Introduction
In 2025, Google has quietly but decisively upgraded its search ecosystem, not just with another “core update,” but with deeper integration of artificial intelligence and a re-defined view of how users engage with search. For Digital Marketing Managers, this isn’t a small tweak to keywords or link-building strategy: it signals a change in how traffic is derived, how search queries are answered, and how ROI on organic and paid efforts must be measured. At TWMG, we’ve worked with Australian enterprises and SMEs long enough to see each major Google shift come and go, but this time, the stakes are different. As search evolves, so must your strategy.
In this post we’ll unpack what Google’s 2025 updates are, explore how they impact your role and your metrics, and finally give you actionable guidance for adapting your SEO, content and advertising strategy with confidence.
1. Understanding Google’s 2025 Core Update & AI Search Shift
Let’s start by clarifying the change. In 2025, Google has released two major broad “core” algorithm updates so far: the March 2025 update and the June 2025 update. The June update, for example, launched on 30 June and completed after about 16 days. (Search Engine Land)
According to one review, the June 2025 update “was a big one … causing notable volatility, partial recoveries for some sites, and subtle but important shifts in how AI-powered search features display content.” (Digimatiq)
Even more recently, the September 2025 core update (code-named “Perspective” in some accounts) is described as “one of the most significant updates since RankBrain” with over 40 % of search results reportedly exhibiting major volatility. Direct Submit+1
What’s particularly noteworthy for you as a digital marketing manager: these updates coincide with Google’s push toward AI-driven search experiences — for example the “AI Mode” experiment in Google Search Labs, and the increased usage of “AI Overviews” (the short answer boxes / summaries at top of SERPs). DAC
For example, one survey found that 65 % of U.S. adults “sometimes see AI Overview search results” and that fewer users fully trust them — only 6 % said they “fully trust” these summaries. Techopedia
In practical terms:
- Traditional click-throughs are under pressure: as more queries get answered on the SERP itself (zero-click searches) your organic traffic risks being flat or even declining unless you adapt.
- The algorithm isn’t simply re-scoring old signals — it is shifting which signals matter. E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), topical relevance, user-intent alignment and content quality are playing larger roles.
- The interface of search itself is evolving (AI summaries, conversational follow-ups, fewer “blue links”) — meaning how your content must be structured, titled, and tagged is changing.
2. Impact on Digital Marketing Managers
So, what does all this mean for you, the Digital Marketing Manager? Here are the key strategic implications:
a) Measurement & attribution are under pressure
With more answers surfacing directly on the SERP, fewer users may click through to your site. That means traditional ranking and click-through metrics may lose explanatory power. You’ll need to shift focus toward wider signals: impressions, share of voice (for branded and non-branded queries), engagement on-site (if traffic lands), conversion rates, and even share of “visible result real-estate” rather than just rank #1.
b) SEO & PPC must converge
Historically, organic and paid strategies could operate in silos. Now, as Google’s AI and algorithmic changes start blending access surfaces (organic, paid, zero-click, AI summaries), you need an integrated view: how your paid ads support your organic content coverage, how your content feeds conversion paths, how intent signals chain across the funnel. For example, one industry thread noted that Google Ads is also testing new “sources” columns in AI-Max search term reports — meaning paid strategy must accommodate new query-source types. (Search Engine Roundtable)
c) Content quality & topical authority become non-negotiable
Because the algorithm is increasingly tuned to “helpful, people-first content” rather than just keyword-rich or SEO-optimized content, your content roadmap must reflect deeper expertise, stronger author signals, updated factual bases, more robust linking (internal + external) and richer user experience (UX). The update commentary emphasises that sites impacted by earlier “helpful content” hits (e.g., the September 2023 HCU) were starting to recover in the June update — but only by aligning content to new standards. (gsqi.com+1)
d) Paid strategy must adjust to user behaviour changes
Users might engage less with traditional search results and more with summary boxes or conversational follow-ups. That influences ad click-throughs, impression share, cost-per-click, and conversion behaviours. You may need to adjust keyword match-types, creatives, landing page experience (closer to what the AI summary promised), attribution modelling (considering “assist” via branded or non-branded queries) and even rethink what success means (maybe less “clicks” more “conversions per impression”).
e) Zero-click and ‘answer’ surfaces are real ROI opportunities
Just because users may not click through doesn’t mean you’re powerless — if your brand/URL is mentioned or cited within AI summaries or your structured data appears in featured snippets, you can still build brand visibility and trust. But this requires proactive strategy: schema markup, conversational Q&A content, rich FAQ/How-to pages, video and image optimisation, and brand signals being front-of-mind.
3. Key Actions for 2025
Here are actionable steps you can take now, organised by functional area.
SEO Priorities
- Conduct a full content audit: identify pages that may be thin, outdated, not aligned with user intent, or lacking authoritativeness. The June update saw many sites previously hit recover only after such cleanup. (gsqi.com)
- Map content to user-intent clusters rather than just keywords. Think in terms of themes/topics, entity relationships, user questions/hurdles at each stage of the funnel.
