Welcome to the Digital Roundup - our pit-stop guide to digital news. We’re looking back at what has made the headlines in the first month of 2025;

1. Do people trust AI more than Social Media?

2. Google Ads add ‘Private’ terms

3. Social/SEO Retargeting

4. Local listing reviews affected by bug

1. Do people trust AI more than Social Media?

Key findings from a recent study on trust in AI compared to Social Media;

• 47% trust AI to benefit the public, more than social media (39%)
• 52% of men trust AI compared to 43% of women.
• 55% of younger adults (ages 25–44) show the most trust.
• 53% of urban residents are more trusting than those in rural areas (38%)
• 0% trust businesses to use AI responsibly.
• However, only 13% feel “very confident” in identifying AI-generated content
  

2. Google Ads includes ‘Private’ low volume search terms

Google Ads now displays private search terms in Performance Max campaigns, offering insights into low-volume queries by highlighting queries with fewer than 50 unique searches over the past 90 days.

By explicitly labeling terms that receive fewer than 50 unique searches in 90 days as “private,” you can better understand the composition of your search traffic and identify which terms fall into the long-tail category.

This is particularly valuable for businesses operating in niche markets or those running highly specialised ad campaigns, as it helps them gauge the proportion of their traffic coming from these less common searches.

3. Social/SEO: Retargeting across platforms using video content

1. While paid retargeting of organic traffic has been a standard practice for years, there’s a lesser-known, untapped strategy: using organic social media to “retarget” your website visitors.

2. This is a integrated approach to Social/SEO content and is about leveraging video on your social platforms to:

- Convert one-time blog visitors into followers.
- Reappear in their feeds to stay top-of-mind.
- Gain visibility on “For You” pages and algorithm-driven recommendations.

4. Google bug cause reviews to drop out of local listings

Starting this past Friday, Google seems to be showing fewer and fewer reviews on Google local listings.

Joy Hawkins, a local SEO and Google top contributor, later said this is a bug that Google is working to fix.

If you need assistance with your Google Business Profile or anything else mentioned in our round up, our experts can help! Contact us at [email protected]