Is SEO Worth It in 2025?

SEO has been declared dead more times than we can count. With the rise of AI, ChatGPT, and AI-generated search results, many business owners ask: Is SEO still worth it? The answer is yes—but only if you do it right. Lazy SEO is over, but SEO is more important than ever. Businesses that understand how to optimize their content for search engines, including AI-driven platforms, will continue to grow. Those who ignore SEO will struggle to get found online.

Why Some Business Owners Think SEO Isn’t Worth It

Many business owners believe SEO no longer works because they tried it in the past and didn’t see results. But in most cases, the problem isn’t that SEO is ineffective—it's that it was done wrong. Mistakes were made that kept them from seeing results. 

There are a few common reasons people think SEO doesn’t work:

• AI and ChatGPT have changed search behavior – While AI influences how people search, it hasn't replaced Google. In fact, in a recent study, Google still has 373X the searches that ChatGPT does. While ChatGPT, Perplexity.ai, and others are growing, their market share is still very small compared to Google, and what we do for Google helps us rank on these chat engines, too. You need to do SEO to be included in AI-generated search results on Google and in the AI tools. AI tools pull from optimized websites, so if anything, SEO is even more critical now. If you want to learn more about how AI is changing SEO, this blog post will help you understand. 

• They tried to DIY SEO without the right teacher – Many business owners attempt to learn SEO through free resources, but the internet is filled with outdated or incorrect advice. If you follow the wrong strategies, you won’t see results.

• They worked with the wrong SEO consultant – Not all SEO professionals are equal. Some businesses invest in SEO and don't see results. I once worked with a client who paid a consultant for two years without receiving a report. They didn't know it, but their website traffic declined every month when they paid their consultant. When I took over, I found the SEO setup wrong. After fixing the issues, their traffic, leads,  and sales began increasing, and they’ve seen consistent year-over-year growth for the past eight years.

• They gave up too soon – SEO is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix. While some results may be visible within a few months, the biggest improvements typically happen within 12 to 24 months. My clients and students often see 70-80% increases in organic traffic about a year after implementing SEO.

If you’ve struggled with SEO in the past, the problem wasn’t SEO itself—it was the approach. If you do it the right way this time, you can fix the mistakes you made before and get more traffic to your website. 

Why SEO Is Still Worth It in 2025

SEO remains one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies available. When done correctly, it provides long-term, sustainable traffic without the ongoing costs of paid ads. It's less time-consuming than social media, it's cheaper than ads, and that combo is powerful. That's not to say that you shouldn't run ads or be on social media but it's not as necessary if you have good SEO and are generating lots of organic traffic for your website each month. 

SEO Is a Free Marketing Channel That Pays Off for Years

Unlike paid advertising, which stops working when you stop paying, SEO provides compounding results over time. A single, well-optimized blog post or web page can drive traffic for years. For example, I have blog posts that still rank on Google and bring in traffic eight years after publication. Compare that to social media, where content has a much shorter lifespan.

The average lifespan of a:

• Twitter post is 15–20 minutes
• Facebook post is 5–6 hours
• Instagram post is 24–48 hours
• TikTok post is minutes
• YouTube videos can last month, maybe years

But a well-optimized blog post? It can generate traffic for years—without any additional effort. I wrote some of my blog posts when my now 10-year-old was a toddler, and they're still ranking high on Google and driving traffic to my website. I update and refresh them once a year, but that's all. It's important to keep your content current and ensure it's not outdated. 

SEO Is More Cost-Effective Than Ads

Many small business owners assume paid ads are faster and more effective than SEO. While ads can generate immediate results, they come with an ongoing cost. A strong SEO strategy provides consistent, free traffic without paying per click. If a business owner hires an SEO expert, the upfront investment may seem high, but it often costs far less than running paid ads indefinitely. I know people who spend $1,000-$2,000 (or a lot more) on ads each day to keep their business running. I do use ads to help supplement my traffic, but my organic traffic and sales are a lot more profitable for me, so I put more focus on creating great content for you each month. 

If hiring an SEO consultant isn’t in your budget, learning to do SEO yourself can save you thousands of dollars. My SEO course costs less than a month of professional SEO services, yet what you learn in it will help you drive traffic, leads, and sales as long as you're in business. If you want to add ads in the future, you can, but it's important to make sure everything works organically first. Once you're getting organic traffic converting, you can look at scaling with ads if you want. Ads are a big investment, and they stop working when you stop paying. SEO is a small investment that keeps working as long as you have a website. 

