Indian citizens on various issues, offering 20+ features. The engagement on both platforms has been impressive so far.

– Slack channels and Discord servers let you create real-time conversations around your content.

The magic happens when all these channels work together. Someone discovers you on social media, joins your newsletter, participates in your Slack community, and eventually becomes a customer through your website. Each touchpoint strengthens the relationship.

So what does this all have to do with your content marketing strategy?

Build your brand on land you own.

Social channels are great for discovery and distribution. And you should use them to build your brand and increase awareness and credibility for your business and mission. But ultimately, you need to invite your audience to join you in your owned channels so that you can build deeper, lasting relationships over time and on your terms.

Start building yours today.

Takeaway: Owned audiences are defensible audiences. They stick, convert, and compound.

FAQs

Q: Is building a community worth the time?

Yes. Even small, niche communities drive retention, referrals, and brand advocacy.

Q: What’s the easiest way to start owning your audience?

Launch a newsletter and begin segmenting your email list by interest or intent.

Trend 7#: Optimize for Voice Search

Let’s start with a state that should make you pause:

• More than 1 Billion searches are being performed through voice search every month (data from Demand Sage)
• One in five people are apparently using voice search regularly, making it a part of their weekly routine (Data from G2)

This means that voice search is not just going to stay, but will be levelling up.

With the rise of AI-driven search and large language models (LLMs), Google no longer just matches words, it tries to understand the meaning of what you are typing.

For marketers, here is something to note – Google’s shift to an AI-first approach means it’s listening more closely (literally and algorithmically) to how people talk. So when your audience typed in “best digital marketing agency near me”, it may sound like this to Google’s LLM ears:

“Hey, what’s a really good digital marketing company close to where I live?”

As voice search becomes more conversational, your content needs to be written in a way that it matches the natural, spoken tone of humans, or you are going to be missing out on a huge chunk of potential traffic.

But hey wait. It’s no longer about just Google anymore. Your target audience is probably going to be searching on Perplexity, Gemini, ChatGPT, DeepSeek as well. And here is how they are going to search.

Here’s how people are searching now vs how they searched before.

• Old school: “best pizza NYC”
• What people do now: “What’s the best pizza place in Manhattan that delivers late night and has good reviews?”
• The voice + AI combo: “I’m staying near Times Square and want really good pizza delivered around 10 PM—what are my options?”

What’s Different About Voice Search in 2025?

✅ More Natural Language: Thanks to advancements in NLP (Natural Language Processing), Google understands full sentences, context, even follow-ups.
✅ Hyper-Local Intent: “Where’s the closest dental clinic that’s open now?” is way more common than “dental clinic + location.”
✅ Fewer, Faster Results: Voice assistants tend to deliver one top answer. That means if you’re not in Position Zero or featured snippets, you’re invisible.

How to optimise for Voice Search?

Target Long-Tail & Conversational Keywords

Think: “how do I treat back pain without surgery” instead of “back pain treatment.” Try using tools like SEMrush, LowFruits, or even People Also Ask to understand what could be the long-tail keywords that you can use.

Build FAQ Sections

Do not forget to build FAQ sections in your content. Why? Voice assistants love answering questions, so give them Q&As to pull from.

Get Featured in Snippets & PAA

Google’s voice assistants often read out featured snippets or People Also Ask results. Structure your content with quick answers, lists, and definitions.

Don’t Ignore Schema Markup

Schema helps Google know what your content means. This is crucial for spoken search. FAQ schema, HowTo schema, and LocalBusiness schema are your best friends.

🗂️ Editor’s Note:
You can use tools like Merkle’s Schema Generator or simply ask ChatGPT:
“What schema types are most relevant for this content page?”

Go Local

Most voice searches are location-based. Optimize for “near me” queries, claim your Google Business Profile, and add city/location-specific content.

For eg, instead of writing generic blogs, start answering questions that your clients must be asking. This is what one of our clients, a dental practice in Minnesota, started doing. Started answering for questions like-

–  “What should I know about getting dental work done in Lincoln Park?”

–  “How do I find a dentist who’s good with anxious patients?”

–  “What are my options for emergency dental care on weekends in Chicago?”

Her practice shows up everywhere now when people search for local dental information, because she was not trying to rank for “dentist Chicago”.

