MarketingFOMO's Digital Marketing News 🔭 [July 14, 2025]

Let’s go through the latest in digital marketing news, resources, tools, and jobs…

👍 Social

YouTube Updates Trending Content Displays To Keep Users Watching for Longer
Andrew Hutchinson
YouTube’s making a change to its in-app discovery elements, with the removal of its “Trending” and “Trending Now” listings, which will be replaced by a series of category-specific charts.

TikTok’s ‘ban’ problem could end soon with a new app and a sale
Richard Lawler
The TikTok app could reportedly get replaced by a new one for iPhone, Android and other platforms in the US on September 5th to satisfy the divest-or-ban law.

Bluesky users can customize their notifications, including activity alerts from their favorite accounts
Lauren Forristal
Bluesky announced three updates to enhance notifications, allowing users to personalize their experience while decluttering their notification center and reducing unnecessary alerts.

• Related: Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK by Emma Roth

Instagram SEO in 2025: How to Make Your Social Content Work in Search
Valentina Izzo
Valentina goes through how to turn your Instagram posts into powerful SEO assets and seamlessly align your content strategy across web and social.

📣 Ads

Why are Google Ads CPCs increasing?
Mark Sansum
Google Ads CPCs have been going up across the board. What's behind this worrying trend? Is it simply increased competition or is there more to it? Mark goes through it. 

Google updates Keyword Planner with regional and device forecast views and grouped ideas
Swipe Insight
Google has updated its keyword planner tool to include new forecast views that provide predictions for keywords broken down by regions and device/platform.

Google Ads hidden search terms cost advertisers – big time
Anu Adegbola
An independent analysis reveals that hidden search terms in Google Ads may be costing advertisers up to 85% of their spend in inefficiencies.

Ad Sharing Functionality Ends in Google Ads API by October
PPC News Feed
Google Ads API will remove ad sharing functionality starting October 15, 2025, with a full sunset planned for Q1 2026.

📝 Content Marketing

Google’s Quality Rankings May Rely On These Content Signals
Roger Montti 
The key to Google's quality and trustworthiness rankings may depend on these seven core content-related factors. Roger goes through it. 

Build Robust B2B Marketing Personas: The Easy-To-Follow Guide
Jodi Harris
Has it been ages since you updated the brand’s buyer personas? Or maybe you never created them in the first place. Current personas make your B2B content and marketing more effective. This practical, easy-to-follow guide can help.

When and how to segment your product messaging 
Eric Dates
Product messaging works when it creates recognition — when the reader thinks, “this is for me”. Eric goes through when and how to segment your product messaging. 

The End of Traffic-Only Content
Ann Smarty 
In 2025, only content relevant to a business's core mission or expertise drives visibility in organic search and large language models. 

[Sponsor]​
​⚡ Don’t Hit Snooze on Your AI Visibility: 92% of Google AI Searches Only Show ~7 Links

Google’s AI Mode is live and a new Semrush study shows 92% of AI Mode responses have links from ~7 domains. These links have 51% overlap with traditional top 10 results. It’s a big shake up.

While some are left wondering, smart brands see opportunity. AI Optimization (AIO) by Semrush Enterprise helps you track presence in real time and optimize across leading LLMs like Google AI Mode and ChatGPT.

Monitor mentions, sentiment and shopping placements, then build your GEO strategy with tailored recommendations.

😎 Creators & Influencers

Creator marketing has the reach — CMOs want the rigor
Seb Joseph
“Marketers, in other words, are becoming more selective. Reach alone isn’t enough. What matters now is credibility, fit and a clear return on investment”.

Is Your Small Brand Tired Of Expensive Ads? Try Meme Marketing Instead
Renae Gregoire
Meme marketing drives 60% higher engagement than standard ad campaigns. But going viral? That's the hard part. Renae goes through how to make it easier than ever before.

Big Brands Are Spending More on Influencer Marketing
Andrew Hutchinson
According to a recent report from Statista, the global influencer marketing industry is expected to grow 36% between 2024 and 2025, reaching close to $33 billion in total.

Sprite leans into Gen Z’s love for spicy flavors with global campaign
Chris Kelly
The Coca-Cola beverage will partner with brands including McDonald’s, Buldak and Takis and launch late-night pop-up experiences as part of the campaign.

🤖 AI in Marketing

Learning AI Search: The Free AI Search Optimization Roadmap
Aleyda Solis​
​Learn about AI search optimization (GEO, AEO, LLMO... or whatever you want to call it) with free, reliable guides and resources, from the fundamentals, to technical configurations, content optimization, measurement and the best reliable tools in the market, all curated by Aleyda Solis.

Can AI Responses Be Influenced? A Controlled GEO Experiment
Oliver Sissons
Find out if and how large language models can be influenced in this controlled GEO experiment. “Yes, we did manage to influence the responses generated by some AI models”.

How you can track Brand Authority for AI Search
Kevin Indig
Kevin explains why Brand Authority matters for AI Search, how it's different from Topical Authority, and how to track it. 

Revealed: Hacked Sites & Expired Domains Are Being Used as Sources for ChatGPT’s Recommendations
James Brockbank
James found evidence that brands are being recommended on ChatGPT in some of the most competitive sectors out there by manipulating the results in two ways: by publishing listicles on hacked sites and rebuilding expired domains.