SEO in future

Interested

Investing time in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is generally worthwhile because organic traffic is valuable and of high quality. Focus on understanding key concepts such as keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, technical SEO, and content marketing. Begin with reputable online resources, and apply your knowledge on your WordPress website. SEO is a profitable skill, especially for driving targeted traffic to your products and building your audience

Having evolved from development to SEO over the past decade, I can confidently say SEO is worth learning in 2025 and beyond. Here's a detailed breakdown:

Why SEO is Still Valuable:

• Organic traffic converts better than paid (average 15% vs 2% in my experience)
• It's becoming more technical, which suits your background
• AI tools are changing the game, but aren't replacing SEO specialists
• Companies are increasing SEO budgets as paid channels get more expensive

Your dev background is actually a massive advantage. Modern SEO success is heavily tied to technical implementation:

• Core Web Vitals optimization
• Schema markup implementation
• JavaScript rendering for search engines
• API integration for automation
• Site architecture planning

Learning Path I'd Recommend:

1. Technical SEO Foundation
   
   • Server configuration
   • Site speed optimization
   • Mobile responsiveness
   • XML sitemaps and robots.txt
   • HTTP status codes and redirects
2. On-Page SEO
   
   • Content structure and HTML semantics
   • Internal linking strategies
   • Meta data optimization
   • Content optimization for featured snippets
   • E-E-A-T principles
3. Content Strategy
   
   • Search intent analysis
   • Topic clustering
   • Content gap analysis
   • AI content detection avoidance
   • User experience optimization
4. Analytics & Tools
   
   • Google Search Console mastery
   • Google Analytics 4 implementation
   • Log file analysis
   • Schema validation tools
   • Core Web Vitals monitoring

For your WordPress site, start with:

1. Install Yoast SEO or Rank Math
2. Set up Google Search Console
3. Implement proper site structure
4. Focus on speed optimization
5. Create content clusters around your product

The key in 2025 is understanding that SEO isn't just about rankings - it's about creating a superior user experience that search engines naturally want to promote.

What specific aspect of your product would you like to focus on first? That could help determine your initial SEO strategy.

BTW, I've been working on some detailed SEO guides (from a developer's perspective) based on my experiences since 2015, specifically focused on what would work in 2025. I'll be sharing these here on BHW soon - they'll cover everything from technical implementation to content strategy with practical code examples and some case studies. The above is a part of it. Hoping to publish them soon.

mmasterov said:

Hello, BHW!

At the moment of my life, I got some free time and I think about to invest my time in learning of SEO, but I only know concept of it, nothing else.

I got some background running ads, websites, cloaking, to be short, as developer and "marketer"

Please share with me your thoughts, ways and experience.

I got some questions on which I think and hope I will find answers.

1) Is it worth to invest time?

2) Is it profitable to acquire as a skill?

3) What should I focus on?

4) Where to start?

5) What are key concepts to learn about?

The reason I am planning to learn it is, that I always have product, but I never have audience to sell the product to.

About mention above ("marketer") I've never tried it for myself, because it needs so much investment as I saw, so, I would like to choose patient and time invested method and also, as far as I know organic traffic has always higher quality.

Sorry in advance if I am asking something unethical, because I've never was close to this topic.

Right now, I've simple Wordpress website which I want to practice on and would like to receive some advices and Thank you in advance.

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1) It's always worth learning a valuable skill. In 2025, SEO is a great skill if you can stick with it because many are dropping out of the never ending cycle of algorithm updates. Google has consistently killed affiliate sites, so the best way to learn SEO and make money IMHO is to help local businesses, e-commerce sites, and marketing agencies.

2) It is very profitable if you're able to produce results for clients.

3) Focus on the basics. Believe it or not this is where most people miss the obvious. Search intent rules Google. When you want to learn how to win a keyword, type it into the search engine and see what Google displays as the top 3 results (ignore Reddit). From the top 3 results you'll get an idea of what you need to build onto your web page in order to compete with the best.

4) Start with the obvious: URL structure, SERP title, meta description, H1 header, H2 headers, and keyword content (outclass the wordcount on top 3 and incorporate LSIs). If you master these components--and they line up with your users search intent---you'll be able to hit page one 40-50% of the time.

