2024 has been an amazing year in the digital marketing world, marked by the continued rapid advancement of AI, big shifts in search engine algorithms, and the ever-evolving social media landscape. From the rise and rise of generative AI to the burgeoning importance of authenticity, 2024 has been a year of exciting developments.
So without further ado, let’s dive into the key trends and changes that have shaped the digital marketing landscape this year.
Key Takeaways (TL;DR)
- AI is Everywhere: Artificial intelligence has become a dominant force, influencing content creation, SEO strategies, and search engine results.
- AI Overviews: Google’s AI Overviews have transformed search results, providing comprehensive answers and summaries.
- Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): A new field has emerged, focusing on optimising content for AI-powered search results.
- Standalone AI Tools: Tools like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity offer alternative search experiences.
- Google’s Core Updates: These updates prioritise helpful, high-quality content and combat spammy practices.
- Bluesky’s Emergence: Bluesky has gained popularity as a potential alternative to X (Twitter).
- TikTok’s Reign: TikTok’s massive user base, especially among younger demographics, makes it a powerful search and marketing platform.
The Continuing AI Revolution
Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, AI has been extensively used to generate content and streamline various marketing processes. However, it’s absolutely critical that we continue to approach AI-driven solutions with caution.
Whilst some tools like Duda or the Elementor builder for WordPress may boast that you can “supercharge your SEO” just by pressing a “generate with AI” button, automated title tags, meta descriptions, and image ALT attributes may not always align with the quality and effectiveness of human-crafted strategies.
I was working on one website this year where the designer/developer did just that and generated all the titles, meta, content, and image ALT with AI. None of it was quite right other than the large swathes of content that the client was unable to write, so that was a bonus.
However, the ALT attributes were really not great at all. In one photograph, showing the client, a roofing contractor, on a particular job, the AI identified the scaffolding around a property and described the image as “House under construction”. What was immediately obvious to the human eye was that this tradesman specialised in red clay tile roofs.
Which of these ALT attributes would have been better for users and SEO? The latter, obviously, because it was both accurate and relevant.
And on the other side of the fence, Google’s upgraded SpamBrain system can easily detect and penalise certain generative AI techniques. Large numbers of “grey hat” and “black hat” SEOs had been taking advantage of generative AI to produce content at scale. And whilst that has been a huge source of frustration to professional digital marketing experts, the free reign that these people had is now over.
“Getting away with it” for over 18 months has come to an end and now the legitimate business website owners can breathe a sigh of relief as the threat of poor quality in the search results has (hopefully) been dealt with once again. (Until the next exploit becomes apparent – Ed)
Therefore, it’s really essential once again in digital marketing to prioritise originality and quality over shortcuts. Original quality content is king once again.
The Rise of AI Overviews
Google’s AI Overviews have become a prominent feature in their search results, providing concise summaries and direct answers to user queries. These AI-generated results are built on the fly, drawing information from multiple sources. And boy, are they quick too!
While AI Overviews offer convenience, it’s important to remember that they are still experimental and may not always be accurate.
However, they are particularly relevant for long-tail queries and conversational searches, so this heralds good news for semantic SEO once again. It’s not about the keywords any more (And hasn’t been for a long time) but now more than ever, those E-E-A-T conversational pieces that digital marketers with knowledge of Natural Language Processing (NLP) can get ahead again.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) has emerged as a specialised field, a fork of SEO as I’ve called it. But will it last? Will GEO even be the acronym in 12 months’ time? I’ve also heard it called Generative Search Optimisation (GSO) as well, but ultimately it’s just an extension of SEO in my eyes. However, let’s just stick with GEO for this post, aye?
Anyway, focusing on optimising content for AI Overviews and generative AI results has been big this year. So far it has involved creating long-form, comprehensive content with a conversational tone.
One unexpected success this year was that I’d written an article for a local IT company on the fact that Microsoft Word celebrated its 40th birthday last year. The blog post wasn’t written to align with any particular funnels or directly convert or sell more MS365 packages but was just a bit of fun, some “filler” and highlighting that this particular IT company has its finger on the pulse and didn’t have to keep talking about the fear of cyber attacks to attract new business. The article was picked up, almost a year later, in AI Overviews, got a few clicks, but most of all, the impressions in Google Search Console were “through the roof”. An example if what AIO can do. And what if we’d really capitalised on it?
So while GEO/GSO/Generative SEO can potentially increase brand awareness, its impact on driving traffic to websites may be limited. As the use of AI technology in search results evolves, the relevance of GEO/GSO/Generative SEO may very well change. Again.
The Shifting Search Landscape
While Google still remains the dominant search engine, AI tools like ChatGPT Search, Claude, and Perplexity are really gaining traction. These standalone AI tools offer unique interfaces and generate concise, comprehensive results for conversational queries.
I myself still very much use Google for certain types of simple search intent but I’ve moved heavily toward Claude and Perplexity for answering more complex queries. Yes, I used Google Bard, now renamed Google Gemini, but I’ve genuinely found that it’s not as good as Claude and Perplexity. I’ve often started in Gemini, been disappointed in the result, then moved on to an alternative AI search with much more satisfactory results.
Voice search tools like Alexa and Siri are still in the picture for search but its platforms like TikTok where certain demographics now search for information. If your product or service suits the format of TikTok then its well worth considering this as a marketing channel, especially for the youth market/young adults.
