Loop Digital November Digital Marketing Industry Update 2025
Read time: 8 minutes
Is AI commerce becoming the default path to purchase?
November 2025 has marked a transformative shift in digital marketing, defined by Adobe’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush and the rapid acceleration of AI-powered shopping. This month’s developments signal fundamental changes in how consumers discover products and how businesses measure success.
The standout narrative centres on conversational commerce. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Shopping Research, Target pioneered in-chat purchasing, and Google embedded ads directly into AI Mode results. Meanwhile, organic click-through rates plunged 61% for AI Overview queries, and Wikipedia lost 5% of its human traffic to AI-generated answers.
To help you quickly grasp these pivotal changes, we’ve created a focused video walkthrough of November’s most significant developments. Watch our digital marketing update to see how these trends directly impact your business strategy
The overarching theme of November 2025 is the shift from clicks to citations. Traditional traffic metrics are collapsing, whilst AI mentions and visibility become the new currency of digital success.
Digital Marketing Highlights
Adobe To Acquire Semrush In $1.9 Billion Cash Deal
Adobe announced it will acquire Semrush for $1.9 billion in cash at $12.00 per share, representing a 77% premium. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
The acquisition brings Semrush’s SEO platform and AI-driven visibility tools under Adobe’s Digital Experience umbrella. Semrush recently expanded into monitoring brand mentions in ChatGPT and Gemini responses alongside traditional search rankings. For current users, questions remain about future pricing and access for smaller teams.
New Web Standards Could Redefine How AI Models Use Your Content
The Internet Engineering Task Force launched the AI Preferences Working Group to create standardised rules letting site owners control how AI systems use their content. The group includes leaders from Google, Microsoft, and Meta.
Proposed updates to robots.txt add labels like ‘train-ai’ and ‘train-genai’ with ‘y’ or ‘n’ values through a new Content-Usage field. This matters because these rules could finally give publishers enforceable control over how their content is trained and appears in AI systems.
ChatGPT Shopping Research and Target Partnership Launch
This development signals the beginning of agentic commerce, where AI handles the entire purchase journey without users visiting retailer sites.
OpenAI CEO Vows Different Approach to ChatGPT Ads
Sam Altman said ChatGPT will likely try ads “at some point” but pointed out Google’s model: “Ads on a Google search are dependent on Google doing badly.” Altman outlined the best recommendation first, then taking a commission if users book with one click, without pay-to-play affecting results.
This vision means the path from question to purchase could happen in one conversation, fundamentally changing how brands maintain visibility.
Google’s Advice on Canonicals: They’re Case Sensitive
Google’s John Mueller advised that URL paths, filenames, and query parameters are case-sensitive for canonicalisation. When asked about mismatched URL cases in canonical tags, Mueller responded: “‘Hope’ should not be a part of an SEO strategy.”
The implication is clear: make it easy for crawlers rather than hoping Google figures things out.
The filter appears under query filters across web, image, video, and news. An Insights report also shows branded versus non-branded click breakdown. This is only available for sites with sufficient query volume and top-level properties.
AI Overviews Concentrate on Shopping Research, Skip Purchase Queries
Among retained queries, over 25% are evaluation or comparison searches like “best [product]” and “X vs Y.” Google removes bottom-funnel keywords, including price, buy, and deals. The year-over-year keyword overlap is only 18%, showing massive reshuffling.
Google to Remove Multiple SERP Features in January 2026
This represents Google’s ongoing effort to simplify search results pages as AI Overviews take up more prominent positions.
Google AI Overviews Drive 61% Drop in Organic CTR
Organic click-through rates for informational queries with AI Overviews fell 61% since mid-2024, whilst paid CTRs plunged 68%, according to Seer Interactive. Even queries without AI Overviews saw organic CTRs fall by 41%.
Brands cited in AI Overviews earned 35% more organic and 91% more paid clicks than those not cited. Success metrics are shifting from clicks to visibility and share of voice.
