Expert Insights in Digital Marketing: 2024 Overview & 2025 Predictions

2024 has been a year of significant changes in the digital marketing world. The rise of artificial intelligence and large language models has had a major impact across various fields, from search engine optimization (SEO) to conversion tracking. This year, marketers have been required to shift away from traditional strategies and adopt new approaches. More than simply focusing on search engines like Google is required; generative AI platforms have come into play across many areas, from content strategies to search behaviors.

In addition, 2024 has seen the growing importance of SEO tools and data-driven analytics. Google's AI summaries and changes in search behaviors have provided new opportunities for marketers. However, this transformation, expected to deepen as we move toward 2025, will push digital marketing strategies further forward.

So, what can we expect in the digital marketing world in 2025? Experts highlight the transition from keywords to contextual AI, the decline of landing pages, and the complete transformation of conversion processes.

Our expert speakers, who were featured at Digitalzone'24, shared their insights on 2024's digital marketing trends and their predictions for 2025. In this content, you’ll find key analyses and forecasts compiled by these experts!

Gus Pelogia

The 2024 will be remembered as the year where AI started shifting search behaviour. It seems like yesterday, but Bing CoPilot was released in March 2023 and SGE (Search Generative Experience) later the same year. For the whole 2023 there was this apprehension about when and if Google would release AI answers out in the world. They did.

Now, marketers are increasingly finding use cases for ChatGPT. SearchGPT is out too, linking to sources. The impact on Google's market share is still small, but I think the new LLM/RAG experience will continue to grow in 2025 to become the second in search and SEO tools will release a lot of product features to track visibility in the AI world.

Dale Bertrand

Trend:

The trend toward optimizing for multiple platforms beyond traditional search engines is building momentum. Marketers are beginning to optimize for generative AI search platforms like perplexity.ai and searchGPT, not just traditional Google search.

Reflection:

Consumers are starting to expect direct, concise answers to their online queries from generative AI. Marketers must adapt their search strategies to grow their visibility in generative AI search platforms to stay relevant.

Prediction:

In 2025, search behavior will shift from keyword-based queries (like "ice cream Portland") to natural conversational questions (such as "Where can I have a client meeting with a vegan who's lactose intolerant tomorrow at noon in Portland near the Marriott?"). Also, traffic from generative AI searches will convert significantly better than traditional searches because the search platform educates searchers before visiting your website. Marketers will harvest this mid-funnel demand with content that targets high-intent searches--like comparison pages, niche buying guides, and interactive tools.

Tom Capper

Firstly, Google threw caution to the wind with AI overviews, contrary to the expectations of myself and most other seasoned SEOs. It still surprises me that Google is willing to take this reputational risk, even now with the output in much better shape than it was. We’re starting to see now a slightly more intelligent mating of the AIO with the SERP beneath - for example not replicating the functionality twice with Featured Snippets. I expect Google to continue this evolution of AIO into a regular SERP feature.

Secondly, large brands dominating a wide range of SERPs with affiliate content got to the point of embarrassing Google, who at the same time had all-but-penalised many specialised sites. Embarrassing Google always results in aggressive corrective action, and Google will want to bake this into their algorithm over time, striking a balance that gives topically focused sites a chance to succeed.

Thirdly, SEO is not dead or even dying. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others have not replaced Google for many people, and indeed traditional Google Search is still growing, and its biggest threat is probably Amazon, not AI.

Yiğit Konur

In 2024, we witnessed many innovations related to AI:

- Cursor's new agentic system with the Composer product that enables us to write code,

- OpenAI's "reasoning models," which are models that think before answering, introduced under the name o1,

- The transition from GPT-4-Turbo at the beginning of the year to the much smarter and faster models like Sonnet 3.5 and the reasoning o1 models.

The common pattern in all of these is that AI is becoming increasingly cheaper, faster, and smarter.

The biggest thing we expect to see in 2025 is the rise of agents creating solutions that automate a wide variety of tasks. The newly released MCP, integrated with Claude, is one of the first significant examples of this. Unfortunately, we will also witness the indirect effects of AI on unemployment. However, it will also open a huge opportunity window for makers. During this process, our task will be not only to follow AI developments but also to put effort into developing AI-based products. I hope that we will continue to have an exciting year like 2024.

Fred Pike

In the GA/GTM space I work in, there were a few big changes.

The first was the official disappearance of all Universal Analytics data.  That led to a mid-year push to get our clients’ UA data backed up into BigQuery.  Will that data ever be used or looked at?  That’s unclear, but we thought it was better to be safe than sorry.  If you wanted to look at organic growth over the last three years, for example, unless you had set up GA4 earlier than most, the only way to do that is through the UA backup.

The second change, partly driven by the first, was the growth and importance of BigQuery. This was the year I began to see more awareness of BQ among our clients, and more demand for setting it up.  We have been pushing hard on the GA4/BQ integration for years, but the UA backup helped make that transition smoother.  Since our clients had to set up BQ for UA, it was easy enough to just set up GA4 as well.

The third was the continuing push, and improvement, in GA4.  There were so many important changes this year – benchmarking, saved segments (yay!!), realtime improvements, report enhancements (e.g. the ability to plot specific rows in the standard reports), etc.  And there were a number of additional fields added to the BQ export, including session-attribution, which was sorely lacking for years.

