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Emerging SEM Trends Rewriting Paid Search Strategy in 2025
SEM continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate, changing how marketers forge connections with their audiences. While many core SEM strategies, such as intent-driven keyword research and effective bid management still apply, understanding emerging trends can help businesses and marketers create strategies that resonate and deliver meaningful results. In this article, we’ll explore some of the SEM trends reshaping the search landscape in 2025.
Dominance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation
AI and Machine Learning are transforming the SEM landscape, and are poised to play a bigger role in strategy.
1. AI-Enhanced Search Experiences
Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE), now more commonly known as AI Overviews, are redefining the traditional search experience. In Singapore and many countries across the globe, Google is using AI to generate conversational, summary-style responses to user queries as opposed to a traditional list.
Why is this Important?
Given that AI Overviews cater to informational queries, meaning users get queries directly from search results, for SEM, there’s a shift in emphasis to commercial intent queries, where users are more likely to visit a website to explore options or make decisions. Paid ads will still appear in dedicated slots but their prominence may change due to AI generated results even as SEM results appear above or alongside AI results.
2. AI Ad Integration and Optimisation
From creating images and videos to writing headlines and descriptions, automatically adding keywords, audience targeting—AI is increasingly becoming woven into every aspect of SEM. It can analyse user behaviour, predict trends, and optimise ad placements in real time.
Why is this Important?
- As AI continuously proliferates through the SEM landscape, success hinges on marketers taking a proactive approach to embrace this transformative force and adapting marketing strategies accordingly.
- While many aspects are becoming automated, skilled search engine marketers are still necessary to guide, and not just operate, AI systems. Whether it’s in defining ad copy and brand tone of voice, setting goals and defining outputs or interpreting nuance in performance data.
3. Ad Format Shifts
Google is doubling down on its AI-Driven campaign types, such as AIMax (AI Max) campaign, with new features that allow for better audience targeting, enhanced asset insights, and smarter acquisition reporting.
Why is this Important?
While A/B testing is still important in developing optimal bidding strategies, with manual bidding in some cases outperforming automated bidding, these new features can help marketers to make smarter decisions, reduce cost-inefficiencies, and, in general, optimise campaigns more effectively. Ultimately this will lead to more efficient use of marketing budgets and more measurable outcomes.
4. Algorithmic Biases
AI models are trained to process vast amounts of data, discern patterns and make decisions based on those patterns. As increasingly more platforms integrate AI to personalise content, optimise campaigns and inform decisions, a growing number of marketers are concerned about the potential for algorithmic biases.
Why is this Important?
Biases in AI models can lead to flawed data analysis and inaccurate insights into consumer behaviour. It can also result in unfair and discriminatory treatment towards certain groups, which can alienate some consumers and harm a brand’s image. This has made it necessary to incorporate more human involvement in key areas to review AI decisions and outcomes.
Shift in Keyword and Audience Targeting
Traditional keyword targeting is evolving, with a focus on user intent, signals, and first-party data.
5. Keywords as Signals
For years, search engines such as Google have been making use of AI and machine learning (RankBrain) in their ranking algorithms. This approach, as opposed to exact keyword matching, aims to understand the intent of a query, what the user is actually looking for. With Google incorporating AI in search results, relevance and credibility has never been more important when it comes to standing out from the competition.
Why is this Important?
While it makes sense to go for keywords with high search volumes, intent matters as well. What a user types into Google, hints at what the user actually wants. Focusing on these signals helps deliver the right solutions to users at the precise moment when they need them.
Read also: 20 Common SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
6. Visual Search Impact
Internal data from Google has revealed that Lens, the search engine’s AI-powered image recognition tool that lets users search the internet using photos, grew by 65% year over year, with more than 100 billion visual searches as of June 2025.
Why is this Important?
The increasing adoption of visual search presents challenges to keyword management, requiring ad groups to incorporate broader terms that take into account visual elements such as colour, shape and size.
Platform Fragmentation and Diversification
Google remains dominant, but the landscape is fragmenting, requiring marketers to maintain a presence on multiple platforms.
7. TikTok as a Search Engine
Within certain demographics, TikTok is emerging as a search engine. According to a survey by Milieu Insights, the global market research and data analytics firm, 27% of Southeast Asians use TikTok to look for information. And this trend is not confined to the region. 64% of Gen Z respondents in the US reported using TikTok as a search engine.
But that’s not to say that TikTok has overtaken Google for search—far from it. According to a study conducted by Adobe, 91% of the respondents across all generations find Google the most helpful when searching for information, with TikTok in third place after YouTube and Bing.
Why is this Important?
While there are differences in user behaviour across the region, with 78% in Singapore using the platform to discover places to eat, and 67% in the Philippines using it to find movie and TV show recommendations, it’s becoming increasingly clear that business cannot afford to neglect leveraging the platforms advantages as a valuable tool for growth and engagement.
8. The Rise of Bing
Google continues to dominate the search engine landscape, but not without some stiff completion. Microsoft Bing, fuelled by the integration of ChatGPT, has been slowly gaining ground. In some markets, such as the US, we’ve witnessed a notable increase in Bing’s market share, growing as much as 2% within a 2 year period.
Why is this Important?
In Singapore, Google retains its lead as the preferred search engine. However, Microsoft’s efforts in improving Bing’s algorithm, the deals secured to make the search engine the default on various platforms and devices, might make it worthwhile for businesses looking to target Bing users or consumers embedded within the Microsoft ecosystem.
9. Forum Searches
Google remains one of the dominant search platforms, however, users are increasingly bypassing traditional search results for answers in favour of user-generated content on community-led platforms, which they perceive as being more genuine.
Why is this Important?