Mobile-First All the Way

Remember that 70%+ of voice searches happen on the mobile. If your website is not fast, responsive, and mobile-optimized, you’re out of the game before it starts.

Optimise for answers, not just the click

Here’s something that took me a while to accept: sometimes people won’t click through to your site because Google gave them the answer they needed right in the search results. That’s actually okay, as long as your brand is associated with that answer. This helps your brand stand out.

Build real expertise

Google’s AI is really good at figuring out who actually knows what they’re talking about. You can’t fake expertise anymore. If you’re going to create content about something, make sure you actually understand it deeply.

Takeaway: Voice search is AI’s gateway drug. If your content doesn’t sound human, it won’t be found. Write like you talk and answer like you’re the assistant.

FAQs

Q: Isn’t voice search mostly for mobile users only?

Mostly yes, but also increasingly through smart speakers, cars, and wearables—especially for local and urgent queries.

Q: Should I rewrite my old blogs for voice?

Yes. Start with your high-performing or location-based content. Add FAQs, improve scannability, and check for conversational phrasing.

Trend 6#: Repurposing Content is your Content Marketing Power Move

Repurposing content is about strategic repetition. The idea is to get maximum visibility from a few pieces of content.

One ideas = 10 assets.

Repurposing is not just reposting the same blog on LinkedIn a month later with a new caption. That’s just copy-paste.

True content repurposing is about taking a single strong idea or ideas and distributing it across formats and platforms, and even audiences, without burning out your team.

What content repurposing really means in 2025?

If you are thinking that you are recycling content, you are going about the wrong way. You should actually be reframing your content.

Repurposing is the art of turning one high-performing idea into a content flywheel – blogs, carousels, short-form videos, email newsletters, lead magnets, LinkedIn posts, maybe even an offline print piece.

Think:

“One blog = 3 reels + 1 email + 2 tweets + 1 quote post + 1 client deck slide.”

That’s efficiency. That’s reach. That’s how you win in 2025.

Here is how we are doing it at Justwords, starting this year. The idea is to create a content waterfall.

• We first shoot for our YouTube Channels – Justwords and JustwordsDigital
• We publish one long video, which is then converted to a blog and a newsletter
• We also take vital moments from the long video and convert them into small videos, which goes into YouTube shorts, Insta Reels, and Linkedin Carousels.

 The video on the top right is the long-form video, and the videos below are shorter ones, sliced from the main video.

Key Takeaways

• Start with a strong core content piece: Whether it’s a blog post, podcast, or case study, ensure the original content is valuable and relevant.
  For eg-
  – Re-use a blog or pillar page content into a video, listicle, social media content, carousel posts, or an eBook. Alternatively, re-use press release copies videos into a blog, etc
• If you see an old blog that has dropped in ranking, add relevant content with a smattering of short—and long-tail keywords and republish.
• Identify multiple formats and channels: Consider how the content can be adapted for different mediums like newsletters, videos, or social media posts.
• Tailor content to each platform: Adjust the format, tone, and length to suit the specific audience and platform requirements.
• Maintain consistency in messaging: Ensure that the core message remains consistent across all repurposed content to reinforce brand identity.

Repurposing the content attracts new audiences, increases your online presence, expands your reach, saves time and effort (in creating new content), and much more.

FAQs

Q: Is repurposing just re-posting?

No. It means reformatting, re-contextualizing, and re-telling your message.

Q: What’s the easiest way to start?

Start with your best-performing blog and create 3-5 assets from it: a short video, a LinkedIn post, a carousel, and a newsletter.

Justwords’ content marketing experts can help you analyze your content performance data to identify the assets with the highest repurposing ROI.

Trend #5: Create Native Content, Not Just Repurposed Content

If there is one thing most brands are guilty of is creating one piece of content, and then pasting the same content across platforms.

A blog written for the website, gets turned into a Linkedin post, gets turned into a video on Youtube, or shorts for Meta. Well repurposing is fine, but make sure the content reads like it was made for that platform.

Let’s understand this a little better.

What Makes Content Truly Native?

✅ Platform-first structure
✅ Platform-specific tone of voice
✅ Format made for the scroll (not the browser)

Native content respects the rules of the platform and matches the tone and format that the platform is known for. It’s not just a regurgitated version of another content that lacks the feel of that platform. Imagine if you are going to wearing party clothes to a boardroom meeting – that’s what non-native content looks like.

