2025 Digital Marketing Updates You Should Know

Digital Marketing Updates 2025

Instagram updates its optimal image size… again

December 2025, Social Media

After moving away from the 1:1 square-sized imagery that Instagram was so well known for earlier in the year, it’s now changed it’s best-practices again.
Rather than 1080x1350px as the optimal sizing, the new best practice is…

1080x1440px

While this is the new preferred size for Instagram to mirror how Reels preview in your feed, it’s important to note that most content schedulers (such as Hootsuite) are still catching up to this new change.

Check out and bookmark our blog for always up-to-date social media sizing.

Your Black Friday 2026 preparation starts now

November 2025, Marketing

If Black Friday 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: Shoppers are no longer chasing the loudest discounts; they’re choosing the brands they trust.

We’ve officially moved into an era where experience, values and long-term relationships matter more than the one-day frenzy. And if brands want to win Black Friday 2026, the work starts long before next November.

Shoppers are becoming more selective, more intentional, and more value-aware. They’re asking…
Is this brand transparent? Do they make returns easy? Do they communicate clearly? Do they genuinely care about the customer experience?

Discounts still matter… but they’re no longer the differentiator. Trust is.
When shoppers trust the brand before Black Friday, they convert faster and stay longer. And as economic pressure continues to shape buying habits, loyalty becomes the most valuable currency.

Your 2026 Black Friday success won’t be defined by your discount strategy, it’ll be defined by the relationship you build between now and then.

Start nurturing it now.
Start refining your experience now.
Start earning next year’s trust today.

Google continues to invest in Search Console

November 2025, SEO

While Search Console has always been a go-to tool for Search and metrics, it’s been… lacking… the love and attention other Google tools have been given. Until now.
In the recent months, we’ve seen small changes to the user interface to make it more user-friendly (and more modern).
This month, we’re seeing the launch of custom annotations as well as the branded queries filter. This means better insights into cause and effect for your optimisations, as well as a better breakdown of branded and non-branded traffic.

Will we see AI search insights next?

OpenAI launches its own search browser, ChatGPT Atlas

October 2025, AI & SEO

While ChatGPT has allowed you to instantly search the web from within its own framework, it’s now been announced that OpenAI will be taking it a step further, with its own search browser.

This promises an experience that allows you to access all of your ChatGPT memory while searching the web from within your browser. And, that your searches will provide context for your ChatGPT prompts as well. 

As an SEO, this tells me that OpenAI has realised that we aren’t yet ready to move away from search browsers. But, as an Ads Specialist, it makes me wonder if this is a move for OpenAI to be able to start gathering user data and create a revenue stream through ads (rather than relying on paid subscribers).

Semrush launches AI SEO Toolkit

October 2025, SEO

While AI SEO tools have been floating around the internet for a little while now, this is the first time one of the major players has launched a specific tool for monitoring search visibility in AI tools. 

Semrush’s AI SEO toolkit comes at an extra cost to the core packages but they’ve also added new features to our favourite core functions of Semrush, including site health for appearing in AI searches and giving a glimpse into AI search visibility. 

However, with a number of free tools available (including Mangools), we’re yet to see if the insights provided are worth the price tag. 

Instagram subverts expectations with a new 5120x1080px reel format

September 2025, Social Media

So far, 2025 has been all about maximising mobile screen realestate with the continued popularity of reels, and posts moving closer to a portrait size. Until now…

In a shock move, Instagram launches their new supported format for an ultra-wide, super-thin reel. This sizing gives a cinematic effect and subverts expectations, capturing attention in feeds. 

We’ve noticed this isn’t the first sign of reel moving towards a higher quality, cinematic look. And to be honest, we’re here for clever transitions and considered stories. 

You can check out our first ultra-wide reel.

August Google Spam Update Completes

September 2025, SEO

Have you noticed a drop in search performance in September? Google’s August 2025 spam update has only just completed its roll out (September 22nd) and for sites affected, it’s been swift.

Aimed at reducing spam in search results, this update seems to have mostly impacted informational sites such as recipes or financial advice as well as pages created at scale with low quality content and spammy comments.

Once again, we’re seeing a focus on quality. More important now in the age of AI content.

