7 SEO Trends News Publishers Should Watch Out for in 2025

In its April 2024 report, the Associated Press revealed that 70% of news publishers already use AI tools in their newsrooms. This is truly a new era, in which more resources can be leveraged to improve news reporting and how it reaches readers. At the same time, an array of tools are changing the way that those readers find the news.
Tools such as the Google News Initiative, Reader Revenue Manager, and Google News Consumer Insights have helped big names like TIME and The New Yorker to find readers and convert new subscribers. The past year has seen even more SEO tools and methods to support the success of news publishers.
In this article, we’ll cover the bigger SEO trends for news organizations in 2025. Particular developments may help niches like local news, while others are destined to impact the entire industry.
TL;DR
- New AI-enhanced search: A plethora of tools from Google and elsewhere have brought enormous changes to SEO. Google, in fact, might see a real challenge to its position in the market thanks to ChatGPT and other GenAI services hitting the web. This is compelling publishers to consider things such as tone and accessibility in their results.
- Google News Showcase: A way to streamline news sources and also give smaller news outfits a chance to enhance their revenue
- Local SEO: Updates that help local results, and developments helping smaller outfits, which mean that local news publishers stand to benefit as well.
Let’s explore these trends that will dominate the news SEO landscape moving forward, in more detail:
1. Generative AI in Google Search
Google has moved Gemini – formerly known as Bard – into more of its search tools. You can now ask for a general summary with its AI Overview. While able to handle complex data, it still relies on clear structure in articles to narrow down information. A clear outline and a direct lead will help these summaries. This will keep readers trusting you.
Additionally, Gemini means readers can ask complex questions instead of a series of questions, shortening search time.
So, despite AI being more capable, it will still be more likely to latch on to clearer answers. Stay focused on the ‘big’ question words in your news articles: what, who, when, where, how, and why.
Also, double down on structure. There is a reason AI summaries are popular…they’re easier to read. All the same, AI will pull from multiple places when it sources its own answers. Make it easier for Gemini, ChatGPT, and the rest by using H2 headers, bullets, and sub-sections.
2. Google News Showcase Rolls Out to More Countries
Google launched News Showcase several years ago to:
1) give publishers greater control of their brand, and
2) pay publishers for their “editorial expertise” to curate the best journalistic content.
News Showcase is a stark example of SEO for publishers. One advantage is it makes content into a digestible feed for users.
It includes a rundown with the top related headlines, a timeline of events that sequences those headlines, bullets summarizing the story, related articles, a clear “Subscribe” button, and the option to follow specific publishers.
Google News Showcase features a rundown, timeline, bullets, related articles, a clear Subscribe button, and a follow option.
Publishers also have a say in which articles to include in these featurettes. You’ll have the flexibility also to entice new readers by ‘freeing’ up some otherwise paywalled content. The News Showcase ostensibly would extend your news organization’s global reach while offering a new conduit for paid subscriptions.
3. The Rise of Voice Search
How can news publishers optimize content for voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant?
Hands-free driving and tangential searches while working with Google Assistant are a couple places where this is cropping up. Voice search is claiming a larger share of the search market.
Smart speakers are more ubiquitous, and it’s not just the microphone icon on your phone’s search bar. While the 2019 forecast that three-quarters of homes would have a smart speaker by 2025 have turned out overly optimistic, a large 35% did in fact own one by 2024.
Voice search is getting more convenient (as it was always intended to be). As it’s easier to set up and is less prone to errors, more people are using it.
This is also where natural language comes in.
Recommendations hover around focusing on more natural language, as opposed to formal language, to approximate spoken questions through Google Search or Google Assistant.
You can opt for more casual styles that are more likely to immediately match the words the reader uses. In other words, voice search is more likely to land on your results.
On top of that, you should consider long-tail keyword combinations that fit this more ‘natural’ tone. So, reconsider popular long-tail key terms that you have used in the past. Then brainstorm how someone casually searching by voice might rephrase those searches, and adjust content accordingly.
4. Local Reporting and Local SEO
One of the more apt SEO trends for news publishers to note is an August 2024 update strengthened the Trending Now feature, “upgrading the Trending Now tool with more local and up-to-date trends.”
There is a stronger emphasis on “hyperlocal SEO.” Examples can relate to so-called “Near Me” searches. They could be formal questions like “Where is there a tea shop on South Street?” or more telegraphed like, “tea shop south street.” But local news has also gotten some momentum from the changes.
