The Top Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2026

Posted on November 4, 2025 in Blog

2025 was a year of broad shifts in marketing, with brands having to navigate the proliferation of AI, the politicization of everything, and an increasingly pessimistic consumer sentiment. At Oneupweb, we invest considerable time in identifying and analyzing current trends in digital marketing to discover opportunities for our clients. From AI Overviews to TikTok’s uncertain future, here are just a few of the hottest topics to keep an eye on in 2026.

Digital Marketing Industry Trends to Follow in 2026

Oneupweb asked some of our forward-thinking strategists to share the most important trends for marketers to watch this year. Don’t have time to keep tabs on it all? Get the latest news and insights delivered to your inbox every Monday with our Digital Digest.

SEO Trends 2026: AI and Disintermediation

Google’s slow and not-so-steady rollout of its artificial intelligence SERP feature, Overview, didn’t go exactly as planned. Initially unveiled as a Google Labs experiment before later entering Beta testing, Overviews were prone to hallucinations or inaccurate results, some of which became meme fodder. Overviews steadily improved as Google improved the model and tweaked which search queries triggered AI results.

Today, AI Overviews are a key part of Google’s search experience and a core component of any SEO strategy. We expect Overviews to accelerate the trend toward a zero-click SERP in 2026 and beyond.

The zero-click SERP is a visible representation of another marketing trend: disintermediation. Disintermediation is the ongoing process of removing barriers between brands and customers. This is a multifaceted trend for marketers to grapple with, as it reduces the influence of established marketing agencies and channels, including media publishers and retailers.

In the AI Overview example, the search results page removes an access barrier by displaying the information on the SERP, reducing the need for the user to click through to the brand’s website. Disintermediation has advantages and disadvantages for users, brands, and marketers – dive into that topic when you have time.

We expect disintermediation to continue to transform how brands engage with audiences in the year ahead. Marketers must continually evaluate how their content is accessed and consumed, and adjust their creation as needed.

Content Marketing Trends: Video Is King

It’s been a longer march than some might have expected, but 2025 was finally the year short-form video well and truly assumed the throne of content marketing king. Vertical video made the leap from TikTok to Instagram, and then, almost inevitably, to LinkedIn. Watch digital marketing trends long enough and you really will see it all.

Expect more brands to double down on video content in 2026, while ensuring all forms of content they create can be used across platforms. We have a guide to repurposing blog content for social, email, and other channels with ease.

Latest Web Design Trends: Illustrations and Dark Mode

With AI-generated content proliferating at an eye-watering pace, hand-drawn illustrations are making a comeback. Expect users to appreciate a more human and organic aesthetic in 2026, with an increasing number of websites and brands incorporating truly unique sketches, shapes, and animated graphics.

Another trending web design is a bit darker. Once a niche setting that simply inverted colors, designing for dark mode has evolved into a precise and considered effort to improve UX and increase conversions. Over 80% of users opt for dark mode across all their mobile applications, and a similar number report using it for at least some programs on both mobile and desktop devices.

2026 Email Marketing Trends: Deliver More Value

Email automation has made it easy to significantly increase the number of personalized emails sent over any time period, but the proliferation has had its drawbacks. When every brand delivers highly-personalized, perfectly-timed promotions, it isn’t easy to stand out – or see real results. That’s why value is the most important trend in email marketing; expect brands to provide more educational, informative, and entertaining content without a hard sell.

That authentic messaging pairs well with email’s ongoing commitment to privacy protection and security; both email platforms have implemented new systems to protect sensitive subscriber information and secure brand accounts over the past several months.

Marketing Analytics Trends: Predictive Modeling and AI

You should have seen this coming. The latest trends in marketing analytics heavily lean on artificial intelligence to automate reporting and provide accurate metrics in real-time. AI is also helping improve multi-channel attribution, a top priority for brands navigating the changing role of organic search within their marketing line-up.

AI and increased data access from first-party channels (including email) are also making predictive modeling more accessible for even small and mid-sized companies. With the right datasets (generated by Google Analytics, ERP software, or email clients), artificial intelligence is taking the guesswork out of forecasting next quarter’s numbers – or at least getting you a little closer to the actual tally.

Social Media Trends: Sharing Is Caring

Blink and social media changes. Major platforms like Meta, X, and TikTok tweak algorithms constantly to keep users on-site longer (and checking in more often), leading to a major shift in the types of content that drive results. Social media is experiencing a trend toward homogenization (everyone has vertical video, even LinkedIn) and decentralization (Bluesky hit 40 million users in October, while Meta is considering decentralizing Threads).

It’s a smart time to evaluate what’s working for your brand – and which playgrounds your competitors are playing in. A social media audit is a great way to give your social game a gut check as the new year begins.

We have five social media trends to watch for in 2026 for you over here.

Go Beyond Trends in Marketing with a Comprehensive Strategy

While current marketing trends might deliver immediate opportunities, brands can’t afford to lose sight of their long-term strategic objectives. Combine a multichannel approach with nearly three decades of industry experience and an integrated approach to SEO, social media, paid media, development, and design. Ready to get started? Get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today (tomorrow is totally cool, too).