Today’s SEO experts are focusing on something else entirely to get more traffic to their websites. Let me show you why keywords alone won’t get you the page ranking results you are after.
The first thing you should consider and understand is the concept of zero-click searches. The truth is that even when you are ranking higher on Google, the way people interact with search results is changing. How many times have you found yourself getting the answer you need without clicking on a website lately? Zero-click searches and AI overviews are changing the keyword game by reducing the importance of traditional keyword-focused strategies.
In zero-click SERPs, users get answers directly on the search results page through features like featured snippets, knowledge panels, or instant answers—without needing to click through to a website. This means that even if you rank higher for a keyword, users may not visit your site if their query is answered right away, such as with Google’s AI overview. While zero-click searches might seem like a missed opportunity to drive traffic, they can actually be a powerful way to showcase your brand directly on the search results page.
AI advancements, like Google RankBrain, help search engines understand user intent by focusing on the context behind queries rather than just matching keywords. This builds credibility with potential customers even before they visit your site. To compete in this AI-driven search environment, businesses need to take a proactive approach. Start by creating content that’s snippet-friendly, mobile-optimized, and structured to answer common user questions.
Tools like Semrush’s position tracking tool can help you see where your site appears in these featured snippets or other SERP features, so you can refine your strategy and stay competitive. This way, even if users don’t click through to your site, your brand gains visibility, builds trust, and stays top of mind for future searches.
By doing this, zero-click becomes an opportunity rather than a setback, helping your business grow through brand exposure and authority. Keywords alone will no longer guarantee great content and a high ranking. Search engines have evolved to prioritize ranking factors beyond simple keyword matching, such as search intent, user engagement, and content quality.
Even if you manage to rank for a keyword, poor performance metrics like website speed or loading time can hurt your standing. That’s why it’s critical to focus on delivering high-quality content that aligns with what users are actually searching for, keeping them engaged rather than just relying on keyword optimization.
Search intent is one of the most important factors to get right. Search engines like Google are now hyper-focused on understanding why a user is searching for something in the first place. Ever feel like you’re doing everything right with keywords but still not getting the results you want? It’s likely because your content isn’t in alignment with user intent. Search engines don’t just match keywords; they aim to deliver results that fulfill the user’s specific needs, whether they’re seeking information, looking to make a purchase, or searching for a service.
You might be familiar with the terms informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational in relation to search intent. AI and natural language processing advancements allow search engines to interpret the context behind queries, user behavior, and individual preferences. Getting search intent right can take time, but that’s where Semrush’s SEO content template comes in handy.
While you don’t need a tool like this, using one can save you a lot of time and help refine your strategy to match user search intent, increasing your chances of ranking higher on Google. It analyzes the top-ranking pages for your target keywords, giving you insights into what works and how to align your content with search intent more effectively.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine you run a website selling organic skincare products. You enter “best organic skincare products” into Semrush’s SEO content template. The tool analyzes the top-ranking pages and shows that these pages focus on informational content around skin types, benefits, and organic products rather than just product listings. With this insight, you can create content that addresses common questions about organic ingredients and compares products—aligning with user intent and increasing your chances of ranking higher and generating traffic.
It’s a shortcut that helps ensure your content stays relevant to both search engines and users, ultimately improving your chances of ranking higher and keeping visitors engaged longer. Keywords are only a part of the big picture because Google and AI have evolved to prioritize user intent, content relevance, and overall search experience over simple keyword matching.
As a result, SEO success now depends on providing valuable, context-rich content that aligns with user intent rather than just stuffing pages with keywords. This holistic approach means that while keywords still matter, they must be part of a broader strategy that includes user engagement and content quality.
Ultimately, how people engage with your content is also crucial because search engines like Google check that as a sign of quality. Metrics such as bounce rate, dwell time, click-through rate, and pages per session are not listed as ranking factors, but indirectly, they are metrics that indicate whether your content is useful or not.
Let’s take a brief look at these terms. Bounce rate reflects how quickly users leave your site after arriving. A high bounce rate signals to Google that your content may not be meeting user expectations, even if you rank for a keyword. Dwell time shows how long a user stays on your page. Longer dwell times suggest that users find your content valuable. CTR measures how often people click your site in search results. A low CTR can indicate that your content isn’t appealing or relevant to searchers. Pages per session track how many pages a user views on your site. A higher number shows that users are exploring your site.
If these metrics are poor, it might mean that you are not delivering quality content, even if you’ve optimized for keywords. Think about your own site—are visitors leaving too quickly or not staying long enough to explore more pages? To correct that, it’s important to run a site audit in your project. Free tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Google PageSpeed Insights can provide a lot of insights. For a full scan of your website, Semrush’s Site Audit tool will make things much easier for you.
And it is also free for one single project. The Site Audit tool can help identify technical issues that may be impacting your website’s performance, like page speed—which is related to bounce rate—or internal linking issues—which are connected with pages per session—and many other issues that will help you deliver a much better experience for your audience.
Just think about yourself as an example. Do you like to wait a while for a page to load before accessing it? Of course not! The same applies to your audience. This is why focusing only on keywords isn’t enough. Successful SEO depends on engaging users, meeting their intent, and enhancing their experience.
Another approach, which is actually connected with a keyword strategy, is to focus on long-tail keywords. The goal here is not to think about keywords only because they have a high volume of searches, but because they better represent user search intent. These longer, more specific phrases often have less competition and can drive highly targeted traffic to your site.
For example, instead of targeting the broad search term “skincare,” a more effective approach might be “best all-natural skincare products.” Long-tail keywords reflect clear user intent, making them a powerful tool in your SEO strategy.
Here are a few reasons why long-tail keywords remain significant:
- High conversion rates: Users searching for long-tail keywords are usually further along in the buying process and know exactly what they want, making them more likely to convert.
- Less competition: Long-tail keywords typically face less competition than broader keywords, allowing you to rank higher in search results more easily.
- Relevance to search intent: These keywords better reflect user intent, which is crucial as search engines prioritize delivering content that directly answers users’ specific queries.
- Content opportunities: Incorporating long-tail keywords into your content allows you to create niche topics that cater to specific audience segments, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.
While broader keywords can help drive general traffic, maintaining a focus on long-tail keywords enables businesses to connect more effectively with their target audience, enhance their SEO strategy, and improve conversion rates.
Finally, you need to work on your content authority. This comes with organizing your content in a way that covers everything about your product, services, or expertise. The best way to do this is to implement a topic cluster strategy. This strategy consists of mapping the most important topics for your business and covering all of them in different articles.
All those articles and pages are linked to a pillar page, which is the main content piece for that specific cluster. This will help your audience understand that your content covers everything around this topic and will also make it easier for search engines to crawl your website.
As a consequence, you will also improve your topical authority, and search engines will map you faster for those topics, which, in the end, will lead you to higher ranks and make it more likely for you to be mentioned as a source for a snippet or an AI overview SERP feature.
Developing a modern keyword strategy to rank higher on Google is a great first step, but to take it to the next level, you need to have a content strategy alongside it that’s easy to maintain. So check out this blog to start earning more for your business sooner. And if you want to try out some of the tools mentioned in this blog, check out the links in the description.
Made with This New SEO Strategy Is Replacing Keywords in 2025
