A new year brings exciting opportunities, fresh challenges, and bold predictions for what's next in marketing. From the unstoppable rise of AI to the evolving search landscape, the way brands connect with customers is changing fast. To help you stay ahead, we've tapped into the brilliant minds of five Yext experts (or should we say "Yext-perts") who shared their search and AI predictions for 2025. Buckle up — things are about to get interesting.
Industry Insights
Marketing Has Changed: Our 2025 Predictions on Search and AI

Jessica Cates
Feb 3, 2025

Prediction: AI’s conversation memory will end universal search rankings
Christian Ward, EVP and Chief Data Officer at Yext, says: "As AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini incorporate memory, we're seeing a shift in how search results will be ranked. When a user tells AI that "supporting local communities matters to them" or they mention "having a tree nut allergy", these systems prioritize or filter businesses based on those preferences in future searches and conversations. This marks a decisive move away from traditional ranking factors like proximity, relevance, and prominence toward deeply personalized results shaped by each user's explicitly shared preferences and needs.
The transformation isn't happening through surveillance — but through direct dialogue between users and AI. As long as businesses provide clear, structured data about their values, offerings, and attributes, AI can match them with the right customers - fundamentally changing how businesses compete for visibility in search and rank."
Prediction: Brands that lean into data and adopt a customer-centric content strategy will win in 2025
Anthony Rinaldi, Senior Director of Insights and Analytics at Yext, says: "Digital marketing is getting more competitive. Nearly half of all impressions now come from unbranded searches. At the same time, search behaviors are changing fast. 'Near me' searches are declining, while longer, more detailed queries and quality-focused searches like 'best product' are on the rise. This shift is likely largely due to AI becoming more prevalent and customers engaging with specific answers to in-depth questions.
Knowing this, brands focused on turning search insights into actionable content strategies – for example, addressing content gaps – will drive more engagement, boost customer loyalty, and become industry leaders in 2025."
Prediction: AI-powered tools will become indispensable to marketers managing digital brand presence at scale
Chris Brownlee, VP of Product at Yext, says: "AI is already helping marketers 'do more with less,' and it's only getting better. As algorithms learn a brand's voice, marketers can use these malleable tools to suggest and create the conversational, personalized content customers engage with at scale. Marketers will also be able to cater content to different channels – social, email, website, AI search engines, and so on – making it easier to reach and engage with customers everywhere as search continues to fragment.
Brands that lean into these tools early — especially those managing multiple locations — have the most to gain in 2025 and beyond, as AI becomes more prevalent and powerful."
Prediction: EU brands will prioritize first-party data strategies amid shifting search dynamics
Juliette Cazadieu, Field Marketing Manager at Yext France, says: "This year, the fragmentation of search, the rise of AI-powered tools, and the growing influence of AI overviews on brand visibility will make data hygiene and accuracy more critical than ever for brands. First-party data strategies and getting 'AI ready' will be important to maintain visibility and engagement as search shifts in 2025. That means marketers will proactively optimize owned digital assets — including location pages, website pages, and business listings — by making sure each contains accurate, structured data favorable to the evolving search algorithms. Meanwhile, the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) will continue to regulate gatekeepers in an effort to support an equitable and fair digital market."
Prediction: Highly regulated industries will prioritize trust-building by developing guardrails for responsible AI use
Bill Simpson, Head of Compliance at Yext, says: "Right now, brands in sectors like financial services and healthcare have a small window of opportunity to lay the groundwork for responsible AI use. Based on what we've seen in the past, the most effective approach starts with implementing internal oversight policies that define AI use cases, considerations, and risks — and pairing those 'rules' with procedures designed to boost policy adherence. Using a tiered AI tool classification system to categorize systems by risk level can also help guide resource allocation for ongoing compliance monitoring.
Being proactive is critical to earning new business as AI plays an increasingly integrated role in servicing clients and patients — and brands that prioritize the impact of AI on client and patient trust in 2025 have a lot to gain."
One thing rings true across all these predictions: 2025 promises to bring lots of change. But with expert insights in hand, you're already taking proactive steps to face it head-on.
2025 marketing prediction wrap-up: prevailing in a new search era
It's time to turn insights into action and craft a winning marketing strategy that keeps your brand visible and thriving through this massive search shift.
In 2025, our experts predict industry-leading brands will:
Get personal: add unique attributes to all websites, profiles, and listings to compete for visibility in personalized search rankings, not just universal ones.
Be customer-centric: turn search insights into actionable content strategies to enhance visibility in AI overviews, drive more engagement, and boost customer loyalty.
Simplify marketing at scale: lean into AI tools early and often to 'do more with less' and be among the first to achieve greater personalization at scale.
Audit and optimize: focus on data hygiene and accuracy and use first-party data strategies to get 'AI-ready' and develop a strong digital presence with accurate data everywhere.
Define policies: prioritize customer, patient, and client trust-building by proactively developing guardrails for the responsible use of AI.
Looking for a logical place to start? Here's a success framework for making your brand visible in AI search results.