5) The key concepts of SEO are onsite, offsite, and technical optimization. If you learn the ins-and-outs of these you'll be visible for 80-90% of the searches for your client's services/products. To get the last 10-20% you'll need to understand the value of user experience i.e. design, page layout, CRO, and dwell time.

mmasterov said:

Please share with me your thoughts, ways and experience.

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ok, but be prepared to scratch your head at the very least...

mmasterov said:

1) Is it worth to invest time?

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if your life depends on it (which it shouldn't by the way) then yes, invest time in learning SEO because how else are you going to rank in the SEs if you don't know SEO?

But if you're financially well and are not sure what to do with your time I'd say drop it. Maybe we won't fully get rid of SEs, but my feeling (and I might be wrong, of course) is that by 2030 the "pure" search engines (google, bing, etc) will all disappear and community based sites (like Reddit for example) will be the new "search engines", and if this happens SEO will be useless at that point

mmasterov said:

2) Is it profitable to acquire as a skill?

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it's still profitable, but it's become expensive and exclusive to programmers and tech-savvy people in general. If you lack the funds and / or the know-how you won't make any money with SEO

mmasterov said:

3) What should I focus on?

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with regards to SEO, or in general??

If you mean SEO then focus on other search engines (google's days are numbered IMO), or - if you absolutely must focus on google - learn black hat and programmatic SEO as this seems to be what's working now

mmasterov said:

4) Where to start?

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well, this one's tough to answer because we don't know what you know, so we can offer the right guides...

Personally, I'd start with @splishsplash 's guides. The dude's a genius of SEO, and if you have the inclination towards programming and can understand the imbecile things that google forces people to do then Splishsplash's guides are a must. Here are a few that I've saved over the years, but you should try to find other guides by him if you can:

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/seo-guide-2024-search-intent-keywords-anchors-and-more.1650016/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/a...e-question-what-is-topical-authority.1450324/

He's not the only knowledgeable guy on the forum (duh!), so don't limit yourself to SS only. Learn as much as you can from everyone that posts something that you feel is valid. After all, SEO is (still) an ongoing and constantly changing process, so you have to constantly read on, and learn about it if you wish to stay on track. But I'd start with his guides like I said...

mmasterov said:

5) What are key concepts to learn about?

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- programmatic SEO (I've no idea what this is, I just know that a lot of people are mentioning it and they say it works well, so...)
- semantic SEO (basically, the relationship between LSI terms, SEO entities, and words used in content, in general)
- technical SEO (technical stuff you should do to make your site desirable by google, such as: mobile friendliness, crawlability, schemas, sitemap, etc)
- backlinks (despite of what google says, backlinks still matter, and if you refuse to build links to your sites other people will build them to their sites and they'll outrank you, so you'd better build them too )
- content (what defines content quality, pillar content, topical clusters, etc)

mmasterov said:

The reason I am planning to learn it is, that I always have product, but I never have audience to sell the product to.

Click to expand...

well, you can get audience in other ways, you don't have to use SEs specifically ... Although, I will admit that - for now - SEO is still one of the best ways to gain traffic. But it takes know-how, time and money (if that wasn't obvious)

mmasterov said:

Sorry in advance if I am asking something unethical, because I've never was close to this topic.

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you didn't ask anything unethical, don't feel guilty

mmasterov said:

Right now, I've simple Wordpress website which I want to practice on and would like to receive some advices and Thank you in advance.

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for site building / site design related advice I recommend you open up another thread in this forum, as you will get better replies:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/forums/web-design.126/

PS: please stop bolding the text, it pulls my eyes out of their sockets

Wow, thank you so much for that amount of information you've gave me! I've read each comment and I am glad for your support!

Haha, I will not bold texts.

First of all appreciate your queries which showcase your interest in SEO industry.

Of course SEO industry is one of the fast growing platform to develop in the digital era. There are lots of business depending on the online sources which requiring strong tactics and strategy like SEO to boom in their business.

SEO is evaluating on each phase based on the trends and upgrade that depend on technology developments. So you need to update yourself with current technology terms and techniques which are used in SEO . If you promote yourself as good SEO expert , you can earn the more penny and opportunities which is available for long term.

So, just hone your skills toward the practical strategy in SEO.

Yes, SEO should definitely be continued, it still has a good place.