At Google’s latest showcase – Marketing Live 2025 – the tech giant laid out a future that isn’t just about better ads or sleeker tools. It’s about a fundamental shift in how we interact with the digital world, driven almost entirely by artificial intelligence.
While much of the event targeted advertisers and tech insiders, the changes Google revealed will directly impact anyone who uses the internet to search, shop, or learn. Andy Cullwick, director of marketing at First4Lawyers, shares his top tipswhat you need to know – and why it matters.
Say goodbye to “Just Googling it”
Remember when Googling something meant scanning through a page of blue links? That era is fading. Google now uses AI to summarise your search results right at the top of the page. Ask a question like “how to start a balcony garden,” and instead of having to hunt through suggested websites, you’ll get an expandable paragraph with all the key info – generated in real-time by AI.
But it’s not just about speed. There’s also a new potential AI Mode (only available in the US at the moment) that lets you interact with Google more like you would with a person. You can ask follow-up questions and get nuanced answers in a conversational way. Searching is becoming less mechanical and more like chatting with a smart friend.
For marketers, this puts even more of a burden on your SEO as it pushes the organic search results further down the page. Even if you are lucky enough to have your content appearing in these AI summaries, we are seeing an increase in zero clicks – which means you are fuelling Google’s ability to answer questions at the detriment of traffic to your own site.
Ads are changing – And that’s not a bad thing
One of the biggest shifts is how Google is blending ads into these AI-powered experiences. Instead of flashing banner ads or those obvious sponsored links, the new approach is more like a smart recommendation system.
For example, if you’re researching hiking boots, you might see a helpful summary – and next to it, a suggestion for a specific boot brand that fits your interests. Yes, it’s still an ad, but it’s designed to feel more relevant and less like noise.
Google’s goal? Make advertising feel useful, not intrusive. And for most consumers, that may well be a welcome change.
However, Google’s drive to more automation for marketers can often lead to a feeling of loss of control on your account. There is an increasing suggestion from them that broad match is the way forward but I see very mixed results from this approach.
AI tools that put you in the director’s chair
Google also unveiled two creative tools that could democratise content creation: Veo and Imagen.
- Veo turns text prompts into full videos. Want to make a 30-second ad for your business? Describe it in a sentence and Veo builds the video for you – music and all.
- Imagen does the same for images. Type a few words and it generates a polished picture or graphic.
These tools aren’t just for brands. They could empower anyone – from students working on class projects to creators building personal websites – to bring ideas to life without needing design or editing skills. AI avatars to date have been of mixed quality but what we are seeing through Veo so far are frighteningly realistic.
Automation: Behind the curtain
A quieter but equally important theme was automation. Google is moving towards systems that don’t just respond – they learn, adapt, and act on your behalf.
For businesses, this in theory means less time fiddling with ad settings and more time focusing on their actual work. For users, it means a smoother, more personalised online experience where they’re more likely to see things that matter to them – and less likely to be interrupted by stuff that doesn’t.
I do worry, however, that consumers may end up in an echo chamber which could lead to a poorer consumer experience. If I’m searching for Afternoon Teas for Two it doesn’t mean that’s my main passion in life. Will this dominate what Google thinks matters to me in the future?
Equally, it is going to make it more difficult for new brands or those with new services to break into the search results.
So what does this mean for you?
Even if you don’t care about marketing trends or AI jargon, here’s why this matters:
— Smarter search: You should spend less time digging for answers.
— Better ads: You should see more of what you care about, less of what you don’t.
— Creative freedom: Tools once reserved for pros are now at your fingertips.
— A more human internet: Searching, shopping, and creating online are all becoming easier and more intuitive.
This isn’t a hypothetical future. Google’s changes are already rolling out, and they’ll only become more prominent as AI continues to evolve.
So whether you’re a legal marketing professional, curious student, a busy parent, or just someone trying to fix a leaky tap, the digital world should be about to get a whole lot more helpful – and a whole lot more human – according to Google.
But let’s not forget Google’s search market share fell below 90% for the first time in almost a decade at the end of 2024. Whilst not a catastrophe, with more people turning to different platforms to answer their questions, they need to do something to improve their own customer experience.
Andy Cullwick has worked in marketing for more than 25 years, the last decade of which has been working for First4Lawyers. The UK’s largest independent legal marketing collective, which matches potential claimants with specialist lawyers and is seven-time winner at the Personal Injury Awards, is based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.