Weekly Pulse: The Top Digital Shifts You Should Know (July 13–18, 2025)
Digital marketing doesn’t wait around. Algorithms shift, tools evolve, leadership changes hands and if you’re not watching, you’re already behind. This isn’t just about reacting to trends. It’s about knowing what’s moving now so you can make smarter calls tomorrow.
The past week was anything but quiet. There were significant updates in the sector that you should know about, from major changes to SEO to the larger hold of AI on advertising. Whether you are a trailblazing strategist, freelancer or part of a digital marketing training institute helping others keep up, you can no longer afford not to keep up.
This post walks you through five updates from July 13 to July 18, 2025. Not vague trends actual news with impact. For each one, you’ll get the context, why it matters, and what you can take away from it. Let’s get into it.
1. Google Rolls Out Core Update
Google pushed out its latest Core Update on July 17, and it didn’t take long for the effects to show. Within hours, SEO forums and analytics dashboards lit up especially for sites heavy on affiliate content or bloated publisher pages. Some brands saw noticeable drops in traffic. Others unexpectedly climbed.
So what changed? From the early read, this update leans harder into Google’s EEAT framework – Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. But it’s not just that. Pages that clearly match user intent and offer something genuinely original are getting rewarded. Thin content, vague answers, or keyword-stuffed pages are being filtered out faster.
If you haven’t already, now’s the time to act.
Here’s what to do:
- Dive into your traffic data: see what’s dropped, what’s gained, and what stayed flat.
- Compare rankings and engagement pre- and post-update.
- Focus on user intent: rewrite or remove underperforming content that isn’t adding value.
This wasn’t a subtle tweak. It’s a signal. Google wants marketers to stop writing for bots and start thinking like users.
2. GenAI Takes Over Video Advertising
The latest IAB report made something very clear. Generative AI is no longer an experiment in video advertising. It’s becoming the new standard. Right now, 86% of marketers are either already using GenAI tools or planning to add them to their workflow.
And this is just the beginning. By next year, GenAI is expected to power 40% of all video ad content. That’s not hype. It’s a shift in how creative gets made. The biggest draws are speed, lower production costs, and the ability to customize video at scale. It’s especially useful for connected TV campaigns, where brands want personalized variations and quick turnarounds.
For smaller brands, this equalizes the game. You no longer have to rely on a full production team or extensive budgets in order to compete with big advertisers.
If you haven’t dipped your toes into GenAI for video, this is a good place to start.
Try platforms like Runway, Synthesia, JoggAI or Pika. Experiment with AI tools for writing ad scripts or generating quick visuals. Run A/B tests against different edits. Notice what performs best.
This is not a moment. It’s a permanent shift in the way digital ads are created, and delivered.
3. Big Shift at Reddit: CMO Steps Down After 8 Years
Reddit’s longtime Chief Marketing Officer, Roxy Young, is leaving the company. The news dropped on July 17, and it’s a big deal if you’ve been paying attention to how Reddit has evolved over the past few years.
Roxy was behind much of that transformation. She helped take Reddit from a quirky online forum to a serious advertising platform with a clearer brand identity. If you’ve noticed Reddit showing up more in ad strategies or media plans, she’s one of the reasons why.
Her exit comes just months after Reddit went public, and with Q2 earnings right around the corner, the timing suggests there’s more change coming. Post-IPO companies tend to move fast, especially when it comes to tightening up brand and revenue strategies.
If you use Reddit for paid campaigns or community outreach, now’s the time to watch closely. Look out for updates to ad products, API access, or even creator programs. Leadership changes like this don’t happen in a vacuum. They usually signal a new direction—and sometimes a new set of rules.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/07/17/reddit-cmo-roxy-young-exit
4. Estée Lauder Rewrites Its Digital Game Plan
On July 17, Estée Lauder announced something it’s never done before. The company created a new executive role, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer and appointed Aude Gandon to lead it. She brings experience from L’Oréal and Nestlé, and her arrival signals a sharp shift in how the beauty giant is thinking about growth.
This isn’t just a new title. It represents a real shift in strategy. Estée Lauder is betting on AI-personalized experience powered by e-commerce as a greater emphasis alongside their targeting of Gen Z consumers with more aggression. Digital commerce will become fully integrated. Instead of treating digital as a supportive function, it’s to become the engine of product, marketing and customer experience.
Why should marketers care? Because this is a big brand making a clear move toward a data-first, AI-driven model. It’s also a sign that traditional boundaries between digital, branding, and revenue are disappearing fast.
If you’re leading a team or working in-house, take note. You may start seeing more of these merged roles where one leader owns both digital and marketing. That means tighter strategy, more accountability, and faster decisions. It’s worth asking how digital is set up in your own organization—and whether it’s ready for what comes next.
5. NexSEO Launches in APAC, Pushing SEO Beyond Google
First Page Digital, on July 18, launched a new platform, which was designed with one single focus: to redefine how brands think about search in the Asia-Pacific area. This is not your common SEO tool. NexSEO is jam-packed with features that include smarter automation, cross-platform tracking, and predictive analytics. But what makes it stand out is its reach. It’s not just built for Google. It’s built for search wherever people are actually searching—TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, and beyond.
This transition matters. Search isn’t just about ranking in Google anymore. For brands throughout APAC, especially in eCommerce, visibility is all about understanding how people discover products across platforms.
This is a platform for businesses who want to scale quickly and reach customers where there actually live. If you are still thinking about SEO as a Google-only game, now’s the time to refresh your playbook and look for tools that span ecosystems. And start thinking about search as an experience— not just a keyword strategy.
Conclusion: What This Week Signals
If you zoom out, there’s one thing tying all these updates together: everything is shifting, fast. Algorithms are being reworked. Leadership at major platforms is changing. Search isn’t just about Google anymore. And brands are restructuring how digital fits into the big picture.
This week was a reminder that digital marketing isn’t about the tools and platforms. Digital marketing is about how fast you can respond. SEO is becoming more about search experience, rather than just keywords. AI is now part of how ads are served, tracked, and optimized. There may be changes in leadership at companies like Reddit and Estée Lauder that will impact everything from partnerships with creators to DTC strategy. It’s also difficult to overlook the possible impact of new platforms, like NexSEO. There is no turning back from these changes.
Marketers who pay attention to what is genuinely occurring in the industry will always a step ahead of those who are chasing trend. Break the habit of adopting new strategies just because it is the new talk-of-the-town. If you are serious about honing your skills, you should opt a digital marketing course in Bengaluru. It could boost your strategy and assist you in staying competitive.
