The future of search marketing

Hi everyone

In contrast to the grim state of online advertising we discussed last week, search marketing is going from strength to strength, and rightly so.

As the web exploded we needed a way to navigate through the maze of information and Google's unique search algorithm made it simpler, faster and better than the rest at finding the stuff you wanted.

Sure, there are other search engines out there, but Google dominates the game in most markets. And it's not hard to see why.

By ranking results based on popularity, it made the web more meaningful to most people, so much so that Google became synonymous with the entire concept of 'search'. The smart people at Google also realised that most companies would love to advertise to Google customers based on how targeted this audience would be, and so created the most powerful online advertising model ever via their paid listings. Newspapers were dead, long live Google was the mantra.

So much so that search now dominates many discussions about digital marketing media. Search Engine Optimisation strategies ensure we have the right key words, and links, so our web sites rank highly on Google so customers can find us easily. Getting the right pay-per-click advertising on Google drives most Search Engine Marketing strategies. And this growth has fueled an entire industry of marketers specialising in this field.

No other strategy can impacts your online traffic to the same degree. So you'd be a fool to want to change the search tool right?

Perhaps not as foolish as you might think. The name of the web 2.0 game is about what users want, and it's been nearly 10 years Google has used the same search engine process. And many customers, including me, think we deserve something much better. Here's why:

1. Ranking by popularity is often not enough: The basic issue is the 'most popular ranking' may not be the most relevant to you. We've all experienced it - the site or information we're looking for is swamped by the big spenders and larger sites earlier in the rankings. As asked in this Time Magazine article on the frontier of search, 'who needs 14,120,000 results in response to a single question? People don't want a list - they want an answer'.

2. The growth of community search: In the blog 'the future of search is not google' and in this ABC news article recently, they both chart the fact that search is becoming more of a dynamic search experience, one in which the community will be able to shape, refine and organise searches so they are much more relevant to you.

Already sites have sprung up like http://www.mahalo.com/ that combine different elements of social media and rankings for a much different experience. Type in 'pig flu' in Google and you get the usual, disparate lists of information. Type it into Mahalo and you get a completely different, I think better, inter-connected experience.

3. Does Google really want to change? It's easy to beat up on the big guy I know. But hey, the reason we hated Microsoft wasn't really Bill Gates (or was it?), it's because they stuck to a shitty bit of software and wouldn't evolve it (much).

Google are on a good thing, but they haven't really been very open in their listing methodologies and policies - so how accurate or fair are they really? And yes, while they have tried something different with SearchWiki, it seems half-hearted. Don't tell me the smart people who brought us Google Maps and Google Earth couldn't do an improved search engine. Of course they could, but why would they spoil their cash cow??

4. Social media may become a search driver: One of the reasons Google may have to genuinely start to move forward are tools like Twitter. It may seem odd, but as this blog notes actually Twitter may genuinely evolve into something of search phenomena itself. The reason is this - search via Twitter is based on immediacy not popularity, and in the age of immediacy news sites like Digg rule the day.

Google has pretty fast updates on news from the big media and big sites but it’s not real-time, there’s at least 1 minute delay for even the most world-breaking news. On the other hand, Twitter search can give the user real-time responses, with every Tweet literally becoming a new search result.

So what of these changes? One thing for certain, Google will not be replaced over night, and will continue to have a significant role to play in our marketing in the near future. But if Web 2.0 has taught us anything it is that we must listen to what people, real users are saying, and be open to the change they want.

Search is evolving and it wouldn't surprise me if we were all Mahalo-ing some time soon. Brilliant ad model or not, Google, there go the customers.

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com