Savannah is a content marketer with editorial experience spanning several businesses. Specializing in social media and marketing trends, she loves talking about the latest developments in online marketing. When she’s not writing, Savannah loves traveling, hoarding books and coffee mugs, and adoring her cat. Please don’t ask her about famous true crime cases, or else she’ll tell you all about her theories and get absolutely no work done.
Did you know that global digital advertising spend is expected to reach almost half a trillion dollars by 2026? That means that, in 2025, you’ll want to make sure online advertising is part of your business’s marketing strategy. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategies are great for reaching people online and getting your products and services in front of them to boost revenue.
To maximize your results from your PPC campaigns, check out this list of nine PPC trends to follow for 2025:
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to evolve, so too do its capabilities and applications to different aspects of digital marketing, and that includes PPC! One of the top PPC trends to look for in the coming year is the use of AI tools to create ads and further optimize campaigns.
Google Ads and Microsoft both offer AI tools for image creation and bid optimization. Your AI use isn’t limited to what’s included in ad platforms, either — advertisers and businesses are leveraging AI platforms to speed up campaign optimization processes, from keyword research to identifying new search opportunities. These AI-driven optimizations can maximize your campaigns’ performance and reduce wasted spend.
Expert insights from
Rebekah L.Senior Paid Search Results Lead
“The use of AI continues to grow in popularity, whether that’s using AI to speed up optimization processes or leaning into the AI provided by ad platforms to improve performance. Our team uses TeamAI to get starter lists of negative keywords when launching new campaigns to help avoid wasted spend on low-quality searches from launch.”
2. Emphasis on Microsoft Ads
As Google becomes more competitive, it’s a good idea to explore different advertising channels to expand your reach and take advantage of less competitive advertising opportunities. One such channel is Microsoft.
Microsoft’s AI features have evolved since its partnership with OpenAI, and it’s garnering more interest from business-to-consumer (B2C) advertisers. Now is the time to expand your PPC efforts and invest in Microsoft ads, as they offer a great option for more clicks at lower costs.
3. Smart Bidding for a better ROI
Another of the top paid search trends is relying on Smart Bidding. Smart Bidding uses Google AI to optimize for conversions with every auction. It enables you to optimize your bids, so you get the most from your budget and reach your company goals.
Smart Bidding encompasses several strategies, including:
Target cost per action (CPA): Target CPA is an automated bid strategy where you set your desired average cost per conversion or action. Google then uses that target amount to automatically set your bids based on the likelihood of someone converting through your ad.
Target return on ad spend (tROAS): tROAS is a bidding strategy where Google AI analyzes and predicts the value of a potential conversion and automatically adjusts your bid amount to maximize your return.
Maximize conversions: As the name suggests, Maximize conversions uses Google’s AI to set bid amounts that help you earn the most conversions for your budget.
Maximize conversion value: If you use Maximize conversion value as your Smart Bidding strategy, Google will use AI to optimize and set bids to help you get the most value out of conversions.
All these Smart Bidding strategies can help you get more from your budget and maximize your return on investment (ROI).
Google is no longer phasing out third-party cookies like it said it was going to. But instead of going back to relying on third-party data, now’s the time to double down on first-party data to inform your campaigns.
Google Ads has plenty of options for leveraging first-party data for better leads and conversions, like its enhanced conversions feature and audience signals in Performance Max campaigns. Enhanced conversions take first-party data from conversions completed on your site and use that information to optimize bidding strategies and recover conversions that otherwise wouldn’t have been measured. Meanwhile, audience signals help Google AI better optimize your campaigns for your goals.
Expert insights from
Rebekah L.Senior Paid Search Results Lead
“As the ad space continues to become more competitive, first-party data helps us ensure we’re driving quality leads in our campaigns.”
5. Voice search optimization
Devices like Amazon Alexa have made voice searches more commonplace, and with that, PPC campaigns have had to adapt. We expect the rise in voice search to continue being a key PPC trend for businesses and advertisers in 2025.
