June 24, 2025
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5 min read
Every few months, some guy on LinkedIn declares that blogging is dead.
Typically, it's followed by stats on declining organic reach, the rise of video content, or the impact of AI on content creation.
All valid.
But our take at Spark and Pony is a little different: blogging isn't dead in 2025—it's just dramatically different from what it was ten years ago.
People are tired of sanitized, SEO-optimized content that reads like a content farm wrote it. Case in point: Reddit.
Reddit appeared in more than 97% of queries related to products and reviews in recent studies, and it saw a 190.9% increase in visibility throughout 2024, making it the third most visible site in Google search results.
That’s because Google’s algorithm increasingly rewards what reflects a growing preference for authentic and engaging user-generated content.
When someone searches for "best coffee maker 2025," they don't want another top-10 list filled with affiliate links. They want real opinions from real people who actually use these products, which is exactly what they find on Reddit.
This shift represents a fundamental change in search behaviour.
Between January and March 2025, zero-click behaviour among these queries actually declined slightly, suggesting that while AI Overviews provide quick answers, people still seek deeper, more nuanced content for important decisions.
Remeber the glory days when “Top Ten” lists could generate clicks in just days?
BuzzFeed was the pioneer of this type of content. They received more than 200 million monthly visitors during their peak “listicle” period around 2016.
Even smaller brands used to be able to write these types of articles about their particular niches and see an immediate bump in organic traffic. (We used to take advantage of listicle content at our own agency.)
Things have changed drastically, though.
The reality is that if ChatGPT can write your blog post, you shouldn't be writing it.
The era of "10 Ways to Boost Your Productivity" and "The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing" is over. These topics have been covered thousands of times, and AI can now generate competent versions in just seconds.
Most online users can spot generic, templated content from a mile away. What they really want is your unique perspective, your specific experience, and your individual take on issues that matter to your industry or niche.
They're built on:
In other words, the blogs that will continue to thrive in this new era of organic content will not only need to be unique, but they will also require time.
Publishing a blog post and waiting for Google to send traffic is the content marketing equivalent of opening a lemonade stand in your basement and wondering why no customers show up.
84% of marketers use blogs for content distribution, second only to organic social media platforms, but many still treat blogging as a "build it and they will come" strategy.
Modern blog distribution requires a multi-channel approach:
The most successful bloggers in 2025 have stopped thinking about their blog as a traffic generation machine and started treating it as a relationship-building and authority-establishing tool.
Your blog becomes powerful when it demonstrates expertise that can't be Googled or AI-generated:
The brands winning the blogging race in 2025 are using them strategically: to educate prospects during the sales process, to onboard new clients with specific case studies, to nurture relationships with industry connections, and to document their expertise in ways that differentiate them from competitors who are still publishing generic listicles.
The real question is whether you're willing to evolve your approach.
82% of bloggers report at least "some results" from their blogs, but "some results" isn't enough in 2025.
The brands achieving "strong results" are those that've embraced blogging as a relationship-building and authority-building tool, rather than just another content marketing checkbox.
A great example of this is Patagonia.
Here's how they do it:
Instead of "10 Best Hiking Jackets," Patagonia's blog features in-depth explorations of environmental activism, climate change, and conservation efforts.
“Quality Is an Environmental Issue” brilliantly demonstrates this by reframing a seemingly product-focused topic (quality) as a fundamental environmental issue.
Instead of just saying "we improved our zipper design," they explain how a single unrepairable zipper contributes to the throwaway culture they're fighting against.
The repair failure becomes an environmental failure.
Readers learn about the environmental impact of fast fashion and the connection between quality and waste. The education positions Patagonia as the solution, but that's secondary to the environmental argument.
The Patagonia blog features real customer adventures and activism, turning their audience into a community of like-minded environmental advocates who happen to buy outdoor gear.
Take the blog “Running Led Me Home” for example.
Written in first-person narrative, trail runner Vanessa Posada details her struggles trying to fit into Western running culture and how she found her passion in the Colombian mountains.
It's a deeply personal narrative about immigration, cultural identity, and finding a sense of home through sport.
An article ChatGPT could never have written.
Patagonia writes detailed posts about their supply chain, factory conditions, and sustainability efforts. These aren't sales pitches—they're honest looks at the challenges of ethical manufacturing.
The article “How We Got Here: Organic Cotton” is a great example.
While most brands would simply state, "We switched to organic cotton for environmental reasons,” Patagonia gave a real look at what a switch of this magnitude meant: not only did employees resist the change, they also took a financial hit so that customers would only pay 2-10% more.
When Patagonia writes about environmental issues, they're not just bragging—they're sharing updates on lawsuits they've filed, activism campaigns they're running, and grants they've given.
Take the article “Protecting the Right to Protest.”
Patagonia has given Annie, a longtime environmental activist, author, and public speaker, a platform to discuss her ongoing work, including her involvement with the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
This type of activism is highly valued amongst Patagonia consumers and speaks to the environmental issues the brand cares about.
These Patagonia blogs are great examples of content that only Patagonia could write, distributed through passionate communities, and used to build relationships with customers who share their values.
Blogging in 2025 requires more effort, more thought, and more authenticity than ever before. You can't outsource it to AI, you can't rely on generic topics, and you can't expect organic traffic to magically appear.
For those willing to put in the work—to share genuine insights, distribute strategically, and utilize their blog as a business tool rather than just a content repository—blogging remains one of the most effective ways to build authority and relationships within your industry.
Spark & Pony Creative is a Website Design Agency specializing in helping businesses communicate effectively online. Have a question about your blogging or content marketing efforts?
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