The Most Important Google Ads Updates That Retailers Need to Know in 2025
With a third of small business owners claiming that the most difficult part of marketing is determining what’s working, new updates to Google’s ad platforms aren’t always welcome news.
However, recent updates and new features that impact how Google’s ad service works could mean that marketers and small business owners alike can navigate e-commerce advertising a little more smoothly in 2025.
From keyword updates that give you deeper insights into your ad performance to new artificial intelligence features that can boost your campaign, these are the details businesses need to know to get the most out of their ads in 2025.
Making the Most of Keywords
Private keywords, a new feature to Google’s AI-led Performance Max campaign format, represents low search volume keywords that pick up interest and lead to sales. Being able to see these private keywords allows more oversight into the success of campaigns and can help you understand where your business is coming from. Some low search volume keywords have high conversion rates and would have previously been missed when reviewing your campaigns.
Private keywords are those that received less than 50 searches in the last 90 days, making this update even more important for retailers in niche markets where long-tail, uncommon keywords bring in the majority of business.
Performance Max allows your ads to appear across Google’s advertising channels, using AI to optimize bidding, budgeting and audiences. Using AI to maximize the returns of your campaigns is an effective use of time for smaller retailers. Understanding the results of private search terms will give you an even better understanding of how people discover your site.
How to Use New AI Features
Google is planning to expand its AI tools even further in 2025, including a set of AI-powered creative tools that could improve your ads in a variety of ways. For example, some marketers are seeing AI-powered image generation for backgrounds on shopping ads, meaning that businesses of every budget can create beautiful, cost-effective backgrounds for their products.
While you may already be using smart bidding, this is going to become even more important in 2025. By including as much information in your campaigns (e.g., target cost per acquisition and revenue information), Google can do the heavy lifting when it comes to maximizing your return on investment.
However, as with all generative AI use, they should be approached as tools to help you shape your work rather than doing all the work for you. For example, Google’s creative AI tools may not always exactly reflect your brand and may need some influence from you as the expert in your business.
What the Ad Sources Column Means
The source column in Performance Max explains the reason for triggering ads in particular categories, helping you understand ad performance and targeting logic. This can help businesses understand how to align their targeting strategies with what’s working in Performance Max to get more out of their campaigns.
For example, if your Performance Max campaign is mostly triggering for creative assets, you know your images and videos are well-optimized and attracting leads. However, if search themes isn’t a common source, you may need to work on the copy in your ads to better serve your target customers.
Getting the Most Out of Google Ads in 2025
E-commerce advertising is expected to grow by 9 percent in 2025, and Google is going all-in on its AI features rollouts. Coming to grips with these tools can be challenging but the reward of using them effectively can be massive, especially for smaller retailers.
That being said, AI isn't yet able to do everything for you and Google’s recommendations will always be in Google’s best interest and not necessarily yours. Therefore, your ads will still need that human touch to make sure they’re bringing you the right leads and representing your business as you want to be seen online.
Cameron Cullen-Smith is vice president of operations and specialist in e-commerce PPC at Add People, a digital marketing agency made for SMEs.
Cameron Cullen-Smith is vice president of operations at Add People digital marketing agency in Austin, TX. Cameron worked as head of e-commerce PPC at the agency for several years, building high-performing ad campaigns for small businesses.
