It’s an exciting time to be creative digital marketers working within travel and leisure businesses, with our toolkits expanding and automation enabling us to create, refine, and ideate content and campaigns. These efficiencies are bringing creativity back to digital marketing, allowing us to craft content inspired by real-life experiences. This can include compelling travel or brand stories, delivering valuable insights, and exploring new platforms that enhance engagement and allow us to connect with diverse audiences.
Especially for us search engine marketers, SEO continues to evolve at a rapid pace, driven by advancements in AI, shifting user behaviours and expectations, as well as constantly changing algorithms. There’s never a boring day! As we step into 2025, staying ahead of SEO trends is crucial for businesses that want to maintain visibility and drive organic traffic. Whilst the technology is changing, the basics remain the same—creating interesting, helpful, and engaging content, providing a good user experience on your website, and understanding your audience’s needs.
AI-Powered Search & Generative AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising search engines, with Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) leading the charge. AI-driven search results now offer more detailed and contextual responses, reducing reliance on traditional SERP listings. To optimise for AI-powered search, businesses should focus on conversational content that answers questions naturally. Using structured data and schema markup helps AI understand content better, and optimising for featured snippets and low volume / high intent searches ensures that AI-generated answers pull information from authoritative sources.
The way users are searching is changing, with voice and visual search gaining prominence. Devices like Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri are becoming smarter, while visual search tools such as Google Lens are transforming the user experience. Travel businesses must adapt by using natural language and long-tail keywords to align with voice search queries. Additionally, optimising images and videos with descriptive alt text and structured data enhances discoverability in visual search.
We are also seeing a rise of users discovering venues using AI LLMs, it’s an interesting shift away from SERPs and an interesting time for content writers given the different sources used by the dozens of LLMs coming to market. This will be a running theme throughout this piece but ensure you write naturally, answer questions succinctly and ensure your structured data is in place.
E-E-A-T & Content Authenticity
Google’s emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) continues to shape search rankings. High-quality, authentic content is more important than ever. To boost credibility, businesses should showcase expert authorship with detailed bios and credentials. Incorporating first-hand experience into content through original research, case studies, and testimonials further strengthens trust. Additionally, building authoritative backlinks from trusted industry sources enhances a website’s reputation.
The Evolution of Technical SEO
Technical SEO remains a cornerstone of SEO, with speed, security, and ability to index continuing to be key priorities. In 2025, Google is expected to prioritise Core Web Vitals enhancements further, focusing on faster load times and better interactivity. Server-side rendering (SSR) and dynamic rendering will be crucial for JavaScript-heavy websites, ensuring they remain indexable. AI-driven indexing will reward well-structured and easily digestible content, making it imperative for businesses to refine their technical SEO strategies.
Semantic Search & Intent Optimisation
Search engines are becoming more sophisticated in understanding context and intent rather than just keywords. To align with semantic search, businesses should use topic clusters and internal linking to create content hubs. Writing naturally can make content more user-friendly, ensuring it aligns with conversational search behaviours. Optimising structured data and Schema will also help businesses appear in relevant knowledge graphs and Google’s knowledge panel, enhancing visibility. Story telling and experiential content is vital to travel brands, ensuring that you and your stories are visible to users no matter what stage of intent they’re at.
Local SEO & Personalisation
Local SEO is becoming even more precise, with Google delivering hyper-personalised results based on user behaviour, location, and preferences. To stay competitive, businesses should optimise their Google Business Profile (GBP) listings with fresh updates and accurate information. Encouraging more local reviews is also vital, as user-generated content significantly influences rankings. Creating local content tailored to specific neighbourhoods and searcher needs will further strengthen local SEO efforts. Google is really championing local ‘near me’ or destination based searches – perfect for places to stay and/or eat!
Video SEO & Interactive Content
Video continues to dominate online content consumption. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels are influencing search rankings, with Google integrating video more deeply into its search results. To optimise for video SEO, businesses should use keyword-rich video titles and descriptions to increase visibility and encourage click-through rates. Incorporating transcripts and closed captions enhances accessibility, making content more inclusive. Additionally, leveraging YouTube SEO techniques, such as optimising thumbnails and engaging with comments, can further boost video performance. This is a perfect medium for travel brands, giving users a glimpse into unique places, exciting tours, grand hotels and experiences that you just can’t get anywhere else.
Sustainable & Ethical SEO
Search engines are placing greater importance on ethical, user-centric SEO practices. Websites that engage in low-quality link-building, AI-generated or low-quality content, or manipulative tactics may face penalties or struggle to compete with competitors who prioritise real-life experiences and storytelling. Helpful content should be written naturally to capture the expertise and passion of the author. Best practices for sustainable SEO include creating human-first content that adds genuine value, avoiding black-hat SEO tactics such as keyword stuffing and cloaking, and ensuring accessibility compliance to make websites usable for all users, including those with disabilities.
SEO in 2025 is defined by AI advancements, user intent optimisation, and a greater emphasis on content authenticity. Businesses that embrace these trends and focus on providing high-quality, valuable experiences for users will thrive in the evolving digital landscape. By staying agile and adapting to new search algorithms, brands can maintain strong search visibility and drive long-term growth. One of the hardest shifts for many SEO’s is that it’s not all based around Google anymore, and whilst we will always focus on Google’s best practices, embracing this change will generate heaps of value for you and your clients.
If you need expert guidance on navigating the ever-changing world of SEO, our team at Thissaway is here to help. Get in touch today to future-proof your search strategy!
