Digital Marketing Update July 2025

Here’s your digital marketing update for July 2025. What happened in digital marketing in July that you NEED to know about? Quite a lot. Obviously.

Search Updates from July 2025

Google core update

Google had an algorithm update. The June core update completed on 17 July. It focused on surfacing relevant content to users. Pages being ranked in the top ten positions since the update, seem to be more thorough, with stronger EEAT* signals and better content structure, giving us clear indication that these are the things to focus on. (*Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).

The great decoupling of search

Being found in search is no longer the same as your site being visited. We’ve seen this change sneaking in over a number of months. Search visibility is increasing whilst traffic is plummeting (as a result of AI overviews). This has now become known as ‘The great decoupling of search’.

Google search interface

Google is further experimenting how it can use AI to transform the search interface. It’s new search labs experiment ‘Web Guide’, groups related pages into categories with additional context. Could this be an indication of what’s to come with search results focusing on context rather than keywords? I think so.

Social Media Updates from July 2025

Tik Tok

Tik Tok is rumoured to be developing a standalone app for US users. The US version will replicate Tik Tok’s global features but will isolate US user data to address National Security concerns. They’re aiming to launch by September 2025. 

Insta

Instagram shared some guidance on which content formats work best for different goals:

If you want to reach new audiences, use carousels and reels. 

If you want to engage your followers, use carousels, photos and stories.

If you want to retain your audiences, use lives and broadcast channels to nurture them. 

(Thank goodness I’ve been getting that right in the social strategies I’ve been writing). They also debunked some myths, confirming that carousels outperform single photos and whilst hashtags don’t guarantee reach, they do provide context.

Digital Advertising Updates from July 2025

Snapchat

Snapchat has been outperforming other ecommerce platforms in terms of advertising efficiency. The strong results are associated with a Gen Z audience who respond well to Snapchat’ visual and interactive ad formats.

Keyword Planner

Google has enhanced its keyword planner, allowing advertisers to breakdown keyword volumes by city, region and device type, enabling more precise keyword research and in turn, campaign targeting. 

Connected TV

Connected TV budgets are rising, while paid search advertising budgets are declining. This is likely a reflection of the uncertainty surrounding search in an AI landscape. I’m sure this will settle in time, likely with new (AI) search advertising models on the horizon. I’m guessing here – but with search engines dependent on advertising, I would expect that they’ll find ways to demonstrate advertising effectiveness on their platforms.

ChatGPT

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been expecting Chat GPT to introduce paid search as a revenue stream? Well it seems I may have been wrong (I know it’s very rare). It seems, instead, Open AI, plans to take a cut of revenue made from sales. Interesting. (The company is building a native checkout experience – allowing customers to browse and complete purchases within the platform). This challenges traditional ad models. Exposure is no longer about who’s willing to pay the most. It’s about who’s creating the most relevant content. Could this level the playing field for those with smaller budgets? Potentially.

Legislation

Political advertising

We’ve seen some legislative changes this month too. In the EU, Meta will no longer allow political, electoral or social issue advertisements (on Facebook, Instagram or Threads) from October 2025. The decision is in response to new EU legislation governing political advertising. Whilst the regulation is designed to increase transparency in digital campaigning, I can’t help but feel that this move from Meta is crushing for non-profits relying on paid Meta ads to raise awareness of social issues.

Online Safety

Transformational change to the UK’s Online Safety Act means that platforms accessible by children now have to implement “highly effective” age checks and systems to protect minors from harmful content. Feels like a much needed move, though it will be interesting to see how it’s governed.

That’s all the digital marketing updates from July you NEED to know about.

Come back next month for more digital marketing updates from The Marketing Den 😊