What will happen in 2025 we don’t yet know, but keep an eye out for the Google I/O event next year, it’s a good sign of what genuinely useful trends the major search engine is chasing.
Google’s Ongoing Updates
Google has implemented several core updates in 2024 to improve the quality of search results. These updates target unhelpful content and prioritise content written for humans. It’s been a very welcome outcome as the quality of content really needs to be upheld. Afterall, quality content resonates with discerning searchers, so delivering the best is the only option that Google should be pursuing.
As for Google’s spam updates, they‘ve focused on combating the absolute explosion of web spam. We;ve pointed this out, but they no longer tell us the numbers on how many spam web pages they deal with every day because the numbers would probably blow our minds.
But with the introduction of three big focus areas of webspam, I’m more confident than I have been for a long time that the Mountain View giant is really taking this threat more seriously than ever. Their new issues have been:
- scaled content abuse
- site reputation abuse, and
- expired domain abuse.
Scaled content abuse is using generative AI to create tons of webpages, reputation abuse has involved posting of irrelevant content on high-ranking sites just to gain rank, and expired domain abuse is buying up old domain names and filling new sites there with your own links.
These have been the three biggest “black hat” SEO threats this year and they’re high up on Google’s radar.
So to stay in Google’s good graces, publishers and marketers must prioritise high-quality, original content created for human audiences. It’s always been this way in my eyes so remember it and do it!
Social Media’s Changing Dynamics
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) has led to significant changes on the platform, prompting some users to seek alternatives.
The reasons are many but have, just for starters, included the loss of trust in the blue tick system – Anyone can now buy a blue tick, it means nothing any more other than you can pay for a monthly subscription.
There’s also the feeling that X is not a nice place any more. Even when it was Twitter it wasn’t always pleasant, but at least there was a moderation system in place. Now that Musk sacked 80% of Twitter’s staff, he relies on the community to police itself with Community Notes. Despite these labels being in place and yet still contradictory (Lots of NNN on posts) there’s still a lot of less than pleasant sentiment on X.
Some may call it “free speech” whilst others, like myself, are genuinely concerned that some people are unable to moderate their own behaviours. Whilst I have seen humankind evolve in my lifetime, allowing people to say what they want, even if it is deeply offensive to many, is still not quite right. I don’t want to censor anyone but certain views really are unsavoury, so I wish more people would put their brains into gear before engaging their mouths.
All this said, options to X are out there.
Mastodon, one of the decentralised social platforms of the new fediverse, tried to take advantage, but hasn’t been as successful as I’d liked to have seen. Maybe it was too geeky.
Threads has really taken off, but it’s still Meta and Mark Zuckerburg’s hand on this one.
Bluesky is another option, and as a spin-off from Twitter, Jack Dorsey’s experiment in decentralisation, it’s taken a while but it;s taken off in its own way. I like Mastodon and I like Bluesky, but the latter just has the slight edge for me at the moment, feeling much like Twitter did in its early days.
TikTok’s dominance continues, particularly among younger audiences, as short-form videos are highly effective for promoting certain products and engaging with specific demographics.
So social is still evolving and we’ll see more next year when things start to play out and the Musk connection to Donald Trump takes more traction.
Looking Ahead to 2025
I don’t usually do trend posts, as I think they’re click-bait and often highly inaccurate or just wildly speculative. But here are a few key trends and developments that I personally think we should watch out for in 2025:
- Continued AI Dominance: Barring significant regulatory changes, I think AI will remain a huge force in the world. Marketers really need to prioritise quality and originality rather than relying solely on AI-generated content and I believe that conversational and comprehensive content will help with how I think AI is bringing semantic SEO to the fore.
- The Evolution of AI Overviews: The role and impact of AI Overviews, yes, a Google term and feature, will continue to evolve, forcing marketers to adapt their SEO strategies. But if you have an Agile/lean working philosophy this should be right up your street.
- The Continued Rise of Zero-Click Searches: With the increasing prevalence of these AI Overviews, they’re very similar to zero-click searches. Marketers will need to find innovative ways to drive traffic and engagement. I don’t have an answer to this right now but you need to do what works for you. Look at every channel and see what works for which products and services. Pivot if you need to and quickly too.
- Trust and Verification: As misinformation spreads on social media, trust and verification will become increasingly important. On the trust side, this is all part of E-E-A-T so be mindful of that framework and use it when building content. With verification, we’ll be seeing increased use of techniques to verify authors for instance, just like the system they use at LinkedIn.
- Privacy and Security: Data privacy and cybersecurity will remain top concerns for users and businesses alike. Be careful who you share your info with and be mindful of users who think the same. The whole use of third-party cookies could be big this year, so will Google or some other big vendor announce the final sunsetting of these and a platform to finally and easily run your own server-side first-party cookies?
- The European Accessibility Act (EAA): Websites selling products or services to the EU will need to comply with accessibility standards. This kicks in at the end of June 2025 so if you have a big website full of content and code, get your teams to analyse and fix that right now!
Conclusion
My retrospective of Digital Marketing in 2024 is that it has been fun and 2025 is going to be another interesting year for digital professionals. Every year things get slightly more complex, and challenging too, so 2025 will just be more of that, and I’m really looking forward to learning more new techniques and being able to offer my clients the slight edge,
Whatever you do, feel free to call me, your friendly local SEO consultant, on 01252 692 765 to discuss your SEO or broader digital marketing needs.