Experts from the SEO company OC24 note that the marketing environment is shifting fast. Audience expectations, the way Google ranks content, the role of AI, and the dominance of social media all combine to set new rules. In 2025 businesses must rethink website design, advertising, communications, and mobile solutions to match these evolving patterns of trust, discovery, and credibility.
The new value axis
Today consumers reward brands that act transparently, admit mistakes, and connect values with practice. Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey, covering over 23,000 respondents, shows that nearly three quarters of young people want companies to prioritize well-being and ethical conduct as much as profitability. The demand for honesty, reputation, and social responsibility now defines how trust is built. This is the direction to which companies must adapt.
Tailored experiences instead of one size fits all
Content that reflects the needs of a specific target audience drives measurable growth. According to McKinsey & Company’s marketing research, businesses using advanced personalized marketing increase ROI by 15–20 %. McKinsey, a global consulting firm with revenues of more than $12 billion annually, highlights that personalization is not just for global players. Small and mid-sized businesses gain even more by analyzing customer feedback in social media.
Ethical marketing in practice
Beyond tailoring, businesses are expected to market responsibly. Ethical marketing means claims backed by fact, transparent data use, and consistency between mission and campaigns. Companies that succeed in this field demonstrate that ethics can also be a growth driver.
For example:
- Patagonia invests 1 % of sales in environmental causes and disclosed in 2023 that the company’s founder transferred ownership to a climate trust.
- The Body Shop built decades of reputation on cruelty-free products and fair trade sourcing.
- According to Hootsuite’s 2025 Social Trends report, transparency in communications is now cited by 68 % of consumers as a top reason to follow or unfollow a brand
These cases prove ethics is not abstract, iit is measurable in brand equity and consumer choice.
Social platforms as search engines
Generation Z increasingly searches within TikTok, Instagram, or Reddit rather than Google. Forbes Advisor reported in 2025 that 24 % of consumers now primarily use social media instead of search engines. Sprout Social data adds that 41 % of Gen Z pick social first.
A snapshot of Gen Z search behavior in 2025 illustrates the shift:
| Platform | Gen Z using as primary search tool |
|---|---|
| 32% | |
| TikTok | 41% |
| 38% | |
| 22% |
For brands this means creating content that mirrors query language inside platforms (“how to”, “best way to”, “fix X”). Active presence on Reddit is doubly valuable since Google itself surfaces forum discussions in many information-based searches.
AI as the new front door
Millions now ask AI assistants daily questions once typed into Google. A crucial factor here is AI Overview, Google’s generative summary feature. As of May 2025 it operates in more than 200 countries and 40 languages. For a wide range of queries: health, finance basics, how-to guides, the AI Overview appears above traditional links, compressing answers into AI-written text.
This requires content that AI can easily summarize: structured, with clear headings, concise definitions, and verifiable statistics. Otherwise, sites risk being invisible in the new layer of search.
Google’s updates in 2025
Two major core updates, March and June 2025, reshaped SEO. The March Core Update pushed harder on E-E-A-T signals (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness), penalizing thin AI-generated pages. Greenlane Marketing’s analysis showed 2.5–3.5 % of local rankings moved to non-local pages, signaling new GEO rules. The June update deepened volatility, rewarding in-depth, cited, and original content.
In practice, Google is setting a higher bar: originality, attribution, and trust. Content that looks like bulk automation loses visibility. Content that proves expertise gains.
Conclusion
Marketing in 2025 is defined by personalization at scale, ethical consistency, social media as a discovery engine, and AI as a new interface. Google continues to enforce expertise and trust in ranking, while AI Overview changes how answers reach users. The implication is clear. Businesses that invest in tailored, credible, transparent communication will thrive. Those that rely on shortcuts or generic campaigns will disappear from both feeds and search. At OC24 Limited we see this moment as the most important shift since the dawn of digital advertising: a call to adapt strategies before competitors set the pace.