Q4 is here and yet more changes have arrived from search and social platforms. This month we’re seeing more evolutions from AI assistants becoming shopping tools, and video content taking centre stage in Google’s AI results. We also take a closer look at the steps you need to take to protect your website from cyber threats (because believe it or not, marketing managers, that’s your responsibility too).
If you’re still running on business-as-usual, this is the perfect chance to catch up. Here’s what’s going on, why it matters for marketers, and what needs to change.
ChatGPT becomes a shopping assistant
What is the news?
OpenAI has rolled out “Instant Checkout” for ChatGPT, letting users shop and pay for products via chat, with no need to visit separate websites. Stripe handles payments, and merchants can apply to have products featured in ChatGPT recommendations. It’s like Amazon’s ‘Buy Now’ feature that skips the checkout, but entirely AI-driven. Users can search, compare and purchase products within the conversation window itself.
How will it affect marketers?
There’s no guarantee that all shoppers will embrace this, so your traditional touchpoints still matter. Still, this change potentially shrinks at least some buyer journeys to zero clicks. AI isn’t just influencing purchasing decisions through large language models (LLMs) – now it has the potential to close the sale.
Expect product discovery and conversions to become more conversational, with less opportunity to nurture or upsell through your own website. Details like up-to-date product information, high quality imagery, and SEO-led FAQ content are critical, as it’s what the algorithms will be keeping an eye out for.
What do I need to change?
Optimise your product listings with clear, keyword-rich descriptions, FAQs, and visuals.
Review your content for accuracy. AI now picks up on details that might be buried in less-optimised pages. Check Google Analytics for an uptick in referral traffic – that could be from LLMs. If you’re an ecommerce site, consider reading more about GEO, and the methods you can use to get listed or featured in AI shopping assistants.
Meta launches ad-free subscriptions in the UK
What is the news?
Meta is launching a paid subscription in the UK for Facebook and Instagram. For £2.99/month on web (£3.99 on mobile), users can remove all ads and prevent their data being used for targeting. There’s a couple of key takeaways here, and if this sees significant uptake, the audiences you can reach on Meta platforms are essentially split in two.
How will it affect marketers?
This means any paid ads will now miss a growing segment of users who opt out. As a consequence, the value of high-quality organic content and engagement goes up. Users from this segment can now carefully tailor which brands they actually want to see, potentially increasing their value as potential buyers. Marketers reliant on paid targeting may see reach shrink and costs rise as more users switch to the ad-free experience.
What do I need to change?
Double down on organic content. Engaging posts, Stories, Reels, and influencer partnerships are all key to driving growth on Meta platforms. If paid media hasn’t worked as well as you hoped, now could be the perfect opportunity to switch away.
Build audiences that want to follow your brand and will see your content, regardless of whether ads reach them. Track your organic engagement and see how your audience shifts as subscriptions roll out.
Video content ranks in AI overviews
What is the news?
Google’s AI Overviews are now pulling video content directly into top results. AI sources this video content from platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, as well as video embedded on websites. Video content could be linked from an AI Overview recently, but as of this month short-form and tutorial videos feature as “source material” for answers far more often than before.
How will it affect marketers?
Video has long been an important part of any multi-channel marketing strategy, but now it’s essential for SEO.
Brands without a video strategy risk invisibility, especially in “how-to” or experiential searches. Text alone may be bypassed for richer, more engaging formats. Video is now considered credible material for AI results and GEO best practices, meaning you need to think about your visual presence for both SEO and social search.
What do I need to change?
Start producing more video content! A great way to start is by keeping it short-form; demos, quick guides, product reviews, and thought leadership clips.
To start getting video ranked in search or AI overviews, add transcripts, captions, and metadata. These help AI understand and surface your videos. Build video into your marketing plan, not just as a one-off. Track video-driven search traffic and keep an eye on updates on platforms like Google’s new AI mode to track the long-term effectiveness of your content.
Poorly maintained websites risk cyber attacks
What is the news?
Outdated websites don’t just look bad – they’re a security risk. Websites are facing increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, either to extract data direct from the site or use it as a launchpad for attacks on visitors. WordPress is not immune, and if you’re not keeping your user privileges, themes and plugins up to date, you could be dramatically increasing the risk.
How will it affect marketers?
At first glance you might look at this and think, “this is definitely not my problem, get the IT company to sort it”. More often than not though, marketing is the first line of defence against a lot of these threats.
Cybersecurity is crucial for marketers. A compromised website kills trust and can halt campaigns instantly. With attacks against SMEs on the rise, a huge variety of different industries are in the crosshairs. An incident doesn’t just take your website offline, it damages your brand, puts customer data at risk, and majorly inhibits your ability to send outbound campaigns via email.
What do I need to change?
It’s the right time of year to start auditing your technology and internal processes.
Review and update site security: Update plugins and remove those that aren’t needed. Check the number of admin accounts on your site. Are there any former employees or old agencies on there? Use a password manager, and make sure work passwords aren’t stored locally. Individually these are all simple steps, but collectively they build up layers of protection and mitigation should something go wrong.
A site maintenance plan can help here too. Check out our hosting and maintenance services to find out more.
Q4 is the time to get proactive. Start planning content for 2026, and make sure that you’ve incorporated a varied content strategy. As always, adapt, test, and keep an eye on what’s changing. For any questions, or just a bit of help, get in touch with the team at GetCrisp.