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Why Marketers Should Be Excited About Paid Search in 2025

Take Your Paid Search to the Next Level With Skai

Joshua Dreller

Sr. Director, Content Marketing @ Skai

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Summary

Paid search remains a critical marketing channel, poised for exciting developments in 2025. With innovations like AI-driven automation, cross-channel attribution, and predictive analytics, marketers can anticipate greater efficiency and precision in their campaigns. Search advertising’s adaptability ensures it stays relevant by connecting brands with high-intent customers and driving measurable ROI. Upcoming trends include Performance Max campaigns redefining omnichannel strategies, privacy-first measurement reshaping data use, and creative testing becoming a key differentiator in campaign success.

Last updated: December 22, 2025

It can be argued that paid search marketing is advertising’s most important channel. Digital ad spending surpassed offline for the first time a few short years ago, and now SEM accounts for a significant portion of those budgets. In fact, search advertising represents over 40% of total digital ad spend, making it the backbone of digital marketing strategies. Recent U.S. digital advertising revenue in 2024 data (IAB and PwC 2025) shows continued growth that keeps search central to modern budget planning.

Google launched AdWords 25 years ago! But even though paid search is often viewed as a mature channel, it’s been anything but stagnant. The past few years have delivered some of the most exciting evolutions yet: Smart Bidding revolutionized optimization, Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) became the default format, AI-enhanced Broad Match, and Performance Max campaigns introduced a unified way to reach audiences. Search marketing today isn’t just keeping up—it’s driving digital advertising forward.

To stay competitive in such a rapidly advancing space, marketers need to anticipate what’s next. That’s why we turned to three of Skai’s top search experts to share their thoughts on where search marketing is headed in 2025 and why it’s such an exciting time to be in the industry.

Definition: Paid search in 2025 is the practice of buying search and commerce intent media using automation, AI assisted optimization, and privacy safe measurement to connect high intent audiences with offers across engines and retail networks while proving incremental ROI.

Micro-answer: AI driven, privacy safe, measurable search growth.

 

What are Paul Vallez’s paid search predictions for 2025 as EVP of Strategic Business Development?

  • Paid search in 2025 accelerates with omni commerce measurement.
  • Paul Vallez expects cross channel attribution, stronger platform partnerships, and personalization to expand how search drives measurable outcomes beyond keywords and into full journey impact across retail media, social, and performance ecosystems.
  • These shifts matter most for teams chasing closed loop ROI, because better attribution and intent modeling change where budgets flow and how optimization decisions are made.

Paul Vallez has over 20 years of experience leading product strategy and partnerships across search, commerce, and ad tech. He has worked closely with Google, Microsoft, and major platforms to drive innovation and business growth. Paul believes that search’s ability to connect brands to customers with unmatched intent is what makes it a critical channel year after year.

Why search is exciting right now: Search continues to prove its resilience and adaptability. While marketers have long relied on search for its precision and intent-driven results, the integration of AI has unlocked new ways to optimize campaigns and drive performance. It’s no longer just about keywords but about understanding user intent on a deeper level. 

Real-time data and predictive analytics are making search campaigns smarter and faster to adapt. Search gives marketers the ability to measure success quickly and adjust in real time, offering agility that other channels can’t match. As brands look for measurable ROI, search remains unmatched in its ability to connect high-intent customers with solutions they need. This mix of speed, precision, and measurable outcomes keeps search ahead of other channels.

2025 Predictions

Cross-channel attribution between search & retail media accelerates omni-commerce

While retail media is positioned as ‘bottom of the funnel,’ advanced measurement and attribution technologies will deliver ASIN-level attribution across search-to-retail media, search-to-social, and more. Marketers will be able to fully orchestrate their campaigns across search, retail media, and social to drive closed-loop attribution and optimization across channels to fully capitalize on the influence search is having on lower-funnel marketing programs.

The walled gardens aren’t coming down anytime soon, but those walls will have windows, making measurement and attribution across channels a reality. Teams planning cross channel orchestration often benefit from an omnichannel marketing platform that unifies activation and measurement across major ecosystems.

Search Partnerships Accelerate the Walled Gardens Opening up

Expect more bold and strategic partnerships between Google, Microsoft and the retail media ecosystem in the areas of audiences, sponsored products, and programmatic. The customer-decision journey does not stop when a consumer goes from Google to Amazon, Google-to-Walmart, Google-to-TikTok and opening up the walled gardens to enable more discovery and findability through retargeting will only grow the market and enable every touchpoint in the customer journey to get full credit for the impact they’re having on conversion.

