
When people hear “SEO,” their mind often jumps straight to keywords. And yes, keywords matter—but if your SEO strategy stops at stuffing them into your page, you’re not just behind… you might be invisible. So the real question arises: What does Google actually care about?
Google is much smarter (and more human) than most people give it credit for. It doesn’t just scan your page for a few repeated words and hand out rankings like candy. What it’s really doing is asking one simple question:
? “Is this actually useful to the person searching for it?”
Here’s what Google really cares about in 2025—and how to make sure your website ticks those boxes.