Tools and Tips Special - Navigating AI Search, Ads & SEO in 2025

Aug 26, 2025

Discover how Google’s AI Max campaigns are reshaping marketing strategies by leveraging keywordless signals and user behavior. Learn about the decline in organic click-through rates as AI-generated content dominates search results. The hosts delve into the transformative impact of Long Language Models on SEO, stressing the importance of adapting to evolving search behaviors. They also introduce innovative tools like GenType and Google Notebook LM to enhance your digital marketing tactics for a rapidly changing landscape.

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INSIGHT

AI Max Changes How Search Is Optimised

Google AI Max integrates keywordless signals, context and user behaviour across Google properties to personalise search campaigns.
This shifts campaign optimisation from keywords to multi-signal contextual modelling.

INSIGHT

The Vanishing Organic Click

Impressions are rising while organic clicks are falling because AI answers, videos and forums reduce scrolling.
That drop removes click signals Google used to rely on and forces new signal sources into the loop.

ADVICE

Control Landing Pages And Creative In AI Campaigns

Turn off automated landing page selection if you need tighter control of where AI sends traffic.
Audit and restrict creative and keyword expansion sliders before launching AI-driven campaigns.

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In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, hosts Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers return with a fresh round of insights and hands-on tools to help digital marketers adapt and experiment in the evolving AI-driven marketing landscape. From Google's AI Max campaigns to the explosion of generative engine optimisation, Daniel and Ciaran unpack the shifts happening across search, paid media, and SEO. This isn’t just another roundup of shiny tools, this episode explores how to think strategically about the role of AI in search, the real impact on your organic performance, and the mindset required to stay ahead of the curve. What’s Inside This Episode: AI Max Campaigns in Google Ads Discover how Google’s new AI-powered campaign structure is changing the game. It’s not just another bidding strategy, it’s an integrated layer that leverages keywordless signals, context, and user behaviour across Google properties to personalise campaigns. Learn why separating these into siloed budgets might actually hinder performance and what you need to consider before rolling out. The Vanishing Organic Click While impressions are up, clicks are down. Daniel shares Target Internet’s own data showing a drop in organic click-through rates and explains why Google’s AI-generated answers, Reddit posts, and video content are pushing traditional organic listings further down the page. LLM Refs and the New SEO Frontier With AI overviews, ChatGPT, and other LLMs becoming key discovery engines, how do you make sure your brand shows up? The hosts explore LLMRefs, a tool that shows how different brands are ranking across major AI models, and reveal just how fragmented and competitive this new landscape is. Structured Data, Schema & the Knowledge Graph Daniel and Ciaran highlight the importance of schema markup and entity relationships in Google’s Knowledge Graph, using tools like the Knowledge Graph Explorer to demonstrate how Google perceives your brand and its connections. If you're not surfacing in the right contexts, it could just be due to a missing link, literally. Search Engine Optimization ≠ Generative Engine Optimization The hosts challenge the idea that SEO principles remain unchanged in the world of AI. With so many variables, location, devices, user intent, history, and model-specific behavior, your approach needs to be more agile and nuanced than ever. Key Takeaways: Performance Max and AI Max are now core to Google Ads - understanding signals and context is essential Organic traffic is declining, but impressions may still rise - CTR is the new battleground You can’t game the system anymore with a few smart keywords; LLMs require strong content, schema, and reputation The tools are out there - you just need to experiment, validate, and iterate Don’t fall into the trap of “a little knowledge” - simplifying complex changes leads to bad decisions AI models aren't clairvoyant - you need to structure and declare your content clearly 📥 Access the show notes, tools, and links at: 📩 Join the free newsletter for access to monthly live sessions: