Top PPC and SEM Trends for 2025

When it comes to shopping, everyone turns to Google at some point—whether to research products or sellers, compare prices, read reviews, or explore other options. This is why digital marketing and advertising trends always revolve around this giant. Below, we’ll highlight the most important PPC and SEM trends for 2025.

AI Overviews Ads: New Opportunities in 2025

In mid-2024, Google introduced AI Overviews, a new feature in its search engine that uses generative AI to deliver concise and detailed summaries at the top of search results.

By understanding user queries, AI Overviews generates synthesized responses from trusted sources across the web, providing users with key information without needing to browse multiple pages. These overviews include ads relevant to the user’s query, adding value to the experience.

At the end of 2024, several updates to AI Overviews were rolled out, which will significantly impact search results in 2025. One of these updates allows users to request simplified answers, making them easier to understand—especially helpful for users unfamiliar with the subject they’re researching.

The potential of this feature is so great that Google CEO Sundar Pichai called AI Overviews one of the most significant improvements to Google Search in 20 years.

In 2025, further updates to AI Overviews will transform both search experiences and Google Ads programs. Businesses will have more opportunities to match their pages and products to users' search intents.

For example: A user searching “How do I get grass stains out of jeans?” on Google will see AI Overviews generating a direct response with tips and tricks for removing the stains. Alongside this, an ad for a stain remover product will appear, maximizing advertiser visibility and profitability.

Source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15639790

Thanks to ads in AI Overviews, Google will be better equipped to connect users with highly personalized results. This feature will make search a more precise interface, highlighting important product details like user reviews, price comparisons, and purchase locations.

Google Lens: Redefining Marketing in Google Search

Over 20 billion visual searches are conducted monthly through Google Lens, making it the fastest-growing search format among younger generations.

Google Lens enables users to conduct visual searches by pointing their camera, taking a screenshot, or pressing and holding an image. This functionality allows people to search for information on items such as clothing on a mannequin, a skin condition, a unique plant, a menu in another language, a math problem, or an incomplete recipe.

For example:

• A user browsing an online catalog of backpacks can hold down on an image to activate Google Lens and see similar backpacks available at other stores.
• A user on the street can point their camera at a backpack someone else is wearing and use Lens to search for it online.
  
  

With the updates launched in late 2024—such as voice and video searches—Google Lens will become a powerful sales tool for brands and a more adventurous experience for users in 2025.

Users will be able to:

• Record a video and ask Lens for information about what’s being recorded.
• Ask Lens voice questions about items in a video or photo.

Moreover, Google Lens will fully integrate with Google Shopping in 2025. Users searching for products via Lens—whether by image, video, or voice—will see search results with key commercial details, such as price comparisons, user reviews, and product availability (colors, sizes, models, etc.).

AI-Generated Reports in Google Ads

Google recently incorporated generative AI into Google Ads, transforming reporting into a more interactive experience.

In 2025, marketers will be able to “converse” with Google Ads’ smart reporting tool. For example, you could type questions like:

• “How did my campaigns perform this month?”
• “Which ad groups delivered the best results?”
• “Which search campaign had the highest conversion rates last week?”
• “Who is viewing my ads?”

Alternatively, you can specify the exact parameters you want, such as:

• Cost, clicks, conversion value, and conversion rate by campaign type.
• User locations, clicks, and impressions.

The generative AI understands natural language requests and processes them accordingly. By mid-2025, we may even see voice commands being incorporated into this tool.

Automation in SEM Replaces Enhanced CPC (eCPC)

At the end of 2024, Google announced that it would phase out Enhanced CPC (eCPC), completing the transition by March 2025.

What does this mean for advertisers?

• Enhanced CPC will no longer be available for search or display campaigns. While it remains accessible for now, between March 15 and 25, 2025, Google will automatically migrate all eCPC strategies to manual CPC strategies.

Why the change?

• The goal is to promote more advanced AI-optimized bidding strategies that increase campaign efficiency and performance.

In 2025, advertisers must transition to more effective bidding strategies, such as those focused on objectives like acquisition, return on ad spend (ROAS), impressions, or conversions.

Advanced Audience Hyper-Segmentation

AI isn’t just about automating tasks—it’s also about collecting and analyzing data. AI can now gather information from sources like phone calls, text messages, live chats, emails, and web heatmaps. By 2025, AI will excel at identifying patterns and categorizing users into detailed micro-segments.