Every platform has its own language. A user scrolling through LinkedIn expects a structure and pace that’s very different from someone browsing a website or watching a 30-second video. When content feels out of place, it gets ignored, not because it’s bad, but because it is not what the user is expecting to consume on that platform.

So here is what you should not be doing – don’t just repurpose, reimagine it.

Take a long-form blog. It might go deep into a topic, weaving in research, product angles, and examples. Great for someone who wants the full picture.

Write a long-form blog that goes deep into a topic, sharing the full picture who is interested in consuming the information as a blog on the website.

Next, do not just drop this blog as a link-heavy blog excerpt on LinkedIn. No one will read it. LinkedIn will not promote it since you are driving the user away from its platform.

Remember, every platform wants to keep its audience on the platform. Hence any content designed to drive it away from the platform will not be favoured.

Instead of that, create a LinkedIn carousel that aligns with what people consume on the platform.

For a YouTube video, create a clipped walkthrough that offers value and education.

Here is what context-first design looks like:

→ On LinkedIn, a long-form blog gets sliced into sharp carousel posts over 2–3 weeks
→ On video, it becomes a 15-second use case or a 5-second cold open
→ On your website, the blog links to a cluster page offering real-time product value

Because:

• LinkedIn users prefer carousels, storytelling posts, or sharp, text-driven value drops.
• Instagram thrives on visuals, short-form video, and emotionally engaging captions.
• YouTube Shorts/TikTok reward quick, entertaining or educational videos (with a hook in the first 3 seconds).
• Email needs sharp, clear copy that answers “What’s in it for me?” fast.

Platform	Native Content	Non-Native Content
LinkedIn	A carousel or post series breaking down key insights from a blog, with context and commentary for LinkedIn	A blog link pasted with a generic caption
Instagram	A Reel with behind-the-scenes or storytelling + trending audio	A long infographic with 10-point text
YouTube Shorts	A 30-sec how-to with subtitles and a hook in the first 3 seconds	A repurposed Zoom webinar recording
Email	A short, story-led email with one strong CTA	A copy-pasted blog intro with no personalization

Takeaway: Repurposing multiplies reach. But native multiplies impact. If your content looks like it belongs, it performs like it matters.

FAQs

Q: Isn’t it too much work to create native content for each platform?

It takes some setup, but it’s more effective. Once you have a workflow and templates, you can produce native variations quickly.

Q: Can I still use one blog across platforms?

Yes, but adjust the storytelling method, not just the format. Turn that blog into a visual tutorial, a carousel thread, or a short-form video.

Trend 4#: User Experience (UX) will Make or Break Your Content in 2025

If you thought it was enough to just get your prospective buyer to your website, you are mistaken. In 2025, the co-relation between user experience (UX) and content performance and finally your website’s performance increase manifold.

If people are visiting your page and bouncing off, you have a problem because Google will be hawkish of not sending people to websites from where people are bouncing off.

With the whole internet getting polluted with AI content, Google is going to double down on metrics like scroll depth, time spent on page, is no longer indirect or theoretical. It’s measurable, platform-recognized, and central to how content is ranked, surfaced, and engaged with.

What’s changed is not the idea that UX matters—it’s how much it now shapes visibility.

Why UX Is a Ranking Signal Now?

Google’s latest updates include UX metrics like:

• First Input Delay (FID) – How quickly your site responds to interaction
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – How fast your main content loads
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Whether things jump around as the page loads

Social and AI platforms track scroll depth, bounce rate, and dwell time to decide whether to surface your content again.

Zero-click search and AI-generated summaries mean your website must be immediately valuable or it won’t be visited at all.

In 2025, UX isn’t optional—it’s part of your SEO, engagement, and brand experience.

How should brands think about UX this year?

• Can users find what they need in 3 seconds?
• Is the content mobile-first in structure?
• Is the information hierarchy logical and scannable?
• Are readers dropping off midway? Why?

Example: A finance blog reduced its bounce rate by 18% simply by switching to shorter paragraphs, clearer CTAs, and removing inline popups. No change in content—just in how it was presented.

