Digital Marketing Updates: AI, Social & Google

The digital industry moves quickly, and marketers need to stay on top of updates and evolve with the pace of change. With AI, shifting social behaviours and evolving ad platforms are fundamentally transforming how brands attract, engage and convert audiences, so staying vigilant is key. At Peaky Digital, we’re here to help you stay on top of the changes shaping marketing.

AI Chat Search Is Redefining Discoverability

AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) are transforming how users search for information. Rather than browsing multiple links on a traditional search engine results page, users are increasingly receiving direct, conversational answers from AI.

This shift is accelerating the rise of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), where brands must structure content in a way that AI can easily interpret, trust and surface. This includes creating authoritative content, using clear formatting, and focusing on expertise-led insights. As a result, organic visibility is no longer just about ranking on Google; it’s about becoming a reliable source within AI-driven ecosystems.

Social Media Embraces #2016 Nostalgia

Social platforms are seeing a resurgence of #2016 nostalgia, but this goes deeper than a visual trend. The return to retro filters, throwback formats and early social media aesthetics highlights growing user fatigue with overly polished, overly commercial content. Instead, audiences, particularly Gen Z and younger millennials, are gravitating towards familiarity, imperfection and authenticity, driving the rise of micro-influencers and more creator-led content.

This shift reveals a broader demand for more human, relatable digital experiences. For brands, it signals the need to move away from hyper-produced creative and focus instead on platform-native, personality-driven content that feels genuine rather than promotional. Nostalgia works not because it looks retro, but because it feels real in an increasingly saturated and algorithm-driven social landscape.

Performance Max Reporting Gets Smarter

Google and Microsoft have enhanced Performance Max asset-level reporting, giving advertisers clearer visibility into how individual creative assets actually perform. Rather than relying on high-level campaign metrics, marketers can now see which specific images, videos and headlines are driving conversions.

This shift addresses one of the biggest frustrations with automated campaigns: lack of transparency. With greater insight into what is working, brands can optimise creative more strategically, allocate budgets more effectively, and move away from black-box automation towards more controlled, data-led decision-making across paid media.

What This Means For Brands:

In 2026, successful digital marketing requires a more integrated approach, combining AI-friendly content strategies, culturally relevant social media content, and performance-driven paid media. At Peaky Digital, we see these shifts as a clear signal that brands must stay agile, data-informed and audience-focused to remain competitive in an increasingly AI-led digital environment.

Actionable Steps Brands Should Be Taking:

• Audit your content for AI discoverability to ensure key pages are structured with clear headings, FAQs, and authoritative language so they can be easily interpreted and surfaced by AI search tools.
• Invest in Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and shift from purely keyword-led SEO to creating expert-led, humanised content that directly answers user intent in a conversational format.
• Move social content towards authenticity. Test more creator-style and platform-native content, and collaborate with micro-influencers who align with your audience rather than relying solely on high-production brand assets.
• Refresh creative more frequently in paid media. Use asset-level reporting in Performance Max to identify top-performing formats and continuously rotate underperforming creatives.
• Let data guide creative decisions and move past surface metrics and use performance insights to inform messaging, visuals and formats across both organic and paid channels.

Talk to our team to find out how Peaky Digital can future-proof your digital strategy.