To optimize PPC campaigns for voice search, integrate voice-friendly keywords into your campaigns. This includes long-tail, conversational keywords that mirror natural language. These keywords give your campaign a competitive edge because they have lower search volumes and competition rates. As a result, their cost-per-click (CPC) is lower than shorter keywords.
Optimizing your PPC campaigns for voice search can help you build a more cost-effective PPC campaign that drives high-value conversions for your ads.
6. Video ads gaining steam
Another one of the top PPC trends for 2025 is continuing to use video ads in campaigns. People’s attention spans are shorter than ever –– the average attention span is 8 seconds. And yet, the average video watch time is 2.7 minutes. This means videos are still a great way to grab your audience’s attention and keep it –– so why not use them for your ads?
You can use PPC video ads on social media, through Google’s Display Network, and more. Here are some tips for creating click-worthy video ads:
Tell your story without sound: A crucial component of successful PPC video ads is telling the story without sound. Many people will watch your video ads without hearing them, so you must ensure your video tells your audience everything they need to know without saying it.
Catch your audience’s attention immediately: Users still have short attention spans, so you need to catch their attention immediately. Make sure your videos are eye-catching or thought-provoking from the first second.
Use a clear call to action (CTA): Once your audience finishes watching your video, you must tell them how to proceed. Use a clear CTA that informs your audience about the next steps.
If you want to try and create more engaging ads, consider using videos to spice it up.
7. Maximizing reach with omnichannel campaigns
Another rising PPC trend for 2025 is taking an omnichannel approach to advertising. Many businesses make the mistake of relying on one advertising channel to reach their target audience. However, advertising on multiple platforms helps expand your reach and revenue.
So, in 2025, it’s time to start taking an omnichannel approach to your advertising strategy. Explore other ad platforms besides Google and take advantage of the unique benefits that come with advertising your brand on new channels.
Don’t limit your PPC campaigns’ potential — explore new channels like:
Social media advertising
Display advertising
Amazon advertising
Bing advertising
Microsoft advertising
8. Innovative ad formats
When creating PPC ads in 2025, don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and experiment with new ad formats. From videos and polls to shoppable social media ads, the opportunities for engaging ad experiences are growing every day.
Experimenting with new, innovative PPC ad formats, especially with advanced analytics, reporting, and testing tools in ad platforms, can help you develop an effective campaign that engages audiences across various platforms and drives high-value conversions for your business.
Try these engaging PPC ad formats in your next campaign:
When discussing PPC trends, we can’t forget about AI’s impact on search. AI continues to take the digital world by storm, and it’s changed the way people conduct online searches. Google’s AI Overviews provide AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, resulting in more zero-click searches and less time browsing SERPs.
With increasing developments in AI capabilities and their applications in search engines, it’s all the more important for you to monitor these developments and adjust your PPC campaigns accordingly.
Expert insights from
Kayla JohansenInternet Marketing Specialist
“With the rise of AI-powered search, the ways users are searching and the way search results look faces substantial, potential shifts. A great example is Google’s AI Overviews. These changes could impact the way ads are shown and the type of searches ads show up for, so you’ll want to watch and have a plan to adapt.”
Ready to take advantage of these PPC trends?
If you want to drive better results with PPC in 2025, you need to stay on top of PPC marketing trends to ensure your strategy stays current and effective. But keeping on top of pay-per-click trends is time-consuming –– and it takes even more time to implement them.
That’s why it’s vital to partner with a PPC agency like WebFX. WebFX is an industry-leading PPC company and a top Baltimore PPC agency. We have a team of 150+ Google Ads Certified team members who know how to run successful PPC campaigns. We’ve already driven $10 billion in revenue for our clients.
View Post: Digital Marketing Trends 
Savannah is a content marketer with editorial experience spanning several businesses. Specializing in social media and marketing trends, she loves talking about the latest developments in online marketing. When she’s not writing, Savannah loves traveling, hoarding books and coffee mugs, and adoring her cat. Please don’t ask her about famous true crime cases, or else she’ll tell you all about her theories and get absolutely no work done.