UX Principle	What to Do
Structure for Scannability	– Use clear H2s and H3s to break up content – Short paragraphs (2–4 lines max) – Use lists, tables, and pull quotes
Design Mobile-First	– Over 60% of users are mobile-first – Optimize fonts, buttons, and line lengths for mobile – Test scroll and CTA placement on various devices
Load Speed = Content Credibility	– Use tools like PageSpeed Insights or Web.dev – Compress images and remove unused scripts – Prioritize above-the-fold loading
Use Engagement Metrics to Refine	– Track time on page, scroll depth, rage clicks – Use Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, or GA4 reports – Restructure underperforming content, don’t just rewrite
Minimize Distractions	– Avoid autoplay videos – Limit popups and interstitials – Reduce excessive inline links

Takeaway: Your content is only as good as your user experience. In 2025, if it’s not easy to read, load, scroll, and act on Google, LLMs, and your audience will skip it.

FAQs

Q: I thought SEO was mostly about keywords. Why does UX matter now?

Because Google and AI tools now factor in how people behave once they land on your page. If they bounce quickly or struggle to navigate, your rankings will suffer, even if your content is excellent.

Q: What’s one quick UX win I can implement right now?

Make sure your content has clear H2s, short paras, and no intrusive popups. Also, check your mobile view. That alone can improve engagement metrics.

Trend 3#: Video Marketing: From Nice-to-Have to Must-Have in 2025

I know, I know. You’ve heard “video is the future” for the past five years. But here’s the thing—the future has arrived, and you need to get going now. Your audience doesn’t just prefer video anymore. They expect it. And if you’re not delivering, your competitors are.

If you are still not using visual storytelling as part of your content marketing strategy, please look at these top 2 video marketing stats.

1. Video Will Account for 85% of All Internet Traffic by 2025

According to Cisco’s Annual Internet Report, 85% of all consumer internet traffic will come from video by 2025.

This means businesses not prioritizing video marketing will miss out on a significant portion of online visibility.

1. 74% of Consumers Will Prefer Video Over Text for Learning About Products

According to Wyzowl’s Research, 74% of consumers will prefer video over text when learning about a product or service.

If you want more customers, then it’s time to include product demos, explainer videos and video testimonials as part of your content marketing strategy.

Here is a quick look at what are different platforms preferring.

• Instagram and TikTok algorithms heavily favour video content
• LinkedIn is pushing video posts to the top of feeds
• YouTube Shorts are competing directly with traditional long-form content
• Even Google is prioritizing video results in search

Why video is winning (and it’s not what you think)

It commands attention instantly

In a world where people scroll past static posts in 0.3 seconds or lesser, video catches the eye with movement. And once you’ve got their attention, there is a chance to convey your message. That’s where video really win is.

It’s ridiculously versatile

This is where video is slowly becoming a content marketing superpower. You film one 20-minute webinar, and suddenly you have:

• A main YouTube video
• 5-6 short clips for LinkedIn
• Instagram Reels content for weeks
• Podcast audio (just extract the sound)
• Blog post quotes and insights

One piece of video content becomes an entire content ecosystem.

It drives actual business results

Video increases time spent on your website, improves your search rankings (Google loves when people stick around), and converts browsers into buyers.

AI is making it accessible to everyone

Here’s the game-changer: you don’t need a film crew anymore. Tools like Descript let you edit video like a Google Doc. Canva’s AI features can turn a blog post into an animated video in minutes. Runway ML can create professional-looking content with just text prompts. The barrier to entry just disappeared.

What Kind of Video Content Actually Works in 2025?

Format	Why It Works
Problem-Solution Explainers	Show the fix in 60 seconds. Focus on what the audience is stuck on right now.
Behind-the-Scenes Videos	Raw, real, relatable. Build trust by showing your process and your people.
Customer Success Stories	Video testimonials outperform text. Show outcomes, not just praise.
FAQ Videos	Answer real user questions in short, searchable clips. Great for SEO and LLMs.
Product Walkthroughs	Ditch the dashboard tour. Show how a customer used it to win or save time.

Takeaway

Your audience doesn’t just tolerate video. They expect it—on every platform, in every funnel stage, for every product. And in 2025, so do the algorithms.

Video isn’t just a format. It’s your brand’s most versatile storytelling weapon.

FAQs

Q: I don’t have the budget for high-end video production. Can I still do video marketing?

