eCommerce Express Digest - December 2025

KT here! Welcome to your latest Digital Marketing and SEO update, feeding you big news in small bites to keep you across the latest in tech, digital marketing and retail, with an eye on what matters most for Aussie teams.

Shopify breaks down BFCM numbers

According to Shopify’s data team, Shopify merchants generated a record US$14.6 billion in sales over the 2025 BFCM period, up 27% year-on-year. The popular commerce platform handled purchases from over 81 million customers.

Australia ranked alongside the US, UK, Germany, and Canada as one of Shopify’s top-selling countries. 

They revealed the hottest product categories for the spending season: cosmetics, clothing tops & pants, activewear, and fitness & nutrition, with an Average Cart Price of $114.70 ($112.29 on a constant currency basis).

What Happened:

Software company Adobe is acquiring SEO platform Semrush. With plans to acquire Semrush in a deal valued at about US$1.9 billion, paying US$12 per share and folding the platform into Adobe’s Digital Experience business and Experience Cloud. Semrush offers a full stack of keyword research, site audit, competitive intelligence, and AI-driven “brand visibility” tools, including products that already track how brands appear in AI-generated responses from systems like ChatGPT and Gemini.

For marketing teams, the acquisition is another sign that SEO, analytics and AI visibility are converging into a single enterprise stack. In time, Adobe customers can expect tighter integration between Semrush data and tools such as Adobe Analytics and Experience Manager, while agencies and in-house teams will be watching closely to see how pricing, packaging and API access evolve once the deal closes, targeted for the first half of 2026.

And now for the Google part of this update! Google has officially rolled out custom annotations in Search Console’s Performance reports, allowing site owners to log key changes directly on their traffic charts. The feature lets you add short notes for events like site updates, campaigns or technical fixes, making it easier to connect traffic shifts with real-world changes. 

Annotations are user-generated notes that pinpoint significant events unique to your property, and these can include launching new features or deploying website bug fixes. Annotations are useful for remembering website changes when reviewing performance reports. Google began testing this feature back in May 2025, and it is now live. See below for a screenshot of a custom annotation in Search Console:

The branded vs. non-branded query filter can be applied across all search types (web, image, video, news) to view metrics like impressions, clicks, average position, and CTR specific to the selected query group. Plus, Google added a report to show you your branded versus non-branded queries in the Insights report.

Google has rolled out a suite of AI-powered shopping features across AI Mode, the Gemini app and standard Search ahead of the holidays. In AI Mode, users can now describe what they’re looking for in natural language. For example, searching the query “under $200 gifts for a teenage gamer” will trigger responses that blend visuals, prices, reviews and stock information to help them decide what to buy.

Google Ads begin surfacing inside AI Mode

Google is increasingly showing Search and Shopping ads inside AI Mode results, turning AI answers into a new ad surface rather than a purely organic experience. After confirming limited desktop tests earlier in the year, sightings have recently accelerated, with practitioners sharing screenshots of ads embedded directly within AI-generated summaries for commercial queries such as HVAC repair.

This shift blurs the line between paid and organic visibility in AI experiences and could change click-through behaviour, especially on high-intent queries where AI Mode becomes the default interface. For performance marketers, AI Mode is likely to evolve into a mainstream channel, so it’s worth monitoring how brand and non-brand terms appear in AI results, and planning for new formats, bidding strategies and attribution challenges as this surface matures.

Screenshot showing an HVAC repair query in AI Mode ad:

I absolutely loved attending the WTSFest with fellow teammates and strong women of Megantic. This unique conference, ‘The Women in Tech SEO’ conference, featured incredible speakers who covered big SEO & data topics across SXO, deploying AI agents, BigQuery use cases and more. A huge thank you to all the incredible speakers Emily Amor, Gabriela D., Natalie Slater, Nik Ranger, Georgia Tan, Sarah Crooke, Navah Hopkins, Helen Han, Jes Scholz, Sheila Vijeyarasa and to the conference organisers for coordinating such a special event. It was incredible to see so many women championing innovation and technology in SEO.

Our team is developing tools to help you assess and monitor your position in AI overviews and LLMs. If you’ve got any questions about Google AI Mode or how it might impact your digital marketing, our team is always happy to help, and you can learn more about our AI SEO Services here.

That’s a wrap from me!