Previously, only 10 developing stories featured in Trending Now. With so few available slots, many smaller publishers might not have invested in breaking news. Post-update, users can choose to display as many as 50. Combine that with the emphasis on local results, now, local news sources have a chance to compete for readers they write about breaking news.
The emergence of AI tools has also given some new advantages to regional reporting.
The report includes a survey of 292 news professionals, over 70% of them saying they had already used AI tools in some way in the newsroom. Those interviewed said they had used AI for info on local government and “news-scanning in the local market.”
5. NotebookLM
Riding the AI train further, Google upgraded its research tool NotebookLM, which is meant for comprehensive research.
A June 2024 update added Gemini and a September 2024 update released “Audio Overview.” This remixes written sources as back-and-forth conversations, scripted by AI. The idea is to make information more engaging and digestible for the researchers and reporters using it. It takes the podcast and uses it as a conversational model. It piggybacks off a prevailing trend: casual listeners absorbing a podcast’s give-and-take to delve into deep topics.
Google reported seeing enthusiasm from documentary filmmakers and podcasters who work with extended archives. It also cited the example of Thomas Gaume’s local newsletter for Palm Bay, who described feeling like a “one-person newsroom” with NLM.
6. E-E-A-T
While dating back to (2022), Google added “experience” to its E-A-T mantra (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). “E-E-A-T” got further updates in 2024, doubling down on making sure the source of information is inherently reliable.
The changes originally came about to combat medical misinformation. Given that users depended on such websites for their “future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users,” Google took things a step further.
As a result, news sites must continue to back their content with good – and more – sources.
But what does E-A-T have to do with news sites?
The answer lies within this whitepaper published by Google back in September 2019, titled “How Google fights disinformation”. The whitepaper thoroughly explains what E-A-T is, and what are YMYL sites:
“ …some types of pages could potentially impact the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users. We call those “Your Money or Your Life” pages or YMYL… They include financial transaction or information pages, medical and legal information pages, as well as news articles, and public and/or official information pages that are important for having an informed citizenry.”
And then came the December 2020 update. As usually happens with core updates, there was a lot of post-update chatter in the SEO community. Updates cause turmoil in the community, and that leads to attempts to simplify (some may say over-simplify) the impact of algorithm updates.
Many in the SEO community speculated that the December update allegedly hit highly authoritative news websites like the NYTimes, Guardian, and others – probably not websites you would say are lacking in E-A-T. But these assumptions were based on SEO tools measurement, which could be somewhat inaccurate due to the database of keywords it uses. One way or the other, it seems that the news industry was negatively affected by this update.
Improving E-E-A-T means reinforcing your brand’s reputation. That includes working with credentialed influencers or professionals, through tactics like guest posting and influencer marketing.
7. Expansion of Fact-Checking Tools
In line with E-E-A-T, fact-checking tools have become more pervasive in light of recent elections and the pandemic. These tools should encourage news websites to be more attentive to information and media it incorporates into their articles. More and more users will take advantage of fact-checking.
At the same time, publishers should acquaint themselves with using these same tools in order to verify their own reporting.
About This Result
This builds on the “More About This Website” feature that rolled out in 2023. It’s already available in more than 40 languages. This will give context about the website’s angle, goals, and even reputation.
About This Image
In 2024, search-by-image became available worldwide in Google’s Fact Checking. About This Image displays an image’s history, its metadata, and how the image is often used.
That can show you if an image attached to a viral story is actually related to that story, or if it’s being misused.
Also, background information will give more context for an image besides your initial impression.
Google Journalist Studio
Last but certainly not least, the Google Journalist Studio provides a suite of tools for research and reporting. It centralizes a lot of resources that can augment content with new, less commonly shared data.
Namely, there is an open knowledge repo, dataset searches, and a beta program for the “Common Knowledge Project.” Additional tools include Tilegrams (map data), Flourish (visualization), and the Google Public Data Explorer.
One tool that even non-journalists can appreciate is the Google Data GIF Maker, which would be a strong asset for animating data.
Summary
2025 is shaping up to be historic for smaller news publishers. While trends in yesteryear included media consolidation, there is reason to be optimistic thanks to new AI tools and recent Google updates. Previous urgency to fact-check information and dispel misinformation has resulted in some robust online tooling that also gives reporters more chances to add unique value by uncovering less-reported data.
Take advantage of these developments and others that emphasize local SEO, and news publications have the potential to enjoy a very strong year in visual, audio, and readable search.