Takeaways from 2025's Google Marketing Live & Google I/O

Search has outgrown the search box on the web browser. The behavior around search continues to evolve in how people speak, search, and interact with technology. With innovations like Android XR, Gemini, and AI-powered assistants, people are interacting with search in increasingly natural and seamless ways. This evolution requires brands to rethink not just how they show up in a query result, but how they offer value and engagement across a broader, omnichannel experience.

This year’s Google Marketing Live (GML) and Google I/O events provided a comprehensive look at how Google is positioning itself to meet this changing behavior. From search enhancements to media and measurement infrastructure, the announcements reflect a deepening commitment to personalization, AI-driven decisioning, and cross-surface engagement.

As Julie Farago, VP of Global Engineering at Google, pointed out at GML, consumers used to have to “speak Google” to navigate search effectively. Today, Google is adapting to the user, understanding intent, interpreting multimodal inputs, and surfacing results in more human, intuitive ways. This shift reinforces the need for connected brand strategies that move beyond traditional channel frameworks. Whether consumers are asking a complex question on Gemini, watching a product demo on YouTube, or scanning a QR code on connected TV, brands must design for continuous, intelligent engagement.

Against this backdrop, here’s what matters most from Google’s announcements.

Search is more personalized and contextual: AI Mode in Search is rolling out more broadly, offering users results tailored to nuanced queries with deeper intent. The days of keyword-only targeting are fading as search becomes anchored in motivation, not mechanics.

Google is blurring product lines: Search and YouTube are converging as features that were once platform-specific now span both, reshaping how discovery happens and enabling new ways for brands to reach engaged audiences earlier in their search journey. 

Performance Max (PMax) enhancements: The new Power Pack includes smarter bidding options, AI Max for search, improved reporting, and creative automation. These upgrades aim to streamline campaign management while increasing performance precision.

Influencer content and Demand Gen: Influencer-led creative content now integrates more seamlessly into search and YouTube. Demand Gen and discovery-based ad placements have been expanded, allowing brands to tap into intent earlier.

Measurement and infrastructure: Google introduced Tag Gateway for improved measurement and privacy, while tools like open-source MMM (Meridian) and AI Agents were framed as ways to power next-gen performance analytics.

For more details, refer to the official announcement recaps from Google Marketing Live and Google I/O.

At PMG, we’ve been preparing for the future of search, and in many ways, that future is already here. The presence of SEO on stage at GML reinforced the importance of holistic, end-to-end strategies that consider both paid and organic engagement. Our view is that the evolution of search signals a shift from targeting what people are searching for to understanding why they’re searching. This fundamentally changes how we approach media planning, creative strategy, and user experience.

We believe that brands must:

Develop agile frameworks that unify SEM, SEO, structured data, and content across platforms.

Prioritize investment in engaging, differentiated on-site experiences that can stand out in LLM-generated summaries and search previews.

Consider new signals, intent, and behaviors, not just what drove the click, but what drove the query in the first place.

Short-Term Considerations

Break down internal silos between teams managing SEM, SEO, video, content, and media. Start building toward integrated, user-first strategies.

Audit your data foundation to ensure it supports cross-channel analysis and privacy-safe measurement. Don’t wait for a perfect ROI model; focus instead on clarity and completeness. Add structured data (schema markup) to improve content discoverability, support rich results, and enhance both SEO and SEM performance through clearer content signals and better ad relevance.

Begin testing creative variety across platforms. Use influencer content, AI tools, and lifestyle photography to generate more touchpoints and engagement.

Long-Term Opportunities

Build for discovery. Go beyond landing pages with content that’s educational, experiential, immersive, and intent-driven.

Invest in personalization at scale, using AI to tailor brand experiences to user context. Strike the right balance of human-driven content designed to creatively and distinctly support brand messaging while using AI to personalize at scale within dynamic, highly targetable automated campaigns with the intent of driving high-quality user relevance and experience.

Position your brand for success in a world where performance and brand-building converge. That means thinking critically about where and how you show up across the funnel.

As Google continues integrating AI across surfaces and experiences, the distinction between discovery and conversion is becoming less clear. For brands, this means strategy can no longer be built around individual channels or static journeys. Success will depend on how well marketers connect the dots: between data and content, between performance and brand, and between what people search for, where, and why they engage. The brands that adapt now—operationally and creatively—to these trends will maintain their lead as the landscape continues to shift.