Search AI solutions mature to drive efficiencies on both campaign activation and cross-channel insights

In 2024 search marketing platforms and marketplaces repositioned themselves as AI-based solutions but fell short in delivering meaningful actionability and cost-efficiencies needed for marketers to go ‘all in’ on AI-based solutions. In 2024 marketers took the crawl, walk, run approach, testing AI-based agents and automated campaigns such as Pmax, but were hesitant to manage large-scale campaigns. Expect marketers to scale their efforts in 2025 leveraging AI to tackle both operational and granular cross-channel insights, recommendations, and campaign execution. 

What are Lior Feldman’s paid search predictions for 2025 as Executive VP Product?

  • Paid search in 2025 shifts toward automated full funnel execution.
  • Lior Feldman predicts Performance Max will reshape multi channel planning, privacy first measurement will push brands toward first party data, and creative testing will become a larger competitive lever as bidding and targeting automation becomes standard.
  • In practice, this means search leaders will spend less time on manual levers and more time on measurement design, audience strategy, and iterative creative learning loops.

Lior Feldman has been leading search product innovation for over a decade, driving AI-powered solutions that simplify complex strategies for marketers. His expertise in automation and measurable optimization has helped brands unlock smarter, more effective paid search campaigns.

Why search is exciting right now: Search has always been about connecting marketers with high-intent consumers, but recent advancements in automation and performance optimization are pushing the channel to new heights. The introduction of AI-powered tools is removing friction, allowing marketers to focus less on manual processes and more on strategy. 

Search today has evolved into a dynamic mix of automation, creative testing, and real-time optimization. With tools like Performance Max, marketers are finding new ways to unify campaigns across channels, reaching audiences at every stage of the funnel. What excites me most is the opportunity for brands to use automation and AI to deliver highly tailored search experiences with far less complexity. By combining automation and personalization, marketers can achieve results that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.

2025 Predictions

Performance Max will transform multi-channel campaigns

Google’s Performance Max campaigns are redefining what “full-funnel search” looks like. By unifying formats and placements, marketers can drive greater results while aligning search strategy with broader goals. Brands that fully embrace this integration will see improved efficiency and performance across campaigns. Performance Max will become a blueprint for how marketers balance automation with audience-driven strategy.

Privacy-first search strategies will reshape measurement

With evolving privacy regulations and signal loss, first-party data will become even more critical in search campaigns. Marketers will need to prioritize strategies that effectively utilize their own data while aligning with privacy-first solutions. Search will require marketers to build new measurement approaches that are less dependent on third-party signals. In this new environment, innovation in privacy-safe measurement will become a competitive advantage for brands.

Winning with creative: the next search battleground

The rise of RSAs, Performance Max, and Demand Generation campaigns has placed creative strategy and audience alignment at the forefront of marketing. As automation takes over bidding and targeting, marketers who excel in crafting impactful messaging tailored to the right audience—alongside testing and optimizing—will gain a distinct competitive edge. Leveraging creative insights and dynamic, audience-specific messaging will be key to driving engagement and achieving scalable results. This edge will directly enhance bottom-line performance for brands willing to invest in iterative testing and creative innovation.

What are Allen Hammock’s paid search predictions for 2025 as Head of Industry Lead, Growth?

  • Paid search in 2025 becomes more accessible through automation.
  • Allen Hammock forecasts that predictive insights and advanced automation will help smaller teams compete by turning search data into proactive decisions, scaling smarter campaign structures, and balancing machine driven execution with human strategy for durable performance improvements.
  • The big unlock is speed: teams that act on signals earlier can protect efficiency while still expanding reach and experimentation.

Allen Hammock has over two decades of experience in digital marketing, specializing in paid search, machine learning, and advanced analytics. He bridges technical expertise with client needs, helping brands design innovative search strategies that drive measurable results. Allen believes search’s evolution has finally opened doors for smaller and emerging businesses to compete, enabling them to achieve omnichannel success without massive resources.

Why search is exciting right now: Search is no longer just for the biggest players with deep pockets and large technical teams. Recent advancements in automation and AI have leveled the playing field, making it possible for smaller and emerging businesses to harness the power of search marketing. In the past, competitive search strategies required an army of technocrats, but today, machine learning and automation have made search more accessible than ever. An AI-powered marketing automation layer can help teams operationalize bidding, insights, and reporting while reducing manual overhead.

This democratization of search allows brands of all sizes to unlock smarter, more sophisticated campaigns. For me, the most exciting shift is how search is helping innovators thrive in omnichannel strategies, driving measurable results regardless of team size or budget. Search isn’t just growing—it’s evolving to be faster, smarter, and more inclusive for businesses everywhere.

2025 Predictions

Predictive insights will revolutionize campaign strategies

The ability to harness massive amounts of search data and apply machine learning will enable deeper insights into campaign performance. Marketers will rely more on predictive analytics to anticipate trends and optimize campaigns proactively, ensuring greater precision and adaptability. Predictive capabilities will give even the smallest teams tools to act on insights before their competitors.

