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The past year was one in which marketing changed profoundly. Everyone was talking about AI and personalisation. People discussed generative AI and what it sets out to do for marketing, especially content creation, and how it achieves that.
First I share an important introduction with you, then I move on to the most prominent trends for the coming year.
A quick side note: most people don't know this, but many ChatGPT Search results actually come from Bing. Studies have shown that many people find Bing results more relevant than Google's, yet most people are happy with Google and stick with it.
Both search engines value the technology behind it.
Recently I saw lots of comments online saying: "Check this out, ChatGPT Search has amazing results," but I think many of those actually come from a traditional search engine.
Marketers have made a move to video. You see it in both long and short videos. People simply pick up their phones and start recording for TikTok.
Product discovery through video has become huge.
Google decided to back off from what it was doing with cookies, but people are still worried about privacy. We do not know exactly what will happen to marketing from a privacy point of view in the coming years, because it depends heavily on government regulation and platforms.
You can no longer build a business with just one marketing channel.
In the past you could build a business by inviting friends on social media or sending out an email blast. All channels are now highly saturated and competitive, but they still work.
If you use multiple channels, you can perform well in the long run. SEO remains king for ROI, as do email marketing and paid advertising. These channels are still extremely effective.
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Attribution is getting harder because people use multiple devices. What do I mean by attribution? I'm on an iPad right now, but I can also grab my phone to search and then perhaps buy on my iPad, or come back to the website on my iPad to sign up for emails.
When I'm at home in Brabant, I might buy on my laptop. This makes attribution increasingly difficult because we use so many channels and devices.
People are drawn more to physical events, especially after COVID-19.
People long for human connection, while AI leads to less and less human contact.
Everyone in marketing uses AI now, but my question is: have you really seen more traffic, leads, revenue and profit?
Most people will say no when it comes to generating more revenue. AI is great, but if it doesn't improve your key KPIs, are your AI efforts wasted?
It's great that people are using it. It is hugely popular for email copywriting.Â
Over 60% of consumers are worried about AI. Especially when it comes to human contact. They would rather deal with an actual person than a robot.
That doesn't surprise me. People are always worried about things they can't see. We see businesses using AI chatbots without telling people it is artificial intelligence.
That is the wrong way to go about it. Be transparent, or it can backfire in the long run.
One of the biggest trends we see right now is doing more with less. Because of AI, the aftermath of COVID and economic uncertainty, marketers are struggling with tight budgets.
Getting more creative is the result.
At the same time, customer expectations are rising: 38% cut their spending after a bad experience, 15% even switch completely.
The bar is higher, while resources are scarcer.
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A study by SparkToro shows that 60% of European searches result in zero clicks to websites.
Google prefers to keep users on its own platform with map views, image carousels and AI Overviews. With 16% more images and 62% video carousels in search results, generating website traffic is becoming ever more challenging.
This makes it harder for marketers to get visitors to their website, because Google shows the content directly in the search results.
Google AI Overviews add even more to this, and since 20 May 2025 they have also been available in Dutch.
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New search engines such as ChatGPT are growing. Even so, Google remains dominant with almost 90% market share worldwide. Marketers now need to optimise for multiple platforms and analyse referral traffic.
On top of that, consumers expect faster, more efficient answers with generative AI, which changes the search experience once again.
Why? Well, imagine search engines as critical readers. They look at your site and think: “OK, 2,500 pages... but hang on, only 100 or maybe 450 pages are really worth it. The rest? Doubtful (according to the robot crawlers of several search engines).” And what happens then? Your whole website takes the hit. It is like a barrel of apples: a few bad ones can spoil the whole lot.
So expect Google to stay on top for the time being.
Search engine optimisation requires you to be present everywhere: Google, ChatGPT, YouTube, TikTok, App Store.
You start searching on your phone, switch to YouTube, scroll on your iPad, dive into Google, end up back on your mobile and finally land on TikTok. Conversion tracking is becoming ever more elusive. The search is shifting from keywords to Discovery: you meet a brand on one platform and complete your journey on another.
Grow brand awareness across all digital channels, beyond counting conversions.
Where we used to focus on exact keywords, it is now all about intent and context.
Artificial intelligence understands nuance: you no longer need to use the perfect search term. Visual searches via Google Lens are growing explosively - by no less than 177% in the coming years.
The future is conversational. Voice, image and semantic searches are replacing traditional text.
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If you have children, you will notice this: we adults grew up with text-based searches, and voice commands were only recently introduced to us. If you are a child, you grow up with voice search first. You have learned to talk to a search engine such as Google Assistant, Alexa and all those other devices. Before you have even learned to type or held a tablet.
This generation thinks we are bonkers.
Brands need to move with this too: fast, personal answers are becoming the norm.
The prediction for 2025 was 95% of customer interactions via conversational AI, with an all-in intuitive search experience.
Devices and platforms are becoming more and more connected.
Think of TikTok shopping with automatically filled-in shipping details, or email marketing via Zoymo where your customers can buy directly without leaving the inbox.