SEO Is Less Time-Consuming Than Social Media

Many small business owners spend hours creating social media content, only for their posts to disappear within a day or two. SEO takes effort up front, but once your content ranks, it requires far less maintenance than social media marketing. I haven't ever hidden my dislike of social media - it's fun for me personally but I never understood the obsession with using it for business other than it was free. It's so time-consuming and doesn't drive conversions (that's leads and sales) in most cases. It's more about being present and being known, but between you and me, I've always prioritized the content on my website/blog over the content on my social media channels, and I've found that I got a lot more leads and sales that way. It's not to say that you shouldn't be on social media at all, especially if you enjoy it, but spend your time somewhere that's going to return more for your investment. You can spend 5 hours creating the perfect reel that might go viral for you and get thousands of views in a few days, or you can spend those same 5 hours creating 5 SEO-friendly blog posts that could drive thousands of visits for years to come. If you want a long-term return on your time investment, it's SEO, not social media, that will help. 

Would you rather:

• Spend 10 hours a week keeping up with social media trends?
• Spend a few hours a week creating SEO-driven content that works for years?

SEO allows businesses to work smarter, not harder when it comes to marketing their businesses. 

What Business Owners Need to Know Before Investing in SEO

While SEO is highly effective, it’s not a magic solution. Business owners need to set realistic expectations and avoid common mistakes. I highly recommend you take a course like my Simple SEO Content, that is designed to teach you how to do SEO on your website step-by-step. Don't waste your time trying to Google and YouTube your way through this. 

SEO Works Best for Businesses That Blog

Websites with more high-quality content have more opportunities to rank in search results. Blogging isn’t mandatory but significantly increases your chances of driving organic traffic. If you’re worried about the time commitment, AI tools can help streamline the content creation process. AI won’t get you penalized by Google if you use it correctly. I used ChatGPT to help organize this blog post but didn’t rely on it to generate everything. The key is knowing how to use AI as a tool, not as a shortcut. I've spent less than an hour on this post, from idea to editing, thanks to Chatty's (ChatGPT) help. I've been testing it to help blog posts sound like me and am teaching my students how to do the same thing. 

SEO Requires Time to Learn and Implement 

SEO isn’t difficult, but it does require learning the right techniques and applying them consistently. In my course, I break SEO down step-by-step so that business owners can:

• Choose the right keywords to target
• Optimize blog posts and website pages properly
• Implement technical SEO best practices
• Track results and adjust strategies as needed

Small business owners can see progress in just one to two hours per week.

The Biggest Mistakes That Lead People to Believe SEO Doesn’t Work

If someone says SEO isn’t worth it, chances are they’ve made one or more of these mistakes:

• Choosing the wrong keywords – You won't see results if you target highly competitive keywords for which your site isn’t strong enough to rank.

• Expecting overnight success – SEO takes time to build trust with Google. The best results typically happen within 12-24 months.

• Learning from the wrong sources – There’s a lot of misinformation about SEO online. For example, some still claim you need a specific keyword density to rank. This is not true—Google’s search team has outright stated so. Others try to sell you backlinks; don't do that, either. 

How to Make SEO Work for You in 2025

If you’re on a budget, the smartest way to invest in SEO is by learning it yourself. Hiring an SEO consultant can cost $1,000–$2,000 per month with a 12-month commitment before seeing strong results. A one-time SEO package to optimize your website often runs $2,500–$5,000. By taking an SEO course, you can learn how to do it yourself for a fraction of the cost. You will have to trade time or money to do SEO on your website. Which one are you more comfortable spending? My students chose time (but the least amount possible by taking the class and having someone to ask questions to when they come up). They only spent $997 to learn how to do SEO on their websites, and they're seeing traffic increases and are ranking in Google, ChatGPT, Bing, and other search engines now. 

Is SEO Still Worth It? Yes—If You Do It Right

SEO is still one of the most valuable digital marketing strategies available. It drives free traffic, lasts longer than social media content, and provides sustainable growth for businesses willing to do it correctly. The bottom line? SEO isn’t dead, but outdated SEO tactics are. If you adapt and follow the right strategies, SEO will continue to be worth it in 2025 and beyond. If you want to show up in the new AI overviews and AI search, you need to do SEO to help your chances.