Search Engines: Where Are We Heading? #ecomchat – Key Points

This week’s guest writer is none other than @aattias, Ecommerce Director at King Of Servers and a regular contributor to #EcomChat.

In this week’s installment of #ecomchat, search engines fell under the spotlight. As always, there were 3 questions posed as conversation starters. The aim was to delve into the logic behind the major changes search engines have introduced in recent years, understand the repercussions for ecommerce teams and discuss any SEO peculiarities people have observed.

Joining @jamesgurd in the discussion this week were @ahmed_khalifa, @chrishoskin, @ChinaShopBull, @Magique83, @aattias, @panda_doodle, @s17pur, @Shadrach_Appi.

Q1: Why do you think the major search engines have made the major changes of the last 24 months?

James questioned whether the changes were introduced as a genuine measure to improve the user experience or if it’s merely part of Google’s incessant drive to grow revenues. There was broad agreement that (at surface level at least) the aim is to improve search quality:

• @ahmed_khalifa: I suppose like any businesses, they want to provide better services for the customers i.e. better quality results
• @jamesgurd: at surface level it’s about improving the quality of SERPs for searchers by removing low quality pages
• @aattias: Improve quality by trying to take out sites using manipulative techniques to game search visibility #ecomchat. Mixed results so far
• @jamesgurd: I read a nice quote recently along lines of “First 10 yrs Google about understanding search, next 10 about users”

A few people also feel that Google’s motives run deeper however:

• @Magique83: Google are using Penguin to spread fear regarding link building. It’s working too.
• @jamesgurd: commercially it’s clearly tying in with Google’s drive to further monetise its investments
• @panda_doodle: to improve and gain new revenue streams.I think AdWords has to be the biggest one but I wouldn’t be surprised if a new analytics package came out for a monthly sub.

The amount of cross over between author and g+ ref also has a lot to do with the possibility of additional advertising.
The changes for local results are growing to go hand in hand with glass, to promote shops in your area I think of that as a sort of real world AdWords targeting / bill board based on real time location

@Magique83 suggested Google’s underlying ploy is to drive people towards their paid media products with AdWords becoming the only dependable acquisition tool for businesses to invest in. This appears to be backed up by others in the industry. Distilled’s Will Critchlow postulated that Google’s implementation of Knowledge Graph is subtly training us to look at the right hand side of search pages, the area in which the bulk of paid ads are displayed. There was also some cynicism around AdWords’ Enhanced Campaigns that make it more difficult to target mobile traffic differently.

There was some sentiment that Google’s intentions were more altruistic however:

• @chrishoskin: This is about ‘Loyalty’ and ‘UX’ for searchers, not short term revenue imo
• @Magique83: In Google’s defence I would say that additional use of Schema/Structured data is to help the end user and not just for profit
• @jamesgurd: I personally think the driver is commercial gain but the enabler is perceived improved UX. The only reason to have a great UX is to drive revenue!

Q2: How do ecommerce teams need to adapt their thinking to ensure they don’t fall foul?

In a nutshell, teams need to shift from a link building mindset and focus on content marketing.

• @Magique83: The quick answer is ‘do not directly link build at all’ – obviously there are caveats to that though. Curating engaging content for your customers should be the primary tactic. Blogs, video, 360 images, the whole hog. This change in direction means that ecom teams should be stocking up on creative copywriters to help curate the content.
• @aattias: Focus on quality relevant content, written for people, not engines. Training or outsourcing might therefore also be needed. Outreach is part of the jigsaw but great content tends to self-propagate making the job easier.
• @jamesgurd: Link building still really important IMO but as you point out, how to do that has changed. I think there is more pressure on ecom teams to ‘get’ PR (off and online) where links are a by-product. Also important to focus on product quality – great products create sharing & links as well, it’s not all about just content.
• @panda_doodle: Walk away from 100,000 back links for $5 on fiverr and actually create content that engages users.
• @Shadrach_Appi: good quality content is indeed king. Shameless plug but they can also give companies like greatcontent a shout.

James posed an interesting question: if you had to pick between a link builder and an online PR with social skills, who would add more value for SEO?

• @Magique83: The link builder short term but you will probably have to disavow links at some point so I’d go with PR.
• @panda_doodle: as long as the PRs person was socially trained, I’d stick with them over a link builder
• @ahmed_khalifa: I would have an online PR as they would revolve around news-worthy contents which will most likely add value for users
• @s17pur: depends on your definition of SEO. If I wanted to improve rankings – the link builder. Site traffic – probably the PR. PR articles will presumably have a shorter lifespan than those pages that links are ordinarily built to. That’s not to say that the benefits of good PR would not filter through to other static pages, but this is less obvious.
• @jamesgurd: I don’t see the two as that distinct – great PR driving relevant traffic and sharing will increase ranking as well.

The conversation then moved on to the challenges of making your mark in a market saturated with content such as travel. How do you stand out? A few ideas were floated:

• @aattias: Add that touch of magic that makes your content that little bit better than the rest e.g. good opinion, humour etc. Firms need to switch from mass broadcast mentality to a relationship building one.
• @Magique83: The key is defining what ‘content’ is. It’s not just writing content for the site/blog. Find your unique angle. For example, are there any travel sites producing high quality videos about destinations? @AppOnline are a great example