Good SEO is good GEO

September 2025, SEO

Google’s Danny Sullivan addressed the audience at the WordCamp US to say “Good GEO is good SEO”. This is mirrors exactly what Gary Illyes advised in July. 

However, the landscape has changed slightly, with AI Overviews reducing click through rates for many websites. As we’ve been advising our clients throughout the year, the key is to ensure your SEO strategy takes a full funnel approach so you aren’t loosing conversions by focusing only on top-of-funnel informational content. 

Meta makes (more) changes to their professional dashboard

August 2025, Social Media

Meta has a history of poorly tested rollouts and making drastic changes that aren’t possible to figure out intuiatively. 

The latest of these changes is the professional dashboard. We’ve been promised a new home page with better key insights, simplified navigation (🚩usually means losing access to tools in the nav) and a more consistent experience across mobile and desktop.

Content API for Shopping is given a sunset date

August 2025, Advertising

If you’re running Shopping Ads or PMAX campaigns that include your eCommerce catalogue, this notice is for you! 

Alongside the recent release of the Merchant API, Google has also announced the sunsetting of Content API for Shopping. While the new API promises a smoother and quicker experience, you’ll need to upgrade before August 18 2026 to continue advertising (or appearing in organic shopping placements). 

If this is something you need a hand with, get in touch with our team today.

Google Shopping is rolling out the red carpet for first-time buyers

July 2025, Advertising

Google’s shaking up the ecommerce game (again), this time with 1st Order Promotions for Shopping ads. In short? Retailers can show special discounts just for first-time buyers, right there in the ad. No fiddly codes, no hoops to jump through. If it’s your first shop, the deal gets auto-applied at checkout.

We’re yet to see this land beyond the US, but when it does roll out globally, it’ll be a big win for brands wanting to get fresh eyes on their products.

Sure, it means the discount wars might heat up, and you’ll need to keep a close eye on margins. But from an advertising point of view? It’s clever, seamless, and could be a serious CTR and conversion booster. Then, you can focus your retention strategy on other channels such as email marketing or organic social media.

Content cluster confusion? Screaming Frog’s got a new way to untangle the mess

July 2025, SEO

Screaming Frog has rolled out a slick new feature that lets you visualise your website’s content clusters in all their interconnected glory. Think of it as a living map of your pages and how they link  (or don’t link) to each other.

While it’s designed to help you interpret your topical clusters and spot content silos, it’s also a brilliant tool for exposing where your internal linking strategy might be letting you down.

Got a cluster that’s dangling out on its own with barely a tie back to your main hub? Or pages that should be propping each other up, but instead sit awkwardly disconnected? This new visualisation lays it all bare. Making it way easier to tweak your architecture, strengthen authority across themes, and give search engines the signals they crave.

WordPress jumping on the AI bandwagon 

July 2025, WordPress

Despite being one of the most popular CMS providers in the world, WordPress is only now announcing the formation of an AI team. 

While other CMS providers are utilising AI to help build webpages and websites, WordPress is focusing on building canonical plugins that users can install to test new functionality rapidly before it’s pushed live. 

We’re excited to see this come to life! Using AI for rapid testing rather than trying to cut creative corners is something we love to see. 

Move over TikTok Shop, YouTube Shorts just got a whole lot cooler

June 2025, Social & Search

Google has recently announced that they’ll be integrating Lens into YouTube Shorts. This means that a viewer will be able to pause a short and search elements in the video – such as key landmarks to find out where the video was taken.

While we’re yet to see this in action, the possibilities for visual search are limitless – from shopping directly from the video, to finding the recipe for local cuisine. 

AI search guidelines

June 2025, SEO

AI in search has been a hot topic this year, with professionals talking about GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) replacing SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Whatever we refer to it in the future, there is no denying that search engines are evolving, as they did with rich SERPs (featured images, also asked questions, videos and more). 

Now, Google has released their guidelines for how to rank in AI generative results. Highlights include: 

• Focusing on unique & valuable content that meets users’ needs (this isn’t something new).

• Ensuring your webpages provide a good experience for people and bots alike. Make sure they’re easy to navigate, display well across devices and load quickly.

• Utilising structured data as a signal for generative AI – making sure it accurately represents visible page content and follows Google guidelines.

• Considering more than text. As well as high-quality images and videos, Merchant Centre and Business Profile information can help you benefit from AI’s multimodal search capabilities.

