The world of Digital Marketing changes constantly. Whether you’re at an agency, in an internal marketing team or just have a passing interest, it seems like every week there’s a new optimal way to put your strategy into action.
That’s why starting from this month, we’re going to be cutting through the clutter and explaining what impact some of these changes will have on businesses.
July brought some significant shifts in how we approach search, analytics, and email security. Whether you’re planning your next campaign or revisiting your strategy for the second half of 2025, here’s what should be on your radar.
Google Introduces Ads in AI Overviews
Why are you going to start seeing these ads?
Google has started testing ads within its AI Overviews and new AI Mode, which now appear on desktop for select users. These ads are drawn from existing campaigns and are marked as sponsored, appearing within AI-generated summaries.
Why has this change happened?
AI Overviews are quickly becoming a staple of Google Search, offering users summarised responses powered by Gemini. It’s had a massive impact on search results, powering the zero-click-search trend that has seen clicks from Google Search drop by 35% in the past year.
As more people interact with search this way, Google is monetising the format to reassure advertisers that their spend is still going to generate an attractive ROI.
What changes should I make in response?
If you’re already running Google Ads, Google says you don’t necessarily need to do anything.
“Existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns that are already running can automatically be eligible to appear within AI Overviews when relevant”.
It’s important to note that Google Ads have confirmed either above or below AI Overviews, or within the Overview, but won’t display both simultaneously.
This change, and the rise of zero-click-search means that optimising for visibility within AI summaries should be if not a priority, then at least a consideration for any SEO campaigns going forward.
Structured data, brand mentions, and authoritative content will influence whether your site is featured in AI Overviews.
Source: Search Engine Land
Homepage Traffic is Increasing at the expense of other content
Why is homepage traffic increasing so sharply?
A recent analysis by Siege Media found that homepage traffic across 50 US websites has grown by an average of 10.7% in the past quarter. It’s a small sample size but does indicate a wider trend.
AI Overviews and ChatGPT-style searches are changing how people navigate online. With brand terms becoming more valuable compared to a lot of previously popular service or blog pages.
Why is this change important?
Unlike traditional search results that point to SEO-optimised content further down your website’s hierarchy, AI responses tend to reference and recommend homepages.
This is part of a growing trend among audiences as well. Especially when making commercially focused searches, those are searches where the audience has buying intent for a product or service, homepages are consistently generating more traffic than they were previously.
What marketers should do
There’s a lot you can interpret here, but our take is this: Your branding needs to stand out just as much as your SEO.
Consider the UX of your website as a primary focus. Is it fast, mobile-friendly, and clearly aligned to your core offering? Does it include clear calls-to-action and relevant content for new visitors?
SEO is always going to be crucial, and staying top of the rankings is crucial, but your competitive edge won’t just be how well you’ve optimised your keyword strategy, but whether your personality and reputation can shine through at the same time.
Source: Siege Media
Outlook Tightens Email Authentication Rules
What have Microsoft changed?
Microsoft has announced that all high-volume senders (those sending 5,000+ emails daily) must now implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication. Emails that don’t meet these standards will be marked as spam and could eventually be blocked altogether.
We’ve been hearing about stricter authentication for a while, why the change?
This move isn’t unexpected. It aligns Outlook with changes already introduced by Gmail and Yahoo, all aimed at cracking down on phishing and unwanted bulk email. It’s a signal to marketers that the era of loose email policies is over.
What marketers should do
Check your domain’s DNS settings. Tools like Sendmarc can help monitor and enforce proper authentication. Marketers should also ensure their platforms are configured to support DMARC alignment, and consider moving to subdomain-based sending for different campaign types to improve deliverability.
Source: Spotler
Google Analytics Improves Full Journey and ROI Measurement
How has Google Analytics changed?
Google has introduced enhanced analytics features designed to give marketers better visibility into the full customer journey across channels, touchpoints and platforms. It includes improved support for incrementality testing and updated tools to measure campaign ROI more precisely.
Why the change?
As third-party data becomes harder to access and user journeys get more complex, marketers need smarter tools to evaluate performance and attribution. Google’s update aims to simplify this and keep GA4 competitive against rising analytics alternatives.
ROI Measurement is the key term to take away here. With these changes Google are demonstrating to marketers what tangible benefits their campaigns can have on the overall business. A good example is the projections report, which Google says will “show you how your advertising channels are projected to perform against key performance indicators (KPIs) like spend, key events, and revenue per channel”.
What marketers should do
Try the new features. Google have attempted to simplify the navigation around Analytics by including an AI chat programme that can answer queries and display key figures and visualisations. It’s easy to roll your eyes at another chatbot, but being able to use conversational search to quickly draw up key stats in seconds might be a lifesaver in a future board meeting.
Try the new scenario planner as well. This is a modelling solution that you can use to understand the ROI based on different spend levels. This is especially useful for agencies or marketing teams justifying budgets at a board level.
Source: Google
If you’re unsure how these updates could affect your marketing performance, now’s a great time to take stock and adjust your strategy. Get in touch with the team at GetCrisp for a free consultation.