Post on 16-Apr-2017
THE EMERGING FUTURE OF SEARCH
Tom Anthony Head of R&D
@TomAnthonySEO
Will Critchlow Founder & CEO @WillCritchlow
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT A SHIFT AS BIG AS MOBILE
(which is pretty big: Google sees billions of
searches a day)
(and mobile has probably doubled that)
There's another multiple-billion
searches per day opportunity out there
and it's
"searches people aren't yet doing"
‘DAILY INFORMATION NEEDS’ STUDY
GOOGLE ASKED:
“What did you want to know recently?”
THEY FOUND:
25,000 needs 21 broad categories
39% of needs: "participants were
unable to address the need"
Why needs were unaddressed %
Did not know how to find the answer 27
Insufficient time 25
Need not important 15
No internet access 12
Other e.g. driving 21
15% WERE UNIMPORTANT
So 1/3 of all important information needs are
left unfulfilled (85% of 39%)
POWER AND CONVENIENCE MEAN INCREMENTAL SEARCHES
X-RAY
FORCE CLICK
LONG CLICK
EVEN BEFORE WE GET TO PASSIVE VOICE
GOOGLE PUBLICATION ON IPAS
Source: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2685309
EXAMPLE #1: CONTEXTUAL ASSISTANCE
“The personal assistant should be able to detect a change in the user context, and make useful recommendations for
that context.”
EXAMPLE #2: FULLY PERSONALIZED
“when suggesting restaurants, in addition to the spatio-temporal context, the
assistant personalizes the suggestions based on the user’s cuisine preferences and
price sensitivity.”
WE TALK ABOUT CONTEXT A LOT
“A context is a set of user actions corresponding to a single
information need.”
GOOGLE’S DEFINITION OF CONTEXT
EXAMPLES OF “EXTENDED CONTEXTS”
planning a trip to Paris
organising a wedding
buying a camera
CONTEXTS: NOT ALWAYS ABOUT NOW
Half of search queries belonged to contexts lasting longer than a month.
“top 10 things to do in Berlin”
“top 10 things to do in Paris”
“top 10 things to do in Zagreb”
“weather in Paris”
“easyjet Paris”
“louvre”
“airports in France”
“top 10 things to do in Berlin”
“top 10 things to do in Paris”
“top 10 things to do in Zagreb”
“weather in Paris”
“easyjet Paris”
“louvre”
“airports in France”
“top 10 things to do in Berlin”
“cheapest vacation deals Paris”
“best coffee near the Champs-Élysées”
“moulin rouge”
“Eiffel Tower entry price”
“top 10 things to do in Paris”
“top 10 things to do in Zagreb”
“weather in Paris”
“easyjet Paris”
“louvre”
“airports in France”
“top 10 things to do in Berlin”
“cheapest vacation deals Paris”
“best coffee near the Champs-Élysées”
“moulin rouge”
“Eiffel Tower entry price”
“top 10 things to do in Paris”
“top 10 things to do in Zagreb”2nd February
15th February
“weather in Paris”
“easyjet Paris”
“louvre”
“airports in France”
“top 10 things to do in Berlin”
“cheapest vacation deals Paris”
“best coffee near the Champs-Élysées”
“moulin rouge”
“Eiffel Tower entry price”
“top 10 things to do in Paris”
“top 10 things to do in Zagreb”
CONTEXT:
Planning a trip to Paris
2nd February
15th February
UPDATING YOUR CONTEXT IN REAL-TIME
“best time to visit France”
“cheap flights to Paris”
“what to see in Paris”
GOOGLE CAN LEARN CONTEXTS
“best time to visit France”
“cheap flights to Paris”
“what to see in Paris”
GOOGLE CAN LEARN CONTEXTS
Google might anticipate your searches weeks before you do them.