Read the full guidelines from Google Search Central.

Branding is more important than ever

June 2025, Branding & SEO

In a recent study, Ahrefs found that almost half (45.7%) of searches on Google are branded.

Why does this matter? 

We know that the state of search is changing – with TikTok and ChatGPT challenging traditional search engines. What this stat tells us, is that by the time users get to Google, half of them already know what they want. 

What does this mean for you?

Investing in your brand and brand experience is just as important as SEO. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, having a strong brand can help tie together all of your baskets so they work together from online to in-person.

Deeper Performance Max campaign reporting for Google Ads

May 2025, Paid Advertising

Performance Max is notorious for providing a lack of insight and control for advertisers. While it’s been known to drive results through machine learning, the lack of control has been a large issue for advertisers.

Now, finally, we can expect better reporting on the different channels ads are appearing – Gmail, Discover, Display Network and so on. Additionally, better insights will be available for search term and asset performance. Google has promised more details in the coming months.

Even if this doesn’t give marketers more control, it’ll at least give us a direction to focus our optimisation efforts.

Meta Ads launches GA4 integration in beta

May 2025, Social Media

Have you been invited to integrate your Meta ads with GA4? The beta integration was launched a year ago, with invites rolling out to a broader audience over the last month or two. 

The benefit – Meta aims to improve your website event tracking (and they promise early access to ad system updates). We’re no stranger to the challenges the existing event tracking poses – from setup to accuracy – so we’re excited to see what this update brings. And, how it will help improve ad performance.

Chat GPT gains traction as a referral source for websites

May 2025, AI & SEO

You may have noticed an uptick in website referrals originating from ChatGPT. Unique domains receiving traffic from ChatGPT have surged (from 10K to 30K between July and November 2024).

ChatGPT is establishing itself as a meaningful source of referral traffic, particularly for education, technology, and software development websites.

We’re finding that a large proportion of informational searches are now being made on ChatGPT rather than search engines (such as Google) – a reflection on Google’s change to include AI Overview SERPs for more informational searches.

What this means for you:

• Optimise your website content for AI discovery by implementing appropriate structured data. Using schema markup helps AI understand and categorise your content.
• Use clear and concise language that answers common user queries to make it easy for AI to promote and site your website.
• Monitor AI referral traffic to gain insights into user-behaviour. Tools range from GA4 to specialist AI results tracking software.

LinkedIn Campaign Manager gets a well-overdue update

April 2025, Social Media

Social media advertising platforms are renowned for their constant updates, which aren’t always fully functional when they launch (I’m looking at you Meta). 
However, LinkedIn’s campaign manager has stayed relatively similar with minor tweaks and changes here and there. 

It looks as though that is about to change with a big update announced. With the goal of giving advertisers more ability to refine and improve ad performance, this update will see:

• The ability to forecast results in a new Media Planner
• The ability to duplicate ads across campaigns & accounts
• Dynamic UTM generation
• Detailed campaign performance dashboards
• AI-driven campaign overview for a top-level understanding of your campaign performance

From what we can see, these updates are already rolled out and tested to ensure they’re functioning as part of the overall platform. That’s what we like to see from an update!

Are AI Overviews the new featured snippet in search results?

April 2025, Search Engine Optimisation

AI Overviews (AIOs) have put SEOs in a bit of a tailspin since their launch in May 2024. Do you want to appear in these SERPs? Are they taking away traffic from websites? How do you get featured?

While, a recent study by Ahrefs has found that AI Overviews have led to a 34.5% lower average click through rate (CTR) on informational searches, this isn’t necessarily as scary as it first seemed.

Where featured snippets used to be the coveted SERP result, it now seems that AIOs have taken their place – almost doubling visibility in some cases. 
Here’s what we now know about AIOs:

• They largely appear for informational searches
• They are more likely to appear for long-tail searches
• While AIOs do decrease CTR for informational searches, they shouldn’t impact revenue and commercial/transactional/navigational CTR

Does this change our SEO strategy for top-of-the-funnel traffic? Yes, and no! Getting a spot in an AIO is slightly different to ranking on first page results but doesn’t make the content less valuable, it just might not turn searchers into website visitors today.