For 2025, I expect even more reliance on BigQuery.  With the easy BQ integration of Google Search Console data, and the less-easy integration of Google Ads data, BQ will be the data warehouse for all things Google.  Many other tools will also export to BQ, so BQ is going to be the platform that ties all that information together.  For many/most SMB companies, BQ will continue to be either free or extremely inexpensive.

The growth of tools to help non-SQL marketers deal with BigQuery data will continue to grow as well.  Outstanding tools include Analytics Canvas (which has been around for years - https://analyticscanvas.com/), and GA4 Data Form (https://ga4dataform.com/), which is just coming out of beta and which has taken a great approach to simplifying GA4 data – “easy data for the rest of us”!  (No affiliate links here – just superior products from people I know well!)

I’m sure 2025 is going to be another exciting year for digital marketers!

Frederick Vallaeys 

As we approach 2025, digital marketing is on the cusp of a transformation driven by artificial intelligence. The tools and strategies that marketers have relied on for decades—keywords, landing pages, and even the concept of a "conversion"—are evolving in ways we could only imagine a few years ago.

Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are reshaping how users interact with information, and those changes are poised to ripple across the entire PPC landscape. In this new world, how will marketers stay relevant and deliver value?

Here are three predictions that highlight where we’re headed—and why the time to adapt is now.

Prediction 1: Goodbye Keywords, Hello Contextual AI

Prediction: Keywords will lose their centrality as LLMs (Large Language Models) become personal memory banks.

Why: Users won’t need to remember specific terms—they’ll rely on AI that remembers their interactions, queries, and contexts.

Example: A user asks their AI, “Where’s that red sofa I liked last week?” Instead of relying on keywords, the system combines image recognition, location data, and personal history to provide answers.

Implications for PPC:

- Shift from keyword-heavy strategies to context-driven campaigns.

- Greater emphasis on multimedia and audience targeting aligned with user preferences.

Prediction 2: The Decline of Traditional Landing Pages

Prediction: Chatbots will answer user questions directly, reducing the reliance on landing pages.

Why: Users prefer instant, conversational interactions over navigating a webpage to find information.

Example: Instead of visiting a landing page, a chatbot answers product-specific questions (dimensions, delivery timelines) in real-time, keeping the user in-platform.

Implications for PPC:

- Landing pages will need to become highly focused on conversions or complex scenarios that require detailed content.

- Marketers should invest in optimizing conversational AI interactions, ensuring accuracy and brand consistency.

Prediction 3: A New Era of Conversions

Prediction: Conversions will evolve as chatbots handle transactions directly, requiring minimal user action.

Why: AI tools will execute transactions via APIs, allowing voice commands or minimal prompts to complete actions.

Example: A user asks their AI, “Book that restaurant for Friday.” The system handles availability checks, confirms via voice approval, and completes the booking seamlessly.

Implications for PPC:

- Conversion tracking will need to adapt to include API-driven actions.

- Marketers must rethink funnels, focusing on providing frictionless decision-making moments.

As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, the world of PPC is set to undergo dramatic changes. Keywords, once the cornerstone of search marketing, will give way to AI-driven contextual understanding. Landing pages will no longer be the default conversion tool, as conversational AI takes center stage in addressing user needs. Even the nature of conversions themselves will shift, with chatbots executing transactions seamlessly at the user’s command.

For marketers, these changes present both challenges and opportunities. The rules of the game are evolving, but the core goal remains the same: understanding and meeting user intent in ways that build trust, drive engagement, and deliver results. The key to thriving in this new era lies in adaptability—embracing the power of AI while leveraging human creativity and strategic thinking to stay ahead.

2025 isn’t just the future; it’s the present, unfolding before us. The time to rethink, refine, and realign your digital marketing strategies is now. By doing so, you won’t just survive the AI revolution—you’ll lead it.

Talia Wolf 

Marketing and growth teams will invest in heavily in 2025:

- Transitioning to a customer-first approach to CRO, prioritizing a deep understanding of customer needs, motivations, and emotional drivers in order to optimize your websites and create experiences people want to convert to. All marketers need to invest in understanding the emotional drivers behind user behavior and crafting customer journeys that resonate with those emotions. 

- Focusing on a close collaboration between CRO and the product team - The funnel doesn't simply end with that one conversion, brands have to ensure a cohesive customer experience from initial website visit to product onboarding and ongoing engagement for lifetime value. 

- Leveraging CRO to break down silos within an organization and create true collaboration - CRO should help facilitate data-driven decision-making and aligning product development with customer needs.

Outcome

The year 2024 saw significant changes in the digital marketing world. The rise of artificial intelligence and large language models impacted search engine optimization (SEO) and conversion processes, compelling marketers to shift from traditional strategies to more innovative approaches. Beyond search engines, generative AI platforms began to have a broad influence, ranging from content strategies to search behaviors. Google's AI summaries and new features in SEO tools provided marketers with more efficient analytics and opportunities, and this transformation is expected to deepen even further by 2025.

Expert forecasts for 2025 indicate that traditional keyword-based strategies will give way to contextual AI. Users are expected to make more natural, conversational-style searches, while landing pages are likely to be replaced by chatbots and instant responses. Additionally, SEO and PPC strategies are anticipated to undergo major changes, with data-driven content creation gaining even more importance. In the digital marketing world, the rapidly growing role of artificial intelligence presents both opportunities and challenges, signaling a period of adaptation for marketers to embrace innovations.