December 2024: What’s Happening in Digital Marketing

• Google will now look more closely at product and service promotions from reputable websites.
• AI Overview continues to take up a larger share of Google search, now with its own advertising.
• Bluesky’s breakout growth might make it a worthy addition to your digital marketing strategy.
• New stats name TikTok one of the most costly places to run ads, but there is a useful alternative.

Google Updates Website Reputation Policy

One “black hat” SEO tactic that has been highly disruptive in past years is using a previously owned website or domain name to promote another website or tout unrelated content. This easily misleads website users, who might not realize the website is under new ownership and the content does not reflect its past reputation.

Google has now updated its website reputation policy to call out using an existing website’s reputation to sell products or services it is not known for. This remains true even if the website is one your company cultivated. Google will evaluate whether promoted services match what the website has built up trust for.

What does it mean? While this isn’t the kind of move that’s likely to lead to a website getting de-listed from the Google results page, it does mean that diversifying your website’s topics beyond your core area of expertise will be harder than before, putting you at a potential disadvantage against long-term entrants in a given space.

Google Launches AI Overview Ads in Search

Google is always testing and tweaking new advertising techniques. Over the last few days of November, some users reported seeing AI Overview ads for the first time. As of right now, AI Overview ads are limited to mobile users in the United States. However, we expect to see the roll-out accelerate throughout December.

These paid ad placements will appear at the top of the AI-generated answer box that can be seen at the top of mobile search results. After a disastrous initial implementation that included such blunders as advising users to blend some glue into their pizza cheese, AI overviews are steadily arriving with more and more results.

What does it mean? Odds are good that AI Overview ad placements will soon be found within the majority of search results pages where AI Overviews are used. As these new ads reach a critical mass on mobile, we expect they will begin to emerge on desktop as well, giving you even more options for online advertising.

Bluesky Sees Meteoric Growth Following Twitter Exodus

For several years, concerns have been raised about the quality of discussion on Twitter, now “X.” With massive changes to the network since Elon Musk’s buyout at the end of 2022, there are significant concerns about bot traffic, security, and other matters. These issues might finally be reconfiguring the digital marketing landscape.

Competitor Bluesky, which distinguishes itself with a chronological feed, claimed to grow by “a million users every day” for the eight days ending November 23, 2024. Bluesky is currently ad-free, but some businesses might discover a use case for beginning to expand their brand presence to this up-and-coming network.

What does it mean? Although there are currently no plans for Bluesky to integrate advertising, the high-touch, relationship-oriented approach might be right for some companies to get in on the ground floor of such a fresh social media entrant. Talk to your marketing agency about whether to add Bluesky to your rotation.

TikTok Leads in CPM Cost, Followed by Snapchat and YouTube

“CPM” is a digital marketing term that refers to the amount an advertiser pays for every 1,000 ad impressions. Impressions can be thought of as “views” or opportunities to see an ad, in comparison to clicks, where brands pay for each person who actually clicks through to the website connected to the ad.

Recent statistics show that out of the major video-focused social media platforms, TikTok leads in CPM costs by a long way, rebounding to more than 25% growth between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025. Snapchat and Meta take the second and third-place positions, while YouTube, although the largest, has seen only marginal CPM growth.

What does it mean? Digital marketing increasingly revolves around video, and from that perspective, it’s no surprise TikTok is breaking ahead of the pack on costs. A full-service marketing agency can help you capture the benefits of video marketing without having to rely on ads (with ever-increasing costs) as a core strategic pillar.

There’s a lot going on in digital marketing, but trends are just trends unless you put them to work for you. Contact New York Ave today to find out how.