GOOGLE TRENDS: [CHATBOTS]
YOU PROBABLY SAW ALL THE BUZZ AT F8
And you can't help but have noticed that the 5 biggest tech
companies have all introduced an Intelligent Personal Assistant.
FACEBOOK ‘M’
AMAZON ECHO
HOW DO YOU FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN ASK?
http://gizmodo.com/facebook-messenger-chatbots-are-more-frustrating-than-h-1770732045
HOW DO YOU EVEN FIND THE BOTS?
We're back to Yahoo! Directory style: chatbots >> news >> regional >> US >> MA >>
In other words, we still need search and we still
need discoverability
But there is the promise of data-driven search
powered by intent
Search that considers:
what I mean, not what I say
and finds results based on:
what I can do, not what text is on the page
OBLIGATORY RANKBRAIN REFERENCE
HUMMINGBIRD:RANKBRAIN AS CAFFEINE:PANDA
CREDIT: MIKEBAIRD ON FLICKR
We also see it showing up in the human quality
rater guidelines
Supplementary Content (SC) is: Features designed to help shoppers
find other products they might also like
a feature to multiply or divide the recipe to make the right quantity of food for a given number of people
[content] which contributes to a satisfying user experience on the page
and website
Google removed the section referring to
"helpful SC"
http://www.thesempost.com/updated-google-quality-rater-guidelines-eat/
what I can do, not what text is on the page
IT ALSO PROBABLY HAS QUITE A LOT TO DO WITH MOBILE
This isn't the algorithm.
It's just the quality rater guidelines.
www.distilled.net/odn/
ONE OF THE REASONS WE BELIEVE IN SPLIT-TESTING FOR SEO
Context
Current
Situation
Time
Personalisation
Search History
Current
Location
Mode of Travel
Likes/Dislikes
Schedule
Companions
Query
Ancestor
Queries
Implicit query
aspect
Explicit query
aspect
Keyword
Spoken phrase Image
Search ‘mode’
(regular / maps / images)
Search
settings
Device
Anticipated
Situation
Past activities
EstimatedIntent
Context
Current
Situation
Time
Personalisation
Search History
Current
Location
Mode of Travel
Likes/Dislikes
Schedule
Companions
Query
Ancestor
Queries
Implicit query
aspect
Explicit query
aspect
Keyword
Spoken phrase Image
Search ‘mode’
(regular / maps / images)
Search
settings
Device
Anticipated
Situation
Past activities
EstimatedIntent
1IMPLICIT QUERY SIGNALS
1
search query
“london tube stations”
explicit aspect of query
implicit aspect of query
iPhone user, on street in London
“london tube stations”
IMPLICIT SIGNALS: MODE OF TRANSPORT
TIME
TO
TA
L S
IGN
AL
IN
FO
RM
AT
ION
EXPLICIT SIGNAL
IMPLICIT SIGNAL
My vision when we started Google 15 years ago was that eventually you wouldn't have to have
a search query at all.
SERGEY BRIN GOOGLE
IT'S BY NO MEANS EASY
On the same day in April, Kobe played his last game
IT'S BY NO MEANS EASY
...and the Warriors won their 73rd game of the season
THE TWITTER MOMENTS WERE GREAT
...and Twitter knows so much about me and my interests
IMPLICIT SPORTS SEARCH SHOULDN'T BE HARD
IMPLICIT SPORTS SEARCH SHOULDN'T BE HARD
SOCCER
IMPLICIT SPORTS SEARCH SHOULDN'T BE HARD
SOCCER
SOCCER
IMPLICIT SPORTS SEARCH SHOULDN'T BE HARD
SOCCER
SOCCER
SOCCER
IMPLICIT SPORTS SEARCH SHOULDN'T BE HARD
SOCCER
SOCCER
SOCCER
SOCCER
COMPOUND QUERIES
2
Query
AlgorithmResponse
Revised Query
Algorithm
Response
OLD MODEL: INDEPENDENT QUERIES
NEW MODEL: DEPENDENT QUERIES
Query
AlgorithmResponse
Additional Input
Algorithm
Revised Response
KEYWORDS TO INTENTS
3
SOURCE: /U/UPBOATOARKNOTUPBOAT
SEARCH HISTORY OF A 5 YEAR OLD
KEYWORDS
INTENT
IMPLICIT SIGNALS
COMPOUND QUERIES
A NOTE OF CAUTION:
You can't yet assume Google is ranking on
intent alone
SEE THIS POST BY MY COLLEAGUE @SAMNEMZER
http://dis.tl/keyword-data
METHODOLOGY
DIFFERENT KEYWORDS STILL TREATED DIFFERENTLY
IT'S NOT JUST REORDERING
1PERSONAL DEVICE
4
Screen size and keyboard type are not important.