March Google Core Update completes

April 2025, Search Engine Optimisation

With the most recent Google Core Update rollout completed in the final days of March, we’re still fully realising the impact of the changes. However, there are a few shifts that have become quickly noticeable:

• Forums are no longer as highly valued in search results (however, this has been less impactful for Reddit)
• Programmatic content penalties (a continued shift away from content for SEO rather than users)
• Multiple industries were impacted including retail, government, forums and content publishers.

While the shift away from forums is a surprising update, the other changes feel very much in line with Google’s goal to prioritise relevant and high-value content for searchers.

Our advice, improve content quality that genuinely addresses your target audience’s needs and questions.

Edits, an Instagram app is launching

March 2025, Social Media

Update: Edits launch is still rolling out and is yet to be available in all regions. With the launch already pushed back 2 weeks, we might be seeing more delays…

You may have noticed that video editing capabilities have become more limited through the Instagram app – and now it all makes sense.

Launching March 31st, Edits is a new app to help with content creation directly from the mobile phone. 

TikTok’s CapCut app has been wildly popular in creating and sharing video content. And Instagram wants some of that action. But it’s not a new concept, in Spotfiy launched their podcasters tool back in 2023 in an effort to bring more content creators to their platform. Time will tell if this works for Instagram as well.

Building trust & authority – Google’s recent Helpful Content Update took a holistic approach

February 2025, Search Engine Optimisation

Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) has historically focused on weeding out low-quality content from search results. The most recent update appears to have taken a different approach.

The most recent update appears to have reviewed site-wide content structure and link profile health.

What does this mean?

It’s not just about well-written and informative content now, it’s also about if it’s relevant to your overall website. Google’s goal with this is to make sure that a website is writing about topics they’re authorities on – not just topics that will improve their rankings.

Google is also targeting link farms. Contrary to previous myths that Google ignores bad links, since this recent update we have found that low-quality backlinks are in fact affecting site performance.

Our advice for this update:

• Audit your backlinks – and disavow toxic links
• Build high-quality backlinks rather than going for quick wins (such as purchasing spammy backlinks – no matter the domain rating)
• Clean up your site content structure – prune orphan pages & focus on relevant topics in your content strategy to build site authority.

Social Media platforms aren’t ready for the Australian social media ban for children

February 2025, Social Media

Late last year, the Australian government passed a law to ban children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms including Instagram, X, Snapchat & TikTok. However, recent investigations by the eSafety Commission have found that they aren’t ready for the ban to come into full force later this year.

For the majority of platforms, age verification is currently reliant on truthful self-declaration. However, this leaves kids in a potentially more dangerous position online pretending to be older than they are.

What does this mean for marketers?

For the majority of the world, minimum age to use social media platforms is 16. With age restrictions increasing to 13, reaching a teenage audience through paid advertising will also change – whether they’re using the platforms or not.

Has Elon taken it too far? 

January 2025, Social Media

While Elon Musk isn’t a stranger to the limelight, has he finally taken it too far with X (formerly known as Twitter)?

At the tail end of last year, X updated their terms of service to dictate that all users must agree to their posts being accessed and read by AI. This has led to privacy concerns by users.

While this doesn’t sound like much, it follows hot on the heels of complaints of toxic content surrounding the US election.

Between users leaving the platform as well as Elon Musk’s bad publicity, advertisers are now reconsidering their use of X as a marketing channel. Large companies including Apple, Disney and IBM were among the brands that have paused their advertising spend with X.

Instagram updates its feed after 14 years

January 2025, Social Media

Instagram has officially shifted its default feed post aspect ratio from 1:1 (square) to 4:5 (portrait). This is perhaps the biggest shift in the move towards mobile-first content with the new format taking up more screen real estate.

Not only does this give social media managers more screen real estate to play with, but this change is intended to lead to better engagement rates.
However, for many content creators and social media managers, this change will turn their current feed aesthetic upside down. And Instagram hasn’t given them much choice in updating existing posts.

Currently, you can either ‘fit’ or ‘fill’ images on the grid. And, it has to be done individually for each post by selecting adjust preview in the post options menu.

Our advice for this update:

• Keep an eye out for when this change is rolled out to your account so you can adjust the preview quickly.
• Start creating content for the 4:5 format now, ready for the rollout.
• Capture portrait-first content, if you aren’t already.