Absolutely. AI-powered tools make it easier than ever to create quality videos with minimal equipment. Start small with a smartphone and scale up.

Q: How do I repurpose existing content into video?

Take a blog post and turn each subheading into a short video. Or use tools like Lumen5 to convert blogs into narrated animations.

Q: Is short-form or long-form video better for engagement?

Both have their place. Use short-form (Reels, Shorts) for discovery. Use long-form (YouTube, webinars) for depth and conversion.

Trend 2#: Search Is No Longer Just Google. Diversify your traffic sources.

If you are still putting all your eggs in the Google basket, you are playing a dangerous game. That is because of the following reasons-

a. Google has now evolved as an answer engine model – This means Google has moved from being a traditional search engine to being a gloried LLM (large language model). In its new Avatar, Google’s AI is giving direct answers to all queries on its platform. This means users get answers without clicking through to go to other websites, fundamentally changing how organic traffic is generated. This also means reduced visibility for your business website. So stop relying only on Google Search.

1. People are no longer ONLY searching on Google – Today, search starts often with other platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Deep Seek, Gemini, or even Social Media.

What was once a straight up “Google → link → done” process is now a highly nonlinear, multi-platform journey. A potential buyer might:

• Initiate a query in Google’s AI mode for quick comparative data.
• Watch a product demo on YouTube.  
• Seek authentic, in-depth reviews and discussions on platforms like Reddit.
• Check social proof and visual inspiration on Instagram.
• Compare prices and make direct purchases on Amazon  
• Engage with a standalone LLM like ChatGPT for nuanced information.

According to Statista, over 60% of global users under 35 now use platform-based search—not browser search—for product discovery and learning. TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even Amazon have become vertical-specific search engines, each with their own logic.

This matters for one reason: your content won’t be discovered just because it’s published. It must be designed for how people actually search now.

This means, being present where your user is likely to go.

How to Diversify Beyond Google?

Create a Multi-Platform Content Presence

Build content directly for:

– YouTube (video-first tutorials)
– Reddit (comment threads, AMAs, thought pieces)
– LinkedIn (educational carousels, expert POVs)
– Instagram (visual storytelling, micro videos)
– Amazon (product-led content)

Show up where your users hang out. Don’t wait for them to come to you.

Optimise for AIO (AI Optimisation) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)

These are your new LLM-ready content tactics:

• Start pages with clear, direct summaries
• Use questions as H2s that mimic real user searches
• Add short Q&A blocks (LLMs love citing these)
• Use FAQ Schema
• Include original data, case studies, or perspectives that generic AI can’t produce
• Aggressively go after long-tail, intent-heavy queries

Support Organic with Smart Paid Distribution

• Boost top-performing blogs, Reels, and LinkedIn posts
• Run awareness or lead-gen ads tied to high-value content
• Use paid as a testing ground for messaging before going big organically

Build a Brand That People Search For

• Focus on creating branded search demand (“Justwords SEO blog” vs. “SEO content strategy”)
• Your endgame: Get searched by name, not just by keyword.

Takeaway: Search in 2025 is fragmented. Show up where your users search—not just where you’ve always ranked.

FAQs

Q: If Google still drives most of my traffic, should I really focus elsewhere?

Yes—start building now. Google traffic may remain strong today, but zero-click searches are rising. Diversifying early protects your visibility long-term.

Q: What’s the difference between LLM optimization and SEO?

SEO is for algorithmic search engines like Google. LLM optimization means structuring content so tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity can understand, summarize, and cite it easily.

Also Read our Blog on “How to Win at SEO in 2025: Future‑Proofing Your Strategy” to get a deeper insight into SEO and content strategies that can be used in 2025.

Trend 1#: Optimise for LLM Search through Topical Authority (with Clusters + Vector Search)

Here is one thing we need to understand very clearly – SEO in 2025 and beyond is not about matching keywords. It’s about matching meaning. Whether its Google’s AI Overviews, Google’s AI mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, everything is working on vector search.

Why Clusters + Semantic Signals Matter now?

✅ LLMs use vector search to identify conceptually related pages (not just keyword-similar ones)
✅ Topical authority is now built by showing you can talk about a subject from every angle
✅ Google’s AI and tools like Gemini look for internal links and co-occurring concepts to “trust” your site

What is vector search, in simple terms?