It can take photos
It can take photos
It knows where it is
It can take photos
It knows where it is
It knows who your friends are
It can take photos
It knows where it is
It knows who your friends areIt knows
if you are walking, running,
etc.
It’s personal, signed-in, and taken
everywhere
It’s personal, signed-in, and taken
everywhere
It interacts with the
world (beacons, pay, NFC)
It’s personal, signed-in, and taken
everywhere
It has natural
multi-
touch
It interacts with the
world (beacons, pay, NFC)
It’s personal, signed-in, and taken
everywhere
It has natural
multi-
touch
It has notificationsIt
interacts with the
world (beacons, pay, NFC)
It's actually the PC that has the limited, basic, cut-down version of the internet… it only has the web.
‘mobile first’ via Ben Evans
DATA DRIVEN SEARCH
5
SHIFT AWAY FROM ‘WEB SEARCH’: DIRECT ANSWERS
SHIFT AWAY FROM ‘WEB SEARCH’: GOOGLE NOW
OTHER IPAS ALSO GIVE DIRECT ANSWERS
REFERENCE: 1, 2, 3
INCREASINGLY ANSWERS NEED TO BE DYNAMIC
Time Based Location Based
GOOGLE NEED DATA FOR THESE QUERIES
Knowledge
GraphData
Partnerships
Everything Else
?
3RD PARTY INTEGRATION WITH IPAS
(PROBABLY)
FACETED SEARCH: CROSS DEVICE CARDS?
CHALLENGES & TIPS
How do we check Rankings?
How does Attribution work?
Will there be Analytics?
RANK #0
http://www.slideshare.net/crumplezone/seo-for-answers-ranking-0
OPERATE EARLIER IN THE FUNNEL
http://www.slideshare.net/jonoalderson/searching-higher-up-the-funnel-54123155
POP QUIZ
How many web searches have I shown today?
POP QUIZ
How many web sites have I shown today?
CLUE:
By my count, I've shown you 25 search screens, apps, bots or devices
ANSWER:
I showed 2 regular web searches
ANSWER:
(when I was showing that conversational search doesn't work there)
ANSWER:
...and ZERO websites
POWER AND CONVENIENCE MEAN INCREMENTAL SEARCHES
This is where the next trillion searches / year will come from
COMPOUND QUERIES
IMPLICIT SIGNALS
PERSONAL ASSISTANTS
DATA DRIVEN SEARCH
INTENTSKEYWORDS
PERSONAL INDEX & DEVICE
AND THIS IS HOW THEY'LL BE POWERED
THANKS@TOMANTHONYSEO@WILLCRITCHLOW
LATEST DISTILLED NEWS:
TALK TO US ABOUT OUR ‘OPTIMIZATION DELIVERY NETWORK’: https://www.distilled.net/odn/
THE ODN ALLOWS SEARCH-FOCUSED SPLIT TESTING ON YOUR WEBSITE
REGARDLESS OF YOUR TECHNOLOGY STACK.
This is @TomAnthonySEO We collaborated on a lot of this thinking
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daviderickson/4114851120/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/accidentdesigns/14799315568/