Reflecting on 2024 in Digital Marketing: Key Trends & What 2025 Holds

 

2024 has been a year of monumental change for digital marketing strategy. The digital world seems more volatile than ever, with new technologies emerging it can all feel a bit hard to keep up with. Let’s explore the latest marketing trends that emerged over the course of the last year and envision what they could mean going into 2025.

 

AI in marketing throughout 2024

It would be foolish to make a list like this and not address the topic of AI. Since the meteoric rise of ChatGPT throughout 2023, generative AI has disrupted many industries and digital marketing, especially SEO, is not an exception.

The initial impact of generative AI in SEO was mostly on speeding up content marketing. It provided a new way for all websites to be able to output extensive levels of seemingly very professionally written content, such as blogs, social media captions and even website copy. This has continued to be a major factor throughout 2024, with there being much more debate over what impact AI generated content can have on organic traffic performance. All in all, it seems that AI content is not inherently a bad thing, but any low value content that is not helpful to users will be punished. This has been central to some Google Core Algorithm updates as we will cover later on.

Outside of content generation, the impact of AI has really started to make larger waves in 2024. On May 14^th, 2024, Google released AI overviews for the first time. Whilst this was only in the USA to start, it was clear that this was just the beginning of a large shift in how Google Search worked. By the end of August this feature was extended to 6 more countries, including the UK, and for the first time we had to learn to operate in a more AI integrated search environment. The impact of this has begun to be noticeable in how users use Google, with it sparking an increase in more detailed and specific search queries which AI is much better able to answer. We have covered AI overviews in more depth in our dedicated blog, be sure to give it a read to learn more.

 

AI isn’t going anywhere

AI, and particularly generative AI, is becoming much more common in the digital marketing space with 60% of marketers viewing it as an opportunity for their business. Consumers are also becoming more aware and accepting of AI use by companies.

This all points to one thing, an increasing AI presence in marketing. But what will this practically look like? Well to answer that we have to look at the current direction each new AI iteration seems to be heading in, which is to provide more informed and accurate answers to users. In 2024 we saw the launch of Open AI’s GP1-o1, which was designed to take longer to answer queries to significantly increase the reliability of answers. This has had a large impact on data analysis with it being able to interpret graphs, spreadsheets and many more forms of data. In 2025 we expect to see an increase in the uses for AI in marketing, extending beyond the typical use cases of creative writing.

As users get more used to AI overviews being a search snippet that is available, we expect that the way the interact with Google Search will shift too. We have already started to see signs of users using much longer search terms, and this is a trend which we anticipate will continue.

 

Google search Algorithm throughout 2024

At Red Ant we provide bespoke SEO services and so the Google search algorithm is something which we have been paying close attention to throughout 2024. It’s safe to say that it has seen some major shifts. The first major rollout of the year was in March with their “Spam Updates”. This was a major step forwards for Google in their attempt to clamp down on some of the negatives that AI can bring, particularly rushed out spammy content. With the rising popularity of AI, the internet saw a large increase in long form content being rolled out by websites which had previously not had an active blog presence. Naturally this resulted in a much larger amount of content, a lot of which was not of a high quality, which forced Google into taking action. Later that month Google doubled down with a core update which was aimed at identifying and punishing unhelpful content, which went hand in hand with AI generated spam.

 

What can we expect from the algorithm in 2025

We have touched on the key focuses of the algorithm throughout 2024, but what has also become apparent is the increasing volatility of the algorithm. On November 1^st there was a major algorithm update, and then again on December 1^st. This is quite an unprecedented rate of updates, especially when considering how many other ones there have been throughout year. We anticipate that there will be another update soon in early 2025 and that this will be a trend that continues onwards throughout 2025. Whilst this can be difficult to navigate at times from an SEO perspective, it does highlight the ongoing importance of creating high quality content that is helpful for your websites target users. If you want expert guidance to help your website, see success through an increasingly complicated Google Search environment, then contact us and we are more than happy to discuss how we can help.

 

As we look ahead to 2025, it’s clear that the world of digital marketing will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. From the ongoing advancements in AI to the shifting dynamics of Google’s search algorithm, staying ahead of the latest trends will be crucial for businesses aiming to remain competitive. The lessons learned from 2024 will serve as a solid foundation, but the key to success in the coming year will be adaptability and a keen focus on delivering value to users. By staying informed and adjusting digital marketing strategies accordingly, companies can thrive in an increasingly complex landscape. As we navigate these changes, one thing is certain—2025 holds exciting opportunities for those ready to embrace the future of marketing.