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January 2025: What’s Happening In Digital Marketing

Published on January 14, 2025
  • Google’s new core update clears the way for big changes ahead.
  • Top-ranking websites still hold the advantage in the AI Overview era.
  • LinkedIn reveals insights about effective social media advertising.
  • Informational content marketing is winning out over commercial.
  • Bluesky’s sustained growth may soon put it on par with its rivals.

Google Core Update Sets the Tone for Change in 2025

Google rolled out a core update at the end of December, just in time to kick off the new year. While we’re still hashing out long-term implications, it follows on the heels of comments by Google CEO Sundar Pichai that the coming year will see profound changes in search – and AI will be a bigger piece of the puzzle.

What does it mean? Over the last few months of 2024, the most notable shift in Google results came from the prominence of AI Overviews. Following an embarrassing roll-out, they’ve again become prominent, potentially co-opting traffic from organic search results. Google has reaffirmed its commitment to send traffic to websites – but the outcome remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

75% of Google AI Overview Links Come from Top 12 Ranking Websites, New Research Says

One of the elements keeping Google AI Overviews and similar competing products from reducing traffic to real websites is the use of links to those websites as citations for the AI engine. In the future, providing information cited by AI Overview may turn out to be one of the most effective ways to enhance your search visibility.

Recent research from Botify and DemandSphere shows that for any given AI overview, 75% of citations come from the top 12 ranked websites for related keywords. Brands that already have prominent placement within search therefore have a much better chance to curb the effect of AI Overview on their organic visibility.

What does it mean? While it’s never wise to leave your marketing to AI, businesses will need to adapt their digital marketing strategy to keep AI from decimating their organic visibility. Companies need to incorporate search engine optimization best practices that send the right signals to search engines as well as to readers.

New Stats Shine Light on What Works in LinkedIn Advertising

LinkedIn content marketing and advertising can be highly effective for businesses with a career-driven clientele. Combining organic content and advertising has repeatedly been shown to be the most effective approach. Now, LinkedIn has pulled back the curtain to provide more information about what type of content performs best.

According to LinkedIn’s own recently published research, vertical mobile ads create nearly one-third of improved engagement compared to horizontal formats on the platform. 81% of B2B ad campaigns fail to achieve objectives including brand familiarity and attentional focus. Perhaps surprisingly, humorous content generates 65% better engagement.

What does it mean? If your business uses LinkedIn or might add it to your mix in the future, it’s a wise idea to be judicious about your ad spend. Partner with a full-service digital marketing agency to ensure you can reuse content effectively across every platform where your audience is active.

Mobile Search Now Favors Informational Content Over Commercial Content

Content marketing is a key part of an effective digital marketing strategy. Looking ahead, we expect a continuing preference for informational, rather than commercial, content among mobile search users. This was first picked up in the second half of 2024 and is gaining steam, but there’s still time to pivot.

What does it mean? Content keyed into your audience’s questions and concerns is more important than ever to mobile users. More people are using mobile during their early product research when they’re focused on what a solution looks like, not where to buy it. Mobile clickthrough rates are especially high in personal service areas, including finance, suggesting high ROI for a marketing agency partnership.

Threads Already Losing Ground to Bluesky for Digital Marketing on Social Media

In a previous post, we discussed the meteoric rise of the Bluesky social media platform. Bluesky’s growth in the last quarter of 2024 came largely at the expense of Twitter. Now, publishers on the platform report higher user engagement and conversions on Bluesky compared to many legacy social media platforms.

What does it mean? At 25+ million users since its February 2024 launch – many of those acquired in the last few months of 2024 – Bluesky’s momentum may soon see it break into the mid-sized platform category with the likes of Instagram Threads. It’s shaping up to be the social media platform to watch in 2025.

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