For example: Instead of targeting "women aged 25-34 interested in fitness," AI will help advertisers identify users interested in specific activities like yoga or CrossFit, enabling ultra-specific SEM campaigns with unprecedented precision.

This granular segmentation also allows AI to continuously optimize campaigns. By analyzing ad performance in real-time, it dynamically adjusts targeting to improve results—shifting budget allocation to segments that respond better to specific messages.

The Next Generation of Video Advertising

In 2025, Google Ads will introduce several disruptive updates in video advertising, including Ariel, Adios, and Demand Gen.

Ariel

A tool developed by Google Marketing Solutions to automate video ad translation and dubbing. Ariel will:

• Automatically create multiple language versions of your video ads.
• Manage large-scale video campaigns in different languages.
• Significantly reduce translation and dubbing costs.

When setting up a video campaign, Ariel's advanced technologies sequentially handle the following tasks:

• Separating audio sources from the video.
• Identifying and isolating voices from different speakers.
• Converting the voices into text and translating them when the source language differs from the target language.
• Converting the text back into voice to create dubbing in the target language.
  
  

Demand Gen

In 2025, Video Action Campaigns will evolve into Demand Generation (Demand Gen) campaigns, a new offering within Google Ads' suite of advertising tools.

Demand Gen is designed to help advertisers attract and convert audiences across multiple visual platforms within Google's ecosystem, including YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and the broader network of video partners.

This tool represents a clear evolution of Discovery campaigns, focusing on a more interactive and visually engaging format to enhance the user experience and foster greater engagement. With Demand Gen, you’ll be able to create high-impact ads in formats like short videos and image carousels, making it especially effective for capturing users' attention along their purchasing journey.

In terms of targeting and audience segmentation, Demand Gen stands out by integrating audience types similar to those found on social media. This allows you to leverage "Lookalike Segments" based on your company’s first-party data.

Additionally, campaign metrics and bidding for this type of advertising will be powered by AI, ensuring optimization and improved performance.

Google Shopping Gets a Generative AI Makeover

One of the biggest challenges advertisers face when working with Google Merchant Center is optimizing Google Shopping feeds to improve visibility, reach, and conversion rates. This is where important updates like FeedGen come into play.

What Is FeedGen?

FeedGen is a generative AI tool designed to optimize product feeds for Google Shopping ad campaigns. Its primary function is to improve the quality of product listings by generating more detailed and accurate titles and descriptions while filling in any missing attributes.

The tool uses specific prompts to tailor content according to each advertiser's needs, providing examples that guide the AI in creating persuasive, high-quality copy.

With a built-in scoring system, FeedGen helps you evaluate and adjust results before publishing, guaranteeing that titles and descriptions are precise and relevant. One standout feature is its ability to perform real-time A/B testing on titles. This allows advertisers to compare AI-optimized versions against original content to identify which variations perform best in campaigns.

Beyond FeedGen, by the end of 2024, Google completely redesigned the Shopping experience with generative AI.

What Major Changes Should You Expect in 2025?

AI-Generated Summaries: Now, whenever a user searches for a product, Google Shopping's AI generates a summary highlighting key information they need to make an informed purchase. This includes a curated selection of products tailored to meet their specific needs.

Personalization: Another exciting update is personalization filters. These allow users to narrow down options based on their preferences, such as size, color, model, or product location. Additionally, this interface incorporates a virtual try-on feature powered by augmented reality.

Personalized Feeds: Similar to how Netflix personalizes its content, Google Shopping feeds will begin adapting to individual users' preferences. Products that don't align with a user’s interests won't be displayed. For this, Shopping AI will analyze search and purchase patterns over several days or weeks to fine-tune recommendations.

New Deals Section: If your brand frequently runs promotions, this update will be highly advantageous. Google Shopping now includes a dedicated deals page where users can view offers tailored to their preferences. Additional features include price comparisons and price tracking, giving users even more value.

Why This Matters for Advertisers

AI is expansive, continuously integrating into more formats, processes, and advertising tools. This creates a significant opportunity for advertisers, as AI better aligns your products with searches from audiences who are already further along in the conversion funnel.

To stay competitive, it’s essential to keep up with the latest trends and updates in PPC and SEM for 2025. With generative AI transforming the landscape rapidly, even more groundbreaking innovations could emerge by mid-2025.