SEO in 2025: How I'd Learn it if I Were Starting Over — Transcript

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1. 0:00Since 2009, I've generated hundreds of
2. 0:02millions of visitors from Google search.
3. 0:04But for the first time in 17 years, I'm
4. 0:07questioning everything I know about SEO.
5. 0:09SEO used to be simple. You'd find a
6. 0:11keyword, post, optimize content, get
7. 0:15back links, and boom, huge traffic, huge
8. 0:18income. But that playbook is dead. Why?
9. 0:22Mostly because of AI. AI has flooded
10. 0:25Google with cheap, mass-produced
11. 0:26content. And in response, Google has
12. 0:29cracked down harder than ever, erasing
13. 0:31perfectly legitimate websites from
14. 0:33search results. But that doesn't mean
15. 0:35SEO is dead. Google still gets 5
16. 0:37trillion searches a year. That's roughly
17. 0:40100 times more conversations than Chat
18. 0:42GPT is expected to have this year. SEO
19. 0:44has just evolved. And if you don't
20. 0:46evolve with it, you're going to waste
21. 0:48months or years on strategies that don't
22. 0:51work anymore. So, in this video, I'm
23. 0:53going to share exactly what I'd do if I
24. 0:55was learning SEO from scratch in today's
25. 0:58AI era. Now, despite all the changes AI
26. 1:00has brought to SEO, fundamentals haven't
27. 1:03gone anywhere. People still search using
28. 1:05keywords and topics. You still need to
29. 1:08create content that search engines can
30. 1:10find, index, and understand. And
31. 1:12backlinks, they still help pages rank
32. 1:15high in Google. So, the first thing I do
33. 1:17to learn SEO in this new AI era is to
34. 1:20learn the fundamentals of search engine
35. 1:22optimization because they haven't
36. 1:24changed. Now, learning the fundamentals
37. 1:26and getting good at executing them used
38. 1:29to be enough to drive tons of free
39. 1:30search traffic before AI tools, but
40. 1:33they're no longer enough to stay
41. 1:35competitive. And the reason comes down
42. 1:37to a mental shift most people, even pro
43. 1:40SEOs, haven't figured out yet. Before AI
44. 1:43content tools became mainstream, ranking
45. 1:45on Google was easy. People would copy
46. 1:48the top ranking page, add a few extra
47. 1:50points to make it feel original.
48. 1:52Sprinkle in some keywords and cover
49. 1:54subtopics, get a few backlinks to the
50. 1:56page, and first page rankings would come
51. 1:59fast. And because it worked, everyone
52. 2:01did it. SEO copywriting became so
53. 2:05mechanical that writing for SEO became
54. 2:08an industry phrase. But here's the flaw.
55. 2:11Search engines don't buy from you,
56. 2:13people do. Now that AI can mass-produce
57. 2:15this kind of content, it doesn't seem
58. 2:17like Google wants to reward writing for
59. 2:20algorithms the way it once did. Instead,
60. 2:22it seems like Google is doubling down on
61. 2:24what it's always wanted to deliver the
62. 2:27most relevant and useful result for any
63. 2:29given search query. And are they getting
64. 2:31it right all the time? Not even close,
65. 2:33but they're trying. So, if I were
66. 2:35learning SEO today, I'd ignore many of
67. 2:37the outdated mechanical approaches to
68. 2:40writing for search engines and instead
69. 2:43focus on creating genuinely useful
70. 2:45content with a user obsessed mindset.
71. 2:49What does that mean? Well, let's say you
72. 2:51wanted to rank for the query, how to
73. 2:52start a YouTube channel. Instead of
74. 2:54asking, how do I rank for this keyword?
75. 2:56What do I have to cover? Start by
76. 2:58getting obsessed with what the searcher
77. 3:00actually wants to know. Are they a total
78. 3:03beginner? Do they need gear
79. 3:05recommendations? Are they struggling to
80. 3:06find a niche or something else? Then dig
81. 3:09deeper. Why do they want to start a
82. 3:11YouTube channel? Is it a creative outlet
83. 3:13or a way to make money? How do they want
84. 3:16the information? Would a checklist,
85. 3:18step-by-step tutorial, or interactive
86. 3:20guide help most? If you don't understand
87. 3:22the searcher's intent, you'll end up
88. 3:24creating content that doesn't actually
89. 3:26help the people you're trying to serve.
90. 3:28But if you nail what they're really
91. 3:31looking for, you won't just rank higher.
