Three strategies to stand out in search results in 2025

Launching a new website is an exhilarating milestone, bringing with it a deep sense of pride and possibility. But if it remains buried in search results, that excitement can quickly turn to frustration. 

This discouragement leads to a natural reaction: pour money into ads to brute force your way to the top. But how sustainable is this strategy, especially for new business owners with limited funding?

With 93% of web traffic originating from search engines, addressing these questions is crucial. So how do you climb the ranks without a marketing budget?

Here are three actionable tips you can implement today to climb the ranks organically and get noticed where it matters.

1. Understand the key components of quality content

The single most important factor in high rankings is engaging and compelling content—just ask Google. Its SEO Starter Guide explains that quality content alone will likely influence your website's presence in search results more than any of the other suggestions in its guide. 

But in a digital world filled with creators, quality content can be frustrating to define. 

Google’s automated systems provide clarity by first evaluating whether the website’s content quality meets the E-E-A-T acronym: (user) experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. These four metrics provide an initial indication of the content’s future performance. Here’s what each one assesses:

• Experience: Does the content creator have first-hand experience about the subject they’re covering?

• Expertise: Does the content creator possess knowledge about the subject they’re covering?

• Authoritativeness: Is the content creator and their website reputable? Do they cite credible sources or provide backlinks to establish authority?

• Trustworthiness: Is the content creator and their website reliable, accurate, and safe?

Following the E-E-A-T assessment, Google’s algorithms rank the page based on factors including how well users engage with the content and its relevance to search intent. A page that boasts the following is more likely to climb the ranks:

• A heading that provides a descriptive summary of the content.

• Content that adds substantial user value when compared to other pages in the search.

• Insightful analysis or unique information that exceeds common knowledge.
• Content that entices users to bookmark, recommend, or share it.

2. Sprinkle in keywords

When it comes to keywords, Google acts as a matchmaker, pairing a user’s query with corresponding words from your page. The more your content aligns with those queries, the higher your page will rank.

The first step in determining which keywords to include on your website is to consider the thought processes of your audience. Online marketing platform Semrush classifies keywords into four categories based on user intent:

• Informational: A user wants to find information about a topic

• Navigational: A user is looking for a specific webpage 

• Commercial: A user wishes to research a service or business 

• Transactional: A user seeks to take action by completing a purchase

With these motivations and marketing funnel stages in mind, identify where your audience is in their journey. Next, type a word relevant to your content or mission into Google’s search bar and view what related searches appear as recommendations. You can also use free tools like Answer the Public for keyword inspiration. 

Once you've conducted your research and noted some key terms relevant to your page’s content, work on naturally incorporating a main keyword, as well as some variations, into your content. Make sure it appears in the website’s URL, the page’s headings, descriptions, and content.

While including keywords in your content is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO), repeating them too frequently, known as “stuffing,” can violate Google’s spam policies, just like the following example does with the keywords “app store credit”:

“Unlimited app store credit. There are so many sites that claim to offer app store credit for $0 but they're all fake and always mess up with users looking for unlimited app store credits. You can get limitless credits for app store right here on this website. Visit our unlimited app store credit page and get it today!”

3. Don’t underestimate an image's impact

While images are often viewed as essential on social platforms, they also play an unexpected role in improving search engine rankings, according to Google. The search engine suggests that many users begin their online searches through the images tab, relying on visuals to kickstart their research.

By recognizing this digital behaviour and strategically responding with aesthetically relevant images on your page, you can increase your odds of them discovering your site through this search method.

In its Starter Guide, Google uses the example of a search for a "fruit tart recipe." When users input those words into the search bar, they may navigate to the images tab in search of the perfect reference image they hope to replicate. Once they’ve located their visual inspiration, they are likely to click the page to bring the delectable dessert to life with that site’s recipe.

This example illustrates the importance of optimizing images to improve content visibility and engagement while also tapping into users’ tendencies.