Search has shifted, and clients have changed with it. With AI tools at their fingertips, they now arrive with sharper questions and higher expectations.
This shift is welcome; it gives us space to explain what actually moves rankings, what is detrimental to your site/rankings and what the new world of AI-driven search means for brands trying to grow.
Here’s a clear view of how we think about search today …
Google remains the centre of gravity
Google still drives the overwhelming majority of search traffic. Its system utilises hundreds of signals, all aimed at one goal: to display the most relevant and helpful pages to the user. Everything we do needs to align with that. If a page is slow, not secure or even lacks substance, Google pushes it down the results list – no matter how strong the brand itself is.
At Flow Communications, we break SEO into clear building blocks that guide our approach. It works much like Maslow’s hierarchy model: we believe in perfecting the basics first. Accessibility and content come before keyword research and targeting. Keyword research comes before link building. Links come before social signals and structure. When the base is solid, the higher layers start to stack up smoothly.
Credit: SEO Pyramid created by Rand Fishkin for SEOmoz
The base is simple: Can Google reach your page? And is your content worth ranking once it does? Is it accessible safely and securely? Is it accessible on a mobile site?
If these fundamentals fail, no keyword work or link campaign will fix the ranking. Google downranks slow, clunky or technically blocked pages immediately.
Keywords and links: still essential, still misunderstood
Once the foundation is set, we focus on the language people actually use when they search. Natural consistency works, forced repetition does not. Google is ruthless with keyword stuffing – it will penalise your page.
Link quality remains a major signal. Each inbound link to your site acts like a vote. A link from a credible news site carries far more weight than one from a weak blog. What matters is authority and relevance – not volume.
Long tail
High-volume keywords and phrases such as “insurance” or “luxury travel” are overused and hard to rank for. Focusing on specific, niche terms – also known as the long tail – yields quicker and more reliable results.
For example, a page targeting horse insurance reaches people actively searching for that service more effectively than a general term like “insurance”. Over time, multiple long-tail pages add up to significant traffic.
Social engagement also adds weight. When content is shared or discussed on platforms like X or Facebook, Google sees it as a signal that the page is trusted and relevant, which can help it rank higher.
Structured data – make your content stand out in search
Some search results display additional information, such as ratings or event details. These are called rich snippets or rich results, and they make your page more attractive to users. They also help Google understand exactly what your page is about.
Developers use a format called JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) to add this information to a page. It tells Google: “This is a recipe,” or “This is an event,” or “This is a product with a certain rating.”
Headings: tell Google what’s important
Headings aren’t just for making text look bigger. They show Google how your content is organised. Think of them as a clear outline: H1 is for the main topic of the page; H2 is for major sections within the page; and H3 is for subsections under each H2.
If headings are used randomly or solely for styling, Google can’t understand your page correctly, which can negatively impact your rankings. Writers should focus on using headings in the correct order; designers handle the look and size.
Redirects matter
Redirects remain a major point of failure. When URLs change, old pages must be redirected to their new locations. Missing 301 redirects (a 301 error means that a page has moved to a different URL) wipe out ranking history. Recovery can take months.
AI tools now scan the web the same way Google does. They pick up clean content, clear headings, structured data and strong links. When your basics are in place, you show up in both Google search and AI-driven results.
Before any site goes live, we use a variety of online tools such as Google Search Console and WebCEO to check performance and missing redirects.
For new website builds, strategy starts early. We use search volume and competitor data to decide what content matters. That’s how simple pages on niche topics can sometimes become top performers.
SEO is not a guessing game. Get the basics right. Write for real users. Build clear structures. Carefully monitor your technical set-up.
Use data, not hope.
Do this, and search becomes one of the most stable growth channels a business can have.
Richard Frank is the chief technology officer of Flow Communications (www.flowsa.com), one of South Africa’s leading marketing and communications agencies. Founded in 2005 in a small spare bedroom, Flow now has a permanent team of 60 professional staff, with more than 1000 years of collective experience in communications.