Take Albert Heijn, the Dutch supermarket chain: their 'Tap to Go' technology in some stores lets you do your shopping without a checkout. Or look at H&M, where digital pillars tell you straight away which aisle that one jumper is in. You see this seamless mix of digital and physical shopping more and more often in the Netherlands.
Platforms such as Google and Amazon are increasingly becoming copies of each other.
Marktplaats (the Dutch eBay) now looks like Bol.com (the Dutch Amazon) with reviews and comparisons, while LinkedIn mirrors TikTok with videos and swipe features. Because of stricter takeover rules, platforms can't buy each other up, so they copy each other's successful features.
Now you even see Vinted looking like Instagram.
AI will generate less and less content and use data more efficiently.
It is well known that human-written content performs better than machine-generated content.
In advertising, human creations won too. AI generates faster, but it lags behind on quality.
By combining it with human creativity, your business can reduce costly ad waste.
Saving on investment by using data effectively is far more valuable than using AI for content creation alone.
Just as Coolblue, the Dutch electronics retailer, adapts product recommendations based on your search behaviour, personal experiences are becoming ever more natural. 73% of consumers prefer personalised shopping over generic experiences. But watch out: it has to feel helpful, not stalkerish.
Think of how the app of Dutch supermarket Jumbo suggests shopping lists based on your purchase history.
A managing director at an SME may wear a suit, but at the weekend is a fanatical mountain biker and an enthusiastic regular on café terraces. B2B marketing needs to embrace this human side, especially now that over 73% of business buying teams are millennials.
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‍Authenticity beats perfection.
An informal video of a team leader walking through his distribution centre scores better than an expensive commercial. Building long-term relationships on authenticity becomes crucial in B2B, where personal recommendations are worth their weight in gold.
Shopping ads are becoming more visual and interactive.
Think of 360-degree product views and, for example, Pearle’s virtual fitting room for glasses.‍
New formats such as Google's Performance Max and visual search via Google Lens are fundamentally changing online shopping. With 20 billion monthly Lens searches, 20% of them shopping-related, visual search is becoming the new norm.
Ad platforms such as Meta and LinkedIn are shifting to AI-driven campaigns. Manual control is making way for automatic optimisation. Online ads adapt in real time based on customer behaviour, for example.
In a single month, 15 million ads were created with AI - a trend that is only growing.
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Privacy legislation in 2025 calls for more user consent.
Brands need to prepare for strict consent rules for marketing. The focus is shifting to 'zero-party data': information consumers share voluntarily with brands. The goal: create personalised experiences without going too far.
Transparency and respect for privacy.
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Social platforms are becoming the new shop windows. Influencers such as Nikkie Tutorials are selling products directly via live streams on Instagram and TikTok. The expectation: social commerce revenue will reach no less than $1 trillion in 2028.
Buying is getting easier and easier: one click and the purchase is done.
Multi-platform campaigns lead to 89% customer retention. Just as Bol.com cleverly combines different channels, ROI rises when marketing works together seamlessly. Greater brand awareness even improves SEO performance. Visibility across platforms matters: videos, social media and search engine results reinforce each other.
Imagine an influencer mentioning a product. Users tend to start searching straight away. This can push the product to a top position, through Google Suggest in the search bar or through the algorithm of other social media platforms.
AI is now widely used in marketing, especially for email copywriting and content creation, yet most businesses have not yet seen a direct increase in revenue. It is important to use it strategically and be transparent about it, as around 60% of consumers have concerns about the use of AI in customer service.
Search behaviour is becoming increasingly multi-platform and conversational. Consumers search not only via Google, but also via ChatGPT, YouTube and TikTok. Voice search is also on the rise, especially among younger generations. As a business, you therefore need to be present on different platforms and optimise your content for different forms of search.
You can no longer build a business with just one marketing channel. Multi-platform campaigns lead to 89% customer retention. SEO, email marketing and paid advertising remain effective, and they work best in combination. By combining different channels, you strengthen brand awareness and improve your overall ROI (return on investment).Â
This article looked ahead to 2025. Now that we are in 2026, it is clear how many of those predictions simply came true. On 8 October 2025 Google also rolled out its AI Mode in the Netherlands. By the end of 2025, according to Conductor, AI Overviews appeared for over a quarter of searches. In early 2026, around 68% of Google searches in the US ended on Google itself. People get their answer straight on the screen. What was still called 'the future' back then is now simply the way people search.
The prediction about privacy and measurement came true as well. Because Apple preloads emails, open rates are no longer reliable, so smart marketers steer on clicks and conversions instead of opens. The common thread for 2026 is clear: the impact of AI is no longer a promise but everyday practice. The businesses that win treat their visibility in AI answers as a fully fledged channel, just as seriously as they once treated their spot in Google.
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About the author
Dominic Pietersz
Your dedicated point of contact
Dominic helps SMEs grow through Google and other channels. With his international experience, he turns challenges into concrete growth.
Follow Dominic on LinkedInInspiration · Around the turn of the year I looked back on a year full of AI hype. That reflection became this overview of the trends to watch most closely in 2025.