AI Is Breaking The Economics Of Content
Wikipedia’s human traffic dipped 5% year-over-year, whilst Google referrals dropped 35% because AI Overviews make clicking redundant. YouTube’s citation rate jumped from 37% to 54% whilst Wikipedia dropped from 58% to 42%. Video is replacing text as Google’s primary answer source.
Sites offering additive content (Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube) gained LLM visibility, whilst evergreen content sites (Stack Overflow, Chegg, Britannica) lost significant traffic. The fix is shifting from evergreen topics to net-new insights: data stories, research, and thought leadership.
Google Ads Original Conversion Value Metric Launches
A new “Original Conversion Value” column appeared in Google Ads, showing true conversion value before Google’s rules and lifecycle adjustments. This makes it easier to diagnose performance and spot when automated bidding boosts value rather than actual conversions.
Meta’s GEM AI Model Launches, Boosting Conversions
In Q3, Meta doubled the performance benefit from adding data and compute. GEM is 4x more efficient at driving ad performance gains than original ranking models.
The outage affected ChatGPT, Shopify, and X. Cloudflare is implementing hardening measures, including treating configuration files like user input and enabling more kill switches.
WordPress 6.9 Introduces Abilities API for AI Integrations
WordPress 6.9 will include the Abilities API, a functional API that tools and applications can use to interface with WordPress. The API brings a unified, discoverable approach to how core, plugins, and themes define capabilities.
The Abilities API provides a central registry where capabilities are registered in machine-readable formats, accessible from PHP, JavaScript, and the REST API. Server-side features were approved for WordPress 6.9, arriving in early December.
Automattic vs WP Engine Legal Battle Escalates
Automattic filed a 175-page complaint defining four markets where it allegedly exercises monopoly power. The complaint includes exclusionary conduct allegations and claims that WP Engine used “WordPress” keywords excessively for search rankings.
However, Automattic’s claim that search engines “factor in keyword frequency” is outdated; modern search uses semantic understanding. A fair comparison shows WP Engine falls in the middle range among managed WordPress hosts for keyword usage.
Users can test via the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, direct download, WP-CLI, or WordPress Playground. Report issues to the Alpha/Beta support forum or WordPress Trac.
Stay Ahead of Digital Marketing’s Evolution
November 2025’s developments represent profound opportunities for businesses prepared to embrace AI-mediated customer journeys. From Adobe’s Semrush acquisition to conversational commerce and collapsing CTRs, these changes create new pathways whilst challenging traditional metrics.
Ready to leverage November’s innovations for your business growth? The evolving AI landscape and conversational commerce create unprecedented opportunities for businesses prepared to adapt.
Emir is an invaluable member of our team, serving as one of our esteemed Account Managers. With a profound passion for on-page SEO, he possesses an exceptional talent for discovering innovative ways to optimise websites and enhance their rankings. Joining our organisation, Loop, in 2022, Emir brought with him a wealth of expertise gained from his Bachelor's degree in Marketing Management and Advertising. Currently, he is eagerly pursuing his Master's degree in International Marketing Strategy, further enhancing his comprehensive understanding of the global marketing landscape. Emir thrives on challenges and continuously seeks fresh opportunities to elevate our clients' businesses to new heights. Aside from his professional endeavours, Emir has an unwavering passion for culinary arts and loves to cook up a storm. This ardour for cooking exemplifies his drive, creativity, and meticulous attention to detail, qualities that seamlessly translate into his work as a Digital Marketing Executive. His commitment to delivering exceptional results and his genuine enthusiasm for each project make him a trusted and highly sought-after professional. Emir's profound expertise in on-page SEO, combined with his ambitious pursuit of knowledge and dedication to his clients, make him an invaluable asset to our team. His passion, both in and out of the office, reflects his commitment to excellence, leaving an indelible mark on our clients' businesses.
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