Advanced automation will drive smarter, scaled campaigns

Automation is now table stakes, but the next phase will involve refining how marketers leverage it. From bid strategies to audience targeting, automation tools will continue to improve, allowing marketers to scale efficiently while maintaining performance. Marketers who learn to balance automation with strategy will be able to achieve outsized results with less manual effort.

Why has search marketing never been more exciting?

  • Search marketing in 2025 expands across commerce and discovery.
  • As commerce media and on platform search grow, marketers must connect intent across social search and retailer search while proving performance with better measurement. The winners will blend AI, automation, and creative strategy to keep pace with consumers and capture incremental demand at every touchpoint.
  • This matters because search behavior is fragmenting, and teams need repeatable systems to execute consistently across more surfaces without losing control of ROI.

As commerce media grows, search marketing is playing an even larger role in driving sales across platforms. Search is everywhere, from search on social media channels like TikTok to search in retailer websites like Walmart and Target. For the consumer, there’s tremendous benefit in being able to have both a lean back and lean forward experience, having content pushed to you in your feeds and also having search and discovery at your fingertips. For the marketer, it’s challenging to keep pace with the consumer, measuring every step in their journey. At Skai, we’re here to support marketers every step of the way with advanced AI, 20 years of experience working with search marketers and agencies, and a best-in-class customer support organization. 

With AI, automation, and evolving strategies transforming the channel, 2025 promises to be a year of continued innovation. As search marketers navigate this landscape, staying ahead of the trends will be key to driving performance and capturing opportunities.

To learn more about how Skai is helping brands unlock the full potential of paid search, visit Skai’s search solutions page.

And we invite you to schedule a brief demo with our team to see our award-winning, innovative paid search platform firsthand.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is paid search in 2025?

AI driven, privacy safe, measurable search growth.

Paid search in 2025 is search and commerce intent advertising optimized with automation, predictive insights, and privacy first measurement. It emphasizes first party data readiness, cross channel attribution, and creative iteration so teams can scale performance while still proving ROI as signals and consumer search behavior fragment across platforms.

How do I improve Performance Max results in 2025?

Align assets, signals, and measurement first.

Start by tightening conversion goals and ensuring clean first party signals, then build strong creative coverage and audience inputs that reflect real intent. Use incrementality minded measurement where possible, and review search term and placement insights to guide creative testing, feed quality improvements, and budget allocation changes.

Why is paid search measurement harder in 2025?

Signal loss and privacy constraints reduce visibility.

Privacy regulation changes, shifting browser policies, and platform level data constraints reduce user level observability. That makes attribution less deterministic and pushes teams toward modeled measurement, first party data strategies, and testing frameworks. Advertisers that modernize measurement and data governance can still optimize effectively.

Paid search vs retail media in 2025: Which is better?

They work best together with shared attribution.

Paid search captures broad intent and discovery, while retail media converts closer to purchase on retailer surfaces. In 2025, the stronger approach is coordinated planning with consistent audiences, aligned KPIs, and cross channel measurement so you can understand how search influences lower funnel performance and optimize budgets holistically.

What is new with paid search in 2025?

More automation, more surfaces, more creative pressure.

Automation now touches targeting, bidding, and even campaign structure, while search behavior spreads across engines, retailers, and social platforms. As platforms automate the mechanics, marketers differentiate through measurement design, first party data strategy, and faster creative testing that matches audience intent across the journey.

Glossary


Paid search: Auction based advertising that places sponsored listings on search and discovery surfaces to capture intent and drive measurable actions.
Search engine marketing: The broader discipline of using paid search and related tactics to increase visibility when users actively express demand.
Performance Max: A goal based campaign type that uses automation to distribute ads across multiple placements and formats to reach users throughout the funnel.
Responsive Search Ads: A flexible search ad format that assembles combinations of headlines and descriptions to match query intent and improve relevance.
Broad Match: A query matching approach that uses intent signals to expand reach beyond exact keyword phrasing.
First party data: Customer and audience data collected directly by a brand with consent, used to power targeting, measurement, and personalization.
Privacy first measurement: Measurement approaches designed to work with reduced user level signals, often using modeling, aggregation, and consented data.
Signal loss: Reduced availability of user identifiers and tracking signals due to browser, platform, or regulatory changes that limit attribution clarity.
Cross channel attribution: Methods that estimate how multiple channels contribute to outcomes, used to allocate credit and optimize budget across touchpoints.
Predictive analytics: Statistical and machine learning methods that forecast outcomes or trends, enabling proactive optimization rather than reactive adjustments.
Closed loop attribution: Connecting media exposure to downstream conversions using direct or modeled links to understand performance impact.
Creative testing: Structured experimentation with messaging and assets to find what improves engagement and conversion as automation standardizes bidding and targeting.

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