92. 3:33You'll keep people engaged, build trust,
93. 3:36and convert more visitors into
94. 3:38customers. Now, that doesn't mean you
95. 3:40should ignore AI tools. In fact, I think
96. 3:43that every SEO, new and experienced,
97. 3:46should be embracing AI tools rather than
98. 3:49resisting them. The problem with generic
99. 3:51robotic AI content isn't the tools, it's
100. 3:54how people are using them. AI tools are
101. 3:57faster and better than most of us at
102. 3:59brainstorming, writing, and analyzing
103. 4:02data. But the quality of its output is
104. 4:05only as good as the guidance it
105. 4:07receives. Take Joe Schmo, a guy who
106. 4:10knows nothing about SEO. He can't guide
107. 4:12AI to produce good content or to
108. 4:15optimize his site for better performance
109. 4:17because he doesn't understand SEO
110. 4:19himself. So, what happens? AI ends up
111. 4:22guiding him. But take Sam Edward O, a
112. 4:26dude that's helped millions of people
113. 4:28learn SEO and get traffic to their site.
114. 4:31He'll probably do keyword research on
115. 4:33his own, do some audience research, and
116. 4:35collect clues about that audience from
117. 4:37Google search results. Then he'll take
118. 4:40what he's found, feed it to a tool like
119. 4:42Chat GBT, and guide it to help him
120. 4:46execute on his SEO strategy. And I
121. 4:48actually shared the exact tactics and
122. 4:51processes in a video when I used Chat
123. 4:53GPT to rank number one in Google in 1
124. 4:56hour. AI isn't going anywhere. It's one
125. 4:58of the most revolutionary technologies
126. 5:00since the internet itself. So instead of
127. 5:04avoiding it, learn how to use it
128. 5:06properly. And SEO goes way beyond just
129. 5:08content creation. So the use cases are
130. 5:11truly endless. Bottom line, use AI as an
131. 5:14assistant, not a replacement. train
132. 5:17yourself to be the operator and you get
133. 5:18those operating skills through strong
134. 5:21SEO fundamentals and firsthand
135. 5:23experience. All of which you can learn
136. 5:25for free in our free SEO course for
137. 5:27beginners. Now, learning SEO shouldn't
138. 5:29just be about learning what to do. It's
139. 5:31also about knowing what to prepare for
140. 5:34because once the traffic starts rolling
141. 5:36in, it's going to feel like free money.
142. 5:39And that's when things get dangerous.
143. 5:41Google's going to keep sending you free
144. 5:43and consistent traffic that doesn't fade
145. 5:45over time because that's SEO by design.
146. 5:48The harsh reality is that that traffic
147. 5:51can vanish overnight. It's happened to
148. 5:53hundreds of creators and we've actually
149. 5:55heard their stories and shared them on
150. 5:57our YouTube channel. It's real. It hurts
151. 6:00and it's unpredictable. So, if I were
152. 6:02learning SEO from scratch today, I would
153. 6:04be preparing myself to diversify beyond
154. 6:07just Google. I know that sounds
155. 6:09counterintuitive in a video about
156. 6:10learning SEO, but SEO isn't just about
157. 6:13Google. The skills you'll build while
158. 6:15learning and doing SEO, like keyword
159. 6:17research, understanding search intent,
160. 6:19link building, and technical SEO, will
161. 6:21apply to nearly every searchdriven
162. 6:24platform in some way, shape, or form.
163. 6:26For example, when I first started with
164. 6:28YouTube SEO, I knew nothing about it.
165. 6:30But I applied my Google SEO skills to
166. 6:32YouTube and we're now consistently
167. 6:34getting over a million views from
168. 6:36YouTube search alone that are important
169. 6:38to our business. I've done the same with
170. 6:40Pinterest, Reddit, eBay, Quora, and the
171. 6:43list goes on. From my experience, any
172. 6:46platform that sorts and surfaces content
173. 6:48based on user queries follows similar
174. 6:50core principles. But if you can master
175. 6:53Google SEO, you'll be way ahead of the
176. 6:56curve when optimizing for other search
177. 6:58engines. At its core, SEO is still about
178. 7:01one thing, connecting searchers with the
179. 7:03best search results. But in a world
180. 7:06where AI can turn out endless mediocre
181. 7:08content, copying what already exists
182. 7:11isn't enough. And honestly, it shouldn't
183. 7:14be enough. You need to be worth finding.
184. 7:17So, if you want to learn SEO and
185. 7:18actually succeed in the AI era, check
186. 7:20out our free SEO course for beginners
187. 7:22and then apply the rest of what I've
188. 7:24shared with you today.