Event Presence

Google Think Leads 2025: Our Key Takeaways

Michelle Merklin headshot
By Michelle Merklin

This post was contributed by Michelle Merklin, Lauren Cazal, and Patrick Ortenzio.

The Google Think Leads 2025 event in NYC highlighted a significant shift in the digital landscape, moving from a world of “information” to “intelligence”. The keynote and breakout sessions focused on how AI, first-party data, and a holistic approach to the customer journey are revolutionizing lead generation. Here are our key takeaways from the event.

The Evolution of Search: From Information to Intelligence

Google’s vision for search is centered on three core principles: AI-powered, multimodal, and agentic. The goal is to move beyond simple keywords to understand the “micro context” of users’ needs. AI Overviews (“AIO”) are already simplifying the decision-making process for lead gen consumers, with 60% of them reportedly finding AIO useful. This shift means advertisers need to focus on how their ads appear in these new AI-powered search experiences (which, at present, is much easier said than done given the complete lack of reporting Google is providing advertisers regarding when / where / how their ads appear alongside AI-generated summaries in AI Overviews or AI Mode). 

A significant consequence of this evolution is the “zero-click” conversation, where users are getting more of their answers directly from the search results. While this might lead to a decrease in traffic for some sites, Google claims this has resulted in an increase in click quality, since the clicks that do happen are from more qualified and high-intent visitors (many of their questions have already been answered by the AI generated summaries before they even land on a website). According to Google, users are more likely to click through from search results when they are looking for in-depth, original content, or a thoughtful first-party analysis. For this reason, Tinuiti continues encouraging our clients to focus their organic search and content strategies on developing this unique content. 

The move from “information to intelligence” validates Tinuiti’s long-held position on the evolution of search and agentic relevance engineering. Brands that want to win in this new era must focus on briefing the AI agent itself to ensure their content is optimized for AI discoverability. This means influencing the conversation before an ad is even served; a strategy we’ve been helping our clients execute with our new AI SEO offering. The “zero-click” trend is a perfect example of this. The clicks that do come through are higher quality, which aligns with Tinuiti’s “Love Growth. Hate Waste.” philosophy. The goal is to drive the right traffic that is most likely to convert and create long-term value.

First-Party Data: Your Competitive Edge

The event emphasized that AI requires high-quality data, making advertisers’ first-party data a critical competitive advantage. Advertisers were urged to connect their CRMs to Google’s Data Manager, which can lead to more and better quality leads. Google claimed their “tag gateway” solution helps advertisers  capture 11% more signals, helping to boost the accuracy and resilience of their measurement strategy, which is often even more of a challenge for lead gen advertisers compared to retailers.

It’s not just about the quantity of data, but the quality. Advertisers should optimize towards conversions that truly matter to their business and feed Google’s algorithms information on what a “higher quality customer” looks like. This includes uploading data daily, especially click data, to better power the bidder. Enhanced Conversions for Leads (“ECL”) can also help close the loop and is now used for Google’s conversion lift reporting. 

One of the new product announcements that has us most excited is called “Journey aware bidding”, which is essentially smarter smart bidding for lead gen advertisers. While still in a closed pilot currently, Journey Aware Bidding is designed to be aware of and responsive to the entire customer journey (from lead form submission all the way to final purchase), helping improve Google’s predictions and advertisers’ performance overall.

The emphasis on first-party data is crucial. At Tinuiti, we’ve been championing a first-party data-centric approach for years. The key, however, is not just collecting data but activating it effectively. Google’s push for tools like Data Manager and tag gateway is a positive step, and it complements our proprietary technology, Bliss Point by Tinuiti. Our tools are designed to go beyond just feeding data back to a platform; they help brands understand the true value of a customer, allowing them to optimize for a higher quality customer and ultimately reduce wasted ad spend. 

Scaling with AI: Media, Creative, and Measurement

At Think Leads, Google highlighted many new AI-powered tools and strategies for scaling marketing efforts. For example, the use of Gemini for Deep Research was positioned as a tool to more granularly define audience personas and get a “reaction” from the persona’s POV about how well ad creatives will resonate with the intended viewers.

For YouTube, which has over two billion monthly users on Shorts, the message was clear: Search and YouTube together provide a 21% stronger return on ad spend (ROAS) than all other media combined. The key is to deliver helpful and authentic multimodal content that offers a unique perspective.

Google’s continued development of new AI-powered tools clearly signals a shift toward greater automation, but that doesn’t mean a marketer’s job is over. It simply means the focus has to change. A marketer’s value comes from providing the right high-quality inputs (1P data, creatives, audience insights, etc.) that the AI needs to be successful. The new “Journey Aware Bidding” pilot and use of Gemini for Deep Research are powerful examples of this. They allow us to focus on higher-level strategy, like crafting modular creative assets that AI can dynamically assemble for different stages of the customer journey, and then use our own insights from tools like Bliss Point to validate the outcomes. The synergy between Search and YouTube is a clear signal that a siloed approach to media is a recipe for waste. Brands must adopt a truly full-funnel strategy to maximize their ROAS.

New Product Announcements

The event also featured several other new product announcements. These included:

Optimizing for the Agentic Era

As search becomes more “agentic,” advertisers need to adapt their content and strategies. SEO guidance, while fundamentally unchanged, now critically needs to be optimized for a multimodal world. This means leaning into photos and videos that AI can extract information from to supplement the answers it provides. Unsurprisingly, Google reiterated that the focus should be on “people-first, helpful content.”

In summary, the Google Think Leads event underscored the importance of embracing AI and first-party data. The future of lead generation will be defined by a focus on high-quality, high-intent clicks, a deeper understanding of the customer journey, and a strategic use of AI to scale media, creative, and measurement.

What this Means

The future of lead generation is about strategy. We’ve been preparing for this “agentic era” by helping brands shift their mindset from simply generating clicks to generating influence and value. The focus on high-quality, high-intent clicks is a validation of our core belief: “Love Growth. Hate Waste.” In a world where AI is taking over many components of tactical execution, the human element—the strategic thinking, the creative vision, and the deep understanding of a brand’s first-party data—is what will ultimately enable marketing efforts to drive business results. The new tools Google is releasing are powerful, but their effectiveness will be determined by the quality of the inputs and the expertise of the marketers behind them.