PPC Trends to look out for in 2025

PPC changes fast. There are always new technologies, ad types and platforms to test. Sometimes, we can spend so much time looking down at the work in front of us, that we can’t see what’s coming up. To help, we’ve put together 5 PPC trends and changes that our experts think we’ll see in 2025.

AI Continues to Change the Game

No marketing trends post in 2025 can be complete without the mention of AI. The mass adoption of AI through ChatGPT and Gemini has changed how marketing (and many other industries) work. Online services like SEO & PPC have been particularly affected and 2025 will be no different. AI represents huge opportunities for efficiency for marketers but presents some pitfalls.

Content Generation with AI

One of AI's biggest upsides is its ability to aid with content generation. This can be done through tools like ChatGPT or Google's Gemini, but there are also other useful ways.

Google Ads has implemented in-built AI tools for content creation. Whilst we’ve found this leaves much to be desired, this is the worst it will ever be. A world where Google quickly suggests high-quality content will improve results for many business.

Google’s Product Studio in the Google Merchant Centre is also a complete game changer.

A great tool for online stores, particularly small ones, is Google’s Product Studio. This allows you to create high-quality product images in context. Allowing differentiation from competitors and providing value to shoppers.

AI-Based Targeting

AI-based campaigns such as Performance Max have been a real focus for Google. Using data and manual signals, Performance Max uses AI to efficiently allocate your ad spend across various channels. In theory, giving you better results than you can manage yourself.

The jury is still out on how effective Performance Max campaigns are. However, as the algorithm is fed by data, the quality of the data you feed in, and report back, are crucial to successful Performance Max campaigns.

AI for Data Analysis

AI has an incredible ability to understand large amounts of data, quickly. AI is an amazing tool for understanding the data behind campaigns and providing new insights. A way this has already shown itself is Analytics Intelligence in Google Analytics.

You can add a question to get a quick result, rather than having to dive through all the menus and reports, which saves a lot of time. 

There are some wider opportunities. Using AI to interpret larger data sets and gain new insights, such as seasonal trends over a number of years.

Simplified Campaigns and Automation

In 2025, ad platforms will continue to push simplified “easy to build” campaigns. The campaigns help boost the adoption of platforms and hopefully results for advertisers. These campaigns trade simple setups in return for giving more control to Google, Meta and LinkedIn. Avoiding the complexity and knowledge required to set up even the most basic campaign.

While many advertisers will feel they're losing control, there's a huge benefit for smaller companies who want to get started.

New Solutions to Privacy-Focused Tracking and Attribution

GDPR and cookie consent have been a huge benefit to user privacy online. It’s been a much-needed change to help protect users online. However, it has presented a lot of problems for marketers. Previously, advertisers enjoyed nearly 100% attribution of advertising results. That has fallen drastically.

On the one hand, this has done marketers a favour. Encouraging marketers to focus on long-term brand campaigns. These have been neglected in the rush for instant results.

On the other hand, there’s a huge amount of appetite to understand online attribution better in a privacy-safe way. One solution to this is server-side tracking. This allows platforms to see much more data but can be difficult to set up, potentially requiring additional charges.

A more in-depth and wider-reaching solution could be Marketing Mix Modelling. The models create detailed attribution for channels wider than just your website.

These are the solutions today, but we know that there are many talented people working on new solutions in 2025.

Click Inflation

Year after year, clicks on Google Search continue to get more expensive. In 2023, CPCs were 9% higher than in 2022, and we see no reason why this won’t continue. Part of this is natural market factors. Google Search Ads continue to be an effective way of generating business, which encourages more businesses to spend more. Google 2023 annual results state:

“The overall growth was driven by interrelated factors including increases in search queries resulting from growth in user adoption and usage on mobile devices; growth in advertiser spending; and improvements we have made in ad formats and delivery.”

Improvements to ad formats refer to the adoption towards Performance Max. With these campaigns, Google has more control. Assigning spend to less-used ad channels, placements, and keywords. This will help increase their revenue.

Google has also been caught artificially raising CPCs to hit financial results. With the mechanism behind auctions hidden from advertisers, this doesn’t help marketers trust Google.

Whilst generally, rising CPCs are out of advertisers' control, there are ways to help mitigate their effect. Running high-quality ads is always the best protection, avoiding waste where possible. Another good protection is diversifying across several platforms to help minimise your risk.

The Breakup of Google?

Whilst this is a story that people have touted for a long time, US regulators continue to pile pressure on Google for its monopoly power. Google search accounts for 90% of all online searches globally.

The key is Google’s monopoly of online search. The US government has recommended several measures including selling Chrome, Google’s web browser. Another recommendation is to end contracts with phone makers like Apple and Samsung. These contracts place Google as the default search engine on their devices, giving Google a huge advantage.

Who knows what will happen with a US government change? It's a real story that marketers must watch. It could change online search greatly.

If you’d like help growing your business through PPC in 2025, then reach out to our experts. Combined, they have over 25 years in PPC experience and have spent millions in online advertising. They’ve made all the mistakes before, so you don’t have to.