- Strengthen E-E-A-T signals: author bios with demonstrated expertise, external reviews/press, internal linking to authoritative sources, publication date transparency, revision history.
- Use structured data (schema.org) for FAQ, How-To, Article, Breadcrumbs etc. Ensure your site is crawlable, indexation is healthy, and metadata is accurate.
- Monitor your “share of SERP real-estate”: not just rank, but how often you appear in featured snippets, “People also ask”, image packs, video results, and AI-generated summaries.
- Move faster on mobile UX / Core Web Vitals: site speed, CLS, FID, mobile usability must continue to be good because user experience is increasingly a key ranking signal.
Technical & UX Priorities
- Run a technical SEO health check: broken links, orphan pages, crawl errors, duplicated content, canonical tags, sitemap. Prevent any technical debt from compounding during algorithmic shifts.
- Improve page speed and mobile-first design: ensure images/video are optimised, caching is enabled, server response time is fast.
- Use analytics to identify pages with high impressions but low clicks (suggesting content/intent mismatch) and optimise titles/meta descriptions accordingly.
- Monitor user behaviour metrics (time on page, bounce rate, scroll depth): as search becomes more about answers and less about clicks, these engagement metrics become more meaningful proxies for value.
Paid/Ad Strategy Priorities
- Review keyword match types: AI-driven search might surface queries you previously didn’t target. Consider adding more broad match and rely on first-party analytics to filter.
- Optimise landing pages to closely reflect query intent: if searchers are getting answers on the SERP, your ad/Landing page must offer deeper value or next step (download, signup, demo) rather than repeating generic information.
- Revisit attribution models: you may find more multi-touch paths where a branded query assists the organic result which then drives conversion. Consider modelling for assist-value (not just last-click).
- Leverage new reporting features: for example, the “sources” column in AI Max search term reports lets you see where traffic and conversions came from in the stronger AI/search hybrid context.(Search Engine Roundtable)
- Monitor zero-click search impact on your paid funnel: as organic visibility shifts, your paid strategy may need to compensate or integrate more tightly e.g., retargeting users who saw your brand in AI summaries but didn’t click.
Content Marketing Priorities
- Shift from “one-off blog posts” to content hubs or pillar-clusters oriented around user journeys and topic depth.
- Use a question-driven content strategy: what questions are users asking that Google’s AI summaries attempt to answer? Use your analytics/search console to identify high-impression low-click queries and build deeper content around them.
- Leverage formats that align with modern search surfaces: structured Q&A, video transcripts, images with alt-text and captions, interactive tables or tools, downloadable assets.
- Track new success metrics: beyond page views, track featured snippet capture, brand mention in search, second-clicks (users coming back to site after initial summary view), conversion per impression.
- Update and refresh content regularly: a static “evergreen” blog post may not cut it if Google’s algorithm places premium on freshness, depth and user signals.
4. How TWMG Can Help
At TWMG, we bring together SEO specialists, web-developers, analytics experts and digital strategists — which positions us well to help you navigate this new search landscape.
- Audit & Strategy: We can conduct a comprehensive audit of your content, technical SEO, authority signals and search-visibility metrics. From this audit we deliver a “search readiness roadmap” tailored for your business in Australia.
- Technical Build & UX: Our in-house developers can resolve technical SEO issues, optimise mobile UX and ensure your site is technically sound for modern ranking factors.
- Content Transformation: We help shift your content model from “keywords ? pages” to “topics ? clusters ? value”, building depth, authoritativeness and alignment with user-intent and AI-search behaviours.
- Paid + Organic Integration: We bridge the gap between your paid and organic strategies—ensuring your ad spend complements your content strategy, and your analytics are set up to measure modern funnel behaviours and attribution.
- Ongoing Monitoring & Adaptation: With Google’s changes continuing, we deliver monthly dashboards and insights that show not just rank and traffic but “search share”, impression-to-click ratios, content performance in newer surfaces (snippets, AI overviews) and conversion paths.
If you’re worried about how the 2025 Google changes will impact your digital marketing KPIs—whether it’s organic traffic, ad ROI or content conversion—let’s talk. We can schedule a no-obligation consultation to review your current metrics, highlight risks and provide a clear action plan.
Conclusion
Search is no longer simply about “being #1 for the keyword.” With the 2025 era of Google updates, search is evolving into an “answer-and-intent” ecosystem. As Digital Marketing Managers, your mandate is shifting: from managing keywords and backlinks, to managing user-journeys, intent-alignment, authority-signals and hybrid organic/paid integration.
The message is clear: the winners will be those who acknowledge that the algorithm is changing, who monitor new indicators beyond just rank and traffic, and who adapt their strategy accordingly. At TWMG, we believe this is a turning point — and the time to act is now. Let’s ensure that your 2025 search roadmap is built for visibility, resilience and performance.