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Setting up for Search, Content and PR success in '25
We all thought 2024 was a big year in Search, Content and Digital PR. But 2025 shows every sign of being even wilder.
That’s why we’ve launched The Possiblist: Content & Search Digest, for an actionable view of all the latest in Search, Content Marketing, and Digital PR.?????
In this edition we do the January thing and look ahead into 2025. We’ve sifted the 'stacks and searched the sources to help you think differently in the year ahead.
From Search giants losing market share to big pivots in publishing - we’ve got you covered.?
Google’s search market share drops below 90% for first time since 2015
You know you’ve got brand dominance when you become synonymous with an activity. Try replacing “just Google it” with “just Bing it” or “just DuckDuckGo it”. Sounds weird right?
But nothing is forever. To give you an illustration of how dominant Google has been, you only need to look at how its dropping to below 90% of the search market is generating headlines. Then again, this is the first time it’s happened since 2015. The drop is global and sustained too, meaning things aren’t likely to get better anytime soon, despite Sundar Pichai’s assurances towards the end of last year.
Possiblist take: With entire generations preferring other platforms for that all-important first search, could Google’s era-defining core product be losing direction? Will better language processing make search more human again? Will your customers have to learn how to search like they prompt?
Whatever happens, optimising web, social, and app content will become increasingly critical to getting your brand in front of those upper- to mid-funnel queries.
Fears for UK boomer radicalisation on Facebook after Meta drops fact-checkers
Observers in the media and political landscapes are rightly concerned with Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta would be dropping fact-checkers from its platforms in favour of X-style community notes. This has especially big implications for Facebook, which is already awash with misinformation and AI slop. How can brands engage constructively with radicalised Boomers?
Possiblist take: No easy choices for brands here. While some may be tempted to leave the platform, the reach risk of dropping Meta is a lot bigger than dropping X was. Smart brands will take this challenge and turn it into an opportunity, by making their own rules and becoming centres of trust and truth on Meta platforms.?If Facebook becomes the Wild West, brands can be the new sheriffs in town.
Reuters Institute predicts mass pivot to video by publishers amid search disruption
If you know anything about the online publishing space, you’ll know how tough it’s become over the past couple of decades. Household-name institutions are in their third decade of declining ad spend, fatigued from constantly adapting to the whims of the platforms which bring them the most traffic. Ironically, those same platforms are their biggest competitors for ad spend. Their latest pivot, which involves investing more in audio and video comes amidst continuing growth in video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Possiblist take: Video and audio assets have always been a useful PR addition. But now they’re essential. Are you ready to produce quality video at scale?
And keep an eye on macro changes at the key video platforms. Because if TikTok US is about to disappear or join X, publishers will need to move fast to develop new products and capitalise on the changes.
Studies suggest how to rank on Google’s AI overviews
Ever since Google started prioritising AI overviews in its search results, brands and marketers have wondered how they can rank for it. With good reason - who wouldn’t want a spot in such prime real estate? Well, recently published studies from the likes of SurferSEO, ahrefs, and AI Overviews have given us have given us an idea. This article from Search Engine Journal provides some excellent tips:
Possiblist take: New game, old rules: get the basics right. Sure, most SEO tools now have AI overview offerings, but factors such as context, long-tail keywords, and on-page SEO matter just as much (if not more) for AI overviews as for traditional search.
Google AI Overviews Appear in 18% Of Publisher-Related Queries
Publishers are high on the list of organisations needing to adapt to AI overviews. Much of their traffic, after all, comes from search. And now new research shows that AI overviews appear for 18% of publisher-related queries. Surprisingly, publishers are showing up in overviews for queries concerning sectors they don’t usually cover. Business Insider ranking for celebrity news is just one unexpected outcome. This may suggest that traditional ideas about who has authority on a topic are becoming irrelevant.
Possiblist take: While it will be important for publishers to adapt to appear in AI overviews, click-through rates will likely be lower for them. They may be better off finding other ways to get people on-site.? ?
Washington Post restructures PR division amid layoffs?
You’d think The Washington Post could really use its PR division at full strength right now. After all, the eleventh-hour decision to pull its endorsement of Kamala Harris and ongoing layoffs hardly scream good publicity. Instead, it’s restructuring its PR division to focus on what it’s calling its “star talent unit”. In other words, it will focus on pushing individuals on its team that have big online presences. It is, in effect, an admission that individual influencers can have bigger brands than a publication with a 147-year-long history.?
Possiblist take: While we’d never advise any clients to ditch brand-centric PR or any other forms of content marketing, the Washington Post’s move is a powerful reminder of how effective building up the profiles of your team members can be for your brand’s overall visibility. Find your superstars, and elevate them.
What’s possible: Even if Google's search monopoly is slipping, it’s still more than capable of building cool new innovations. Its Arts & Culture division recently teamed up with Anything is Possible client The National Gallery to build an online tool that lets you mix a personalised soundtrack inspired by paintings in the gallery.
Get the mix right and you could turn some of the world’s best-known artworks into your own symphony. Check it out.