At WordCamp US 2025, I attended a keynote that challenged nearly everything I’ve learned about SEO over the past decade. The session—“How (and why!) Google Search keeps evolving,” presented by Danny Sullivan—was one of the most thought-provoking talks of the entire conference.
You can watch the full session here:
What SEO Content Google Search Really Wants
The message was simple, almost startling in its clarity:
High-quality SEO content for humans is all that matters. Good content for humans is good SEO, GEO, LMSEO, all the ‘EOs.
No tricks. No formulas. No chasing word counts or obsessing over keyword density. Just great content.
Danny emphasized:
- Word count doesn’t matter.
- Stop thinking Google is looking for anything other than quality.
- When building a page, give the person what they want.
This keynote reinforced that Google’s ongoing evolution isn’t about rewarding hacks or shortcuts, it’s about using the latest technologies to connect searchers with truly useful, high-quality content on the open web.
A Shift in Perspective on SEO Content
Hearing this was both refreshing and unsettling. I’ve gone through college courses, SEO content workshops, and my entire professional career being taught that structure matters, keywords matter, minimum word counts matter. To now hear that none of this is truly what Google values… it makes me pause.
Are we really ready to throw out everything we thought we knew? I’m not convinced yet. While I appreciate the “write for humans” philosophy, I think most of us still find reassurance in tried-and-true tactics like keywords, headings, and yes, even word counts.
The SEO Content Myths We’ve Been Living By
Let’s be honest: SEO content has always carried its fair share of “unwritten rules” and tropes. For years, we’ve been told things like:
- “Every blog post should be at least 1,500 words.”
- “Use your target keyword X times per page.”
- “Meta descriptions are the key to ranking.”
Some of these practices still hold value, but not necessarily for the reasons we think. A longer blog post might rank well not because of word count itself, but because it naturally provides more useful depth. Keywords are important not as a checklist item, but because they mirror the language real humans use when searching. The problem is when these tactics become ends in themselves, and we lose sight of whether the content is actually helping someone.
A Human-First Mindset
So what does it mean to “write SEO content for humans”? To me, it’s about constantly asking: What problem is the reader trying to solve? and How can I make this easy, enjoyable, and valuable for them?
That might mean:
- Cutting fluff to get to the answer faster.
- Using natural language instead of industry jargon.
- Structuring content for readability (short paragraphs, clear headers).
- Providing examples, visuals, or stories that make abstract ideas real.
In other words, SEO content that feels like it was written with empathy. Not for a crawler, not for an algorithm, but for a person with a question, a challenge, or a curiosity.
The Tension We Face
I don’t think the SEO content “myths” will disappear overnight. We’ll still have clients who ask for more keywords, longer pages, and exact formulas. Those tactics may continue to have a role, but perhaps as support beams, not as the foundation.
What I take from Danny Sullivan’s keynote is permission to think differently: to prioritize the reader above the ranking. If we shift the mental model even slightly — from “what does Google want” to “what do humans want” — we may actually arrive at stronger, more sustainable SEO content outcomes.
My Takeaway
I’m not ready to declare keywords and word counts irrelevant, but I am ready to lean harder into the mindset that humans (our readers, our clients, our audiences) come first.
What do you think? Should we simplify and trust that great human SEO content is enough, or do the old rules still hold weight?