As more users turn to community-led platforms such as Reddit and Quora for answers to their questions, being present and visible on these platforms, especially when the target audience and the brand are compatible, can be a competitive advantage. It also helps that Google favours these platforms, as demonstrated by the deal it signed with Reddit to use its data to train its AI.
Privacy and Regulatory Adaptation
Increasing regulatory demands are increasing pressure on marketers to adapt their use of data and increase transparency.
10. Data Protection Compliance
Regulations such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) are raising the global standard for data protection, requiring user consent for data collection. The growing emphasis on privacy may be challenging for advertisers.
Why is this Important?
In the Singapore context, these regulations, including the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) enacted by the government, are setting a global precedent, reducing the impact of third-party cookies, and placing an emphasis on first party data. As a result, it’s increasingly becoming necessary for marketers to adopt new strategies to thrive in a privacy-focused environment. Examples include contextual targeting, tools for data anonymisation, and consent-driven tactics like email list signups and loyalty programs.
11. Mobile Optimisation and Conversational Search
As of January 2025, there were 5.61 million internet users in Singapore according to Datareportal, with a smartphone penetration rate of 97 percent. Across the globe, millions have upgraded to smartphones. According to Ericsson, the number of mobile connections associated with smartphones has reached 7.4 billion, accounting for 87 percent of all mobile phones across the globe. In line with his growth, strategies must address how users interact with small screens and voice.
12. Mobile-First Indexing
Now more than ever, search engines are prioritising mobile-first indexing, which, in simple terms, means the mobile version of a website is the primary version for ranking. Last year, on July 5, 2024, Google revealed that sites inaccessible through a mobile phone will no longer be indexable.
Why is this Important?
Given that mobile-first indexing fundamentally affects a website’s organic search visibility, it creates ripple effects for marketers who manage paid advertising, especially given that the experience Google values for SEO is roughly similar to the experience that influences paid campaigns.
13. Voice Search Optimisation
In Q2 2024, 20.5% of the global population used voice search. Closer to home, an analysis by Statista suggests that the speech recognition market in Singapore is projected to reach US$39.87m in 2025 and US$105.66m by 2031 growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.64%.
Why is this Important?
The growth in voice search has the potential to fundamentally change user behaviour, requiring significant shifts in keyword strategy, ad copy and campaign structure. Marketers may need to embrace natural language keywords, optimise for ai-enabled assistance and place a bit more emphasis on question-based queries.
Focus on Creative Assets and Video Content
In a crowded digital landscape, creativity is becoming necessary to cut through the noise.
14. Emphasis on Creative Assets
Several factors are driving the need for a stronger emphasis on creative assets, including, but not limited to, evolving consumer behaviour, platform fragmentation, and the growing automation of PPC.
The consumer journey, today, is no longer confined to a single channel. Furthermore, consumers are inundated with ad content and are developing ad fatigue. In fact, in some studies, researchers found that users who saw an ad 6-10 times were 4.1 times less likely to buy a product than those who saw it 2-5 times.
Why is this Important?
With AI-controlled bidding becoming more prevalent as an option, targeting and placement, high-quality text, image and visual assets become critical variables that influence the AI’s success.
Maintaining a pipeline of new visuals, refreshed ever so often, reduces ad fatigue and also provides AI with more options to A/B test and identify the most effective combinations for the success of your SEM campaigns.
In addition, with campaigns running across platforms, and consumer preference for visual and interactive content, a variety of high-quality creatives can serve as a cost-effective way to cut through the noise and provide a cohesive brand experience.
15. Growth in Video
Growth in video content is at an all-time high. YouTube shorts generate approximately 70 billion views per day, while TikTok accumulates over 1 billion video views daily. Videos, in the form of reels, have even made their way into LinkedIn, which, in the past, had always positioned itself as a professional platform.
Why is this Important?
In 2025, according to the Hubspot 2025 State of Marketing Report, short-form videos are delivering the highest ROI, driven by demand for content that is engaging, visual and authentic. Images come in at a close second, followed by live-streamed videos, podcasts/audio content, and, finally, user-generated content.
As Google increasingly integrates video ads in high-traffic areas such as search, image and shopping—which, traditionally, were dominated by text and static visuals, it creates new opportunities for marketers to, as Google puts it, “inspire potential customers earlier in their shopping journeys”.
Enhanced Role of Experts and Strategic Oversight
Despite the increase in automation, the complexity of the SEM landscape is increasing the value of human expertise.
16. Demand for Experts
AI has made it easier to generate ideas and insights, however, there continues to be a need for seasoned experts who can turn what AI creates into successful campaigns. It doesn’t help that some platforms are becoming progressively arcane, with fewer controls over more granular elements.
Why is this Important?
Marketers need to stay on top of the latest developments, up-skilling and acquiring competent assistance who understand how all of these AI-driven components work together, and what is required to harness them to drive growth and boost ROI.
17. Strategic Guidance
The role of the SEM expert is evolving to become more strategic, focusing less on tactical execution of paid campaigns and more on guiding algorithms through advanced optimisation techniques such as demographic targeting, scripts and location overlays.
Why is this Important?
With AI handling more of the tactical execution, it becomes vital for the SEM expert to internalise the necessity for creativity and higher-order thinking skills. Just using the platforms is no longer enough; they need to be mastered, the AI guided to achieve optimal results and avoid poor return on ad spend.
Struggling to Get Results? Need Help With Your SEM?
Rogue Digital is your one-stop-agency for digital marketing. From SEM to SEO, Content Writing and Creative Design, our experts—passionate about all things digital, always with a finger on the pulse of the latest trends, skills and developments—are positioned to help your business achieve its marketing goals. Schedule a no-obligation digital assessment today to begin your journey towards superior SEM campaign performance.
