We're only just past the halfway mark of 2026, but it's already been a significant year for digital marketing.
From Google's continued shift towards AI-powered search and the rollout of AI Max to the arrival of ChatGPT Ads, social SEO and new approaches to measurement, there's been no shortage of developments. But while it's easy to get caught up in individual announcements, they all point towards a much bigger shift in how people discover brands online.
Rather than recapping every update from the last six months, we wanted to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. What have these changes actually meant for marketers, and what should businesses be paying attention to as we head into the second half of the year?
Search has been evolving towards intent for years, but 2026 feels like the point where it's become impossible to ignore.
People are searching differently. Instead of typing a handful of keywords into Google, they're asking complete questions and expecting direct, useful answers. At the same time, AI-powered search experiences are becoming much more prominent. Google AI Overviews now appear for a significant proportion of searches, often answering a query before someone even clicks through to a website, while AI Max is bringing that same understanding of intent into paid search.
That's changing the questions marketers need to ask.
For years, SEO conversations centred around keywords. Now, it's becoming just as important to understand what someone is actually trying to achieve. If someone searches "best CRM for a growing business", they're not looking for a page that repeats those exact words twenty times. They're looking for reassurance, comparisons, recommendations and evidence that they'll make the right decision.
That's why we're seeing growing conversations around Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). Whether those terms stick or not, the principle is the same: it's no longer just about ranking well on Google. It's about creating content that AI systems trust enough to reference, summarise and recommend.
In many ways, good SEO is starting to look a lot more like good marketing. The businesses that understand their audience and answer the questions they're already asking are giving themselves the best chance of being found, wherever that search starts.
Google isn't the only place people are looking anymore.
Someone researching a product today might start on TikTok, ask ChatGPT for recommendations, read a Reddit discussion, watch a YouTube review, search Google for reassurance and only then visit a company's website.
Those journeys are becoming far less linear, and the platforms are responding.
Google is now indexing more public content from platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok, meaning branded searches increasingly return a mixture of websites, videos and social posts on the same results page. At the same time, more users are actively searching within social platforms themselves, particularly when they're looking for reviews, inspiration or first-hand experiences.
That means social content is doing more than building engagement with existing followers. Every LinkedIn post, Instagram Reel or TikTok video has the potential to become another route through which someone discovers your business.
It's also another reminder that channels don't work in isolation anymore. SEO, social media, content marketing and PR are becoming increasingly intertwined, with each one strengthening the visibility of the others.
Twelve months ago, most conversations about AI centred on experimentation. Now it's become so intertwined with everything we use it’s just part of the day job.
AI is helping marketers analyse campaign performance, generate creative ideas, build audiences, automate reporting and improve campaign optimisation. Google's advertising products continue to introduce AI-powered capabilities, while OpenAI's move into advertising signals that conversational platforms are beginning to compete for marketing budgets too.
But maybe the most interesting development isn't the technology itself. As AI makes it easier to produce content, original thinking is becoming even more valuable.
Anyone can ask AI to write a blog post. It can't carry out original research, draw on years of experience managing campaigns or share genuine insights from working with clients. That's why we're seeing greater value placed on expert commentary, unique data, case studies and content that offers something AI simply can't invent.
Rather than replacing marketers, AI is changing where marketers add value. Less time is spent on repetitive production, and more time is spent asking better questions, spotting opportunities and making informed decisions.
While AI has dominated the headlines, measurement has continued to evolve behind the scenes.
Privacy changes have been reshaping digital marketing for several years, and 2026 has continued that trend. Third-party cookies are effectively a thing of the past, businesses are relying more heavily on first-party data, and server-side tracking is becoming increasingly common. Google's Tag Gateway is one of the latest developments designed to help advertisers recover some of the conversion data lost through browser restrictions and privacy changes, improving the quality of measurement without compromising user privacy.
AI-powered campaigns are only as good as the data they're fed. If conversion tracking is incomplete or attribution can't be trusted, it becomes much harder to optimise campaigns effectively.
Reliable measurement is quietly becoming one of the biggest competitive advantages a business can have.
Despite everything that's happened over the past six months, one thing has become increasingly clear. Economic uncertainty hasn't disappeared, and marketing budgets remain under pressure.
Businesses are still expected to demonstrate clear returns, making efficiency just as important as growth.
What's interesting is where organisations are choosing to invest.
According to IAB UK, digital advertising spend reached a record £40.5 billion in 2025, growing 10% year-on-year despite the wider UK economy growing by just 1.4%.
Search continues to account for the largest share of spend at £17.9 billion (44%), while video advertising grew by 20% to £9.3 billion as brands continue to follow changing consumer behaviour.
With the market forecast to grow by another 10.3% this year, it's clear businesses still see digital as one of the most measurable and accountable places to invest their marketing budgets.
Rather than throwing more money at every new platform or trend, many businesses are becoming more deliberate about where they spend. That means investing in channels that can demonstrate measurable impact, making better use of first-party data and AI, and looking more closely at how different channels work together across the customer journey.
If the first half of 2026 has shown us anything, it's that digital marketing is becoming less about individual channels and more about how they work together.
Search is becoming more conversational. Social is influencing how people discover brands. AI is changing the way campaigns are built and optimised. And as measurement continues to evolve, marketers are having to make smarter decisions with the data they have.
It's a lot to keep up with, but the principles behind good marketing are still the same as they always have been.
While digital marketing might look very different to how it did even a year ago, success still comes down to understanding people. Technology will keep changing, that's a guarantee. Understanding your audience is the part that won't!