Search marketing trends we expect to see in 2025
Search marketing is always evolving year-on-year, and 2025 is no exception. We’ve seen quite a few decisive trends emerging over the past year ourselves here at 21Digital, encompassing the world of ecommerce, SEO, web development and design. Artificial intelligence is obviously the biggest game-changer, and that’s a big one that looks set to dominate again this year.
As we move through the next 12 months, there are a few more key trends that are set to influence how brands and businesses engage with audiences and reach new customers. From shifting attitudes towards AI (of course) to the growing importance of social signals and creative ways to drive sales, we’ve got all the insights you need to stay ahead!
So let’s take a look.
AI fatigue and the shift towards balance
By now, you’re no doubt at least passingly familiar with artificial intelligence – it was everywhere last year! However, as the buzz continues to grow, so does a rising sense of “AI fatigue.” If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it essentially means that while AI has brought incredible innovation to the industry and helped streamline tasks, freeing up time for marketers like us to focus more on our clients, there is now a growing awareness of its overuse building.
The crux of the issue is that when it comes right down to it, people crave authenticity, the human element, and solutions that feel personal. It’s arguably the same principle as website chatbots – lots of AI applications make things easier for businesses and customers alike in the short term, but ultimately they’re still no substitute for good old human-to-human interaction.
Accordingly, AI fatigue is definitely going to shape how businesses and brands use AI in their digital strategies. It’s all about aiming to strike the perfect balance between streamlining and keeping everything personal and authentic!
The rise of social search
Social search is set to play an even bigger role in SEO strategy in 2025, especially since Gen Z and Alpha continue to favour platforms like TikTok and YouTube for their searches over traditional search engines like Google. Younger audiences are far more likely to turn to social media when searching for information, products, or services than media, for example, and that isn’t set to change any time soon. This shift is reshaping how we think about online discovery.
Although social media engagement doesn’t directly influence SEO rankings, it does impact Google’s perception of your brand’s trustworthiness – something it really prioritises when it’s deciding who ranks and who doesn’t. When users engage with your content on social platforms, such as through likes, shares, or comments, it signals to the platform that your content is relevant and resonates with audiences. Plus, if lots of people are interacting with it, it must be good content, right? That’s how the algorithm works, anyway.
For businesses, this means that social media engagement is becoming an essential part of your broader SEO strategy, one that is now becoming hard to ignore. If you haven’t already integrated social media into your SEO plan, now’s the time to start thinking about doing so – and if you need some help – that’s where we come in!
AI-powered search is changing the way we browse
Circling back to AI, AI-powered search is also evolving rapidly and becoming another trend we expect to see far more of this year. Search engine companies like Google are using AI to make their search engines smarter and more helpful. So, when you search for something online, like on Google or Bing, the engine looks at more than just the words you typed in – it also looks at how you and others are searching, what you’ve clicked on before, and even what interests you. This helps the search engine give you results that are more personalised and relevant to you specifically but can lower your website’s click-through rate. We talk more about this in our section on zero-click search!
For marketing agencies like us, this means thinking beyond just using keywords when optimising websites. On a similar note, we’ll also be making sure that the content we produce is ready for new types of searches, like voice search (when you ask something out loud on your phone or smart speaker) or visual search (when you search using a picture instead of words). All these changes are powered by AI, and we’ll be working to adjust our strategies to keep up with the way your customers are searching!
Shoppable video revolutionising e-commerce marketing
Shoppable videos are another new feature that will quickly become a major trend for e-commerce in 2025. Essentially, these videos allow viewers to buy products directly from the video itself, offering a seamless shopping experience. With the market being especially tough at the moment, the focus is on making the buying process as smooth and easy as possible for the customer.
Integrating shoppable videos into your strategy means offering a more interactive, quick, and user-friendly shopping experience that can help convert viewers into customers by potentially catching them higher up the funnel in the research/browsing stage. It’s an exciting development that’s making the path from interest to conversion smoother than ever.
Zero-click searches
If you’ve noticed a drop in customers clicking through to your site despite having great SEO and content, don’t worry! If you’ve ruled out other possibilities, it’s probably due to zero-click searches. You’ve probably noticed that search engines are showing answers directly on the results page more.
So, even if your content is appearing, people might not be clicking through to your site because they’re getting the answer without having to – the information they need is appearing right in front of them on the search results page. So, how do you get around it? We can help you optimise your content for these features so you’re still capturing attention and driving engagement, even without that click. That way, you won’t miss out on valuable visibility, and your brand will remain front and centre!
Ready to take your business to the next level in 2025? We’re here to help – so let’s make it happen! At 21Digital, we’re a multi award-winning agency specialising in lead generation and ecommerce, providing digital marketing services including web development, SEO, SEO, Google Ads, digital consultancy, social media marketing, and email marketing. With our in-house experts, you’ll stay ahead of the digital marketing game in 2025 and well into the future!