Instead of matching exact words, vector search:

• Converts text or query into numerical representations (like a fingerprint) using models like BERT or OpenAI’s embedding APIs.
• Measures semantic similarity (how closely related two meanings are) using metrics like cosine similarity.
• Finds the closest match in meaning, even if the exact words aren’t used.

For Example:

Query: “How to cook pasta?”

Traditionally, Google would look for exact matches of “cook” and “pasta” in the content.

But vector search would look at words that align with the meaning of the original keyword, and give results like “Boiling spaghetti the right way” or “Italian cooking basics,” because they are semantically similar.

So if your content isn’t semantically rich – if it doesn’t include context, related ideas, examples, FAQs, and natural language – you’re likely getting skipped.

Apart from this, there is another reality that we need to understand. Google is not just tweaking search — they’re reshaping it into a zero-click AI retrieval engine that rewards semantically rich, structured content.

Here is a video clip of Lex Fridman’s interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, where the latter confirms that Google’s AI mode is the future.

So what is the way forward?

The way forward is to optimise for LLM search and vector search. Here is how.

So How Do You Build for Vector + Topical Search?

Restructure content for AI consumption:

• Give direct, clear answers upfront – Helps LLMs cite you and makes your content semantically clear to vector engines.
• Use natural-language, question-based headers
  This mirrors how people actually search in conversational queries; is important for both LLMs and voice search.
• Add concise summaries and overviews

Great for LLM extraction and helps vector search systems detect topical focus early.

• Use structured Q&A blocks
  Works for LLMs (especially ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) and aligns with voice search patterns.
• Use tables, comparisons, feature lists

These formats are frequently cited by AI systems. Also help organize data for vector models to understand relationships.

• Link between clusters and pillar pages
  Strengthens topical authority, which boosts recall and citation potential in both systems.

Control your brand narrative in AI responses

• Audit and correct how third-party sites describe your brand
  This is because LLMs train on what’s published publicly. If misinformation exists, they may reproduce it.
• Update your most-visited pages with consistent brand messaging
  Ensures semantic reinforcement for vector models.
• Reach out to update old listings, citations, PR, etc.
  Ensures brand context is accurate in datasets AI references.

Test what actually gets cited in LLMs

• Analyze which of your content formats appear most in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity responses. Track citation patterns across different LLMs to understand what content structures they prefer
• A/B test conversational headlines versus traditional SEO titles for better AI recall
• Monitor your brand mentions across AI platforms to identify content gaps

Build topic domination across every surface

• Own the topic: blog, video, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, etc.
  LLMs prefer citing widely visible, consistent sources. Vector search thrives on strong, multi-format topical signals.
• Dominate your niche across both search engines and AI tools
  Different platforms feed different LLMs. Coverage everywhere = higher citation potential.
• Map full user journey in content
  Helps both LLMs and AI search engines associate your brand with complete solutions (not just individual queries).
• Avoid generic advice
  LLMs filter shallow, repetitive content. They prefer content with distinct POVs.
• Lead with unique value (insights, data, first-hand expertise)
  Originality improves vector distinctiveness and boosts AI citation potential.
• Include proof (tables, case studies, visual examples)
  Improves credibility signals and machine retrievability.

Takeaway: Authority in 2025 isn’t about who ranks highest — it’s about who covers the topic best. Interlink. Expand. Cluster. Build meaning across your content.

FAQs

Q: Is this the same as pillar content and topic clusters from a few years ago?

It’s an evolution. Now you’re not just clustering for SEO — you’re clustering for AI systems that interpret meaning across pages.

Q: Do I need to use the exact same keyword in every post?

No. Use semantically related terms and natural language. Let meaning, not repetition, drive your structure.

Ready to Build Smarter, AI-Optimized Content in 2025?

If you have read the complete blog, you already know that staying on top of content trends is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a growth strategy.

That’s where Justwords comes in.

We’re a content-first digital marketing agency with 15+ years of experience helping brands grow with powerful content marketing strategies. From SEO-optimized blogs and thought leadership to AI-friendly content clusters and multi-format repurposing — we offer data-driven content marketing services that help you get traffic and conversions.

Book a free consultation with our marketers to discuss how to use the content marketing trends as part of your content marketing strategy and achieve your company’s marketing goals.