I am too often surprised how dramatically Google Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has changed in 2024 yet, at the same time, how infrequently all this change gets noticed, reported and or even acknowledged. There are oodles of agencies and SEM providers yet in reading their promotional information, one would think that the SEM principles for the next year will look like SEM of the last 10 years.
It won’t. SEM in 2025 won’t be even close to “BAU” (Business as Usual) of previous years so if this catches you by surprise, it’s not you. Quietly, in just the last 10 months, Google has been dramatically reengineering SEM so that, if one takes a close look, one sees that the game is completely different. And that’s the point. One has to actually look to see how radical these departures are from the past. Truth though is that SEM flies under the radar and does not get the breathless attention of Universal ID or automation conversations.
So let’s give SEM the spotlight so you can be informed about what to expect in 2025.
Looking Back – Google’s Perfect Revenue Engine.
In the past, the general formula for SEM – Search Engine Marketing which encompasses both SEO and Pay Per Click, was both well-understood and opaque all at the same time.
Some principles were straightforward – sites that delivered a good user experience did better. This covered things like site speed, mobile user experiences and low number of broken links. These sites did better in SEO and PPC visibility.
However, at the same time, many, many other elements were opaque making SEM feel more like a cat and mouse game between Google and the Brand. The top-secret Google Site Quality Score was always touted as important, but Google never ever provided marketers with specific metrics as to how a website is scored in their digital world.
This big mystery had critical implications for brands because the site quality score black box impacted a brand’s discoverability in both organic results AND the quality of audiences a brand’s PPC ad was shown to.
Sounds unfair to keep everyone in the dark but Googe likes it that way because that is how they manipulate advertising spend in their universe. This enigmatic quality score black box allowed Google to create its perfect two-stroke revenue engine.
Here is the “cut-away” of Google’s revenue engine.
The first cylinder is Google’s analytics platform (GA4) which they give to brands “for free.” GA4 becomes a mirror, albeit distorted one, for how a brand is viewed in the Google world. The platform measures SEO and PPC activity which sounds good except GA4 defies comprehension by most marketers. It features a lot of data but in small bits like viewing a pearl necklace through a pinhole.
The second cylinder in this perfect Google system to ensure ad dollars keep flowing to the Google engine is SEO’s mystery formula for organic results. This means brands couldn’t fully optimize “free” organic search results, so in frustration or desperation or both, brands must spend more in advertising to address their SEO visibility problems.
A perfect Black Box system was the engine for Google’s ad revenue juggernaut.
Things were going swimmingly until AI came on the scene.
The Upside Down of Search Practices in 2025.
Things were working well for Google until 2023 when Google missed the impact of AI on users’ search behaviors. This blind spot shook Google’s revenue engine to its core because AI began slicing off layers of search traffic from Google. This meant less search traffic which meant fewer people ads could be shown to. This was a painful breakdown of the Google “perfect” revenue engine.
Google had to move fast and they did.
To shore up their core business, Google had to make big moves but oh so quietly so as to not gain too much attention that might disturb too much too fast.
They changed a lot of little things that fell under the radar but over a relatively small amount of time. Importantly, they counted on the relative obscurity of SEM in marketers’ minds to make these dramatic changes. No wonder few people noticed.
You may be wondering does this really matter to my business? The answer is a definite “yes,” so lets take that close look at Google’s changes and explore its implications.
The changes Google didn’t want you to see coming.
Below, we have two images that represent what a user would see for a typical Google Search with the question: “How to convert a home to clean energy.” The first image represents all the results that come up – from AI to organic. The second image shows how far down the page the Google AI results are in this search query.
FULL PAGE RESULTS FOR GOOGLE SEARCH:
How to convert a home to clean energy.
THE GOOGLE/ AI PORTION ON THE SEARCH RESULTS PAGE FOR SEARCH ON: How to convert a home to clean energy.
The story is plain to see because two thing things immediately jump out. One – see how far down the page organic results start. Most folks will never get past the AI/ Google results. Two – See how much content Google is included in its AI results. Google scrapes content from brand sites but gives users the answers so no one need visit the brand site much.
The end game is clear. More and more Google is “depreciating” SEO so brands will spend more money on Google ads given that SEO does not drive discoverability as it did in the past.
So what? Now what?
The SEM battleground and SEO in particular, has shifted. Instead of fighting for higher organic ranking keywords, brands have to fight for a place in Google’s AI results.
This is a different battle indeed. One is required to think like Google “thinks” and Google now thinks in the context of “search terms.”
Keywords are out. Search terms or topics are in.
Blogs are out. Resource content (search terms based) is in.
Site tags are out (sorta). Topic data is in.
From a practical point of view, here’s what it means for brands:
- Content needs to reflect multi-layered search topics that answer questions.
- SEO used to be focused on high value keywords – now authority content is how a brand achieves discoverability in this new AI terrain.
- PPC needs to be recast as providing resources – not just long tail ads.
- Overall, be ever more mindful of the direct connection between SEO and PPC. Plan content topic campaigns that span both channels.
- While there was always some opaque relationship between PPC and SEO, now more than ever the higher the PPC budget the better SEO results will be.
- Backlinks become less useful for gaining domain authority and increased visibility UNLESS the backlinks are theme/ topic based.
The SEM practice for the next 12 months will be quite different than the SEM practices of the last 12 years. It will require different, topic data that provides intelligence into what are search terms, (ie – topic data from Topic Intelligence addresses this new paradigm). This is most definitely not the data we are all used to seeing in SEO platforms.
Get ready for 2025.
Get informed in 2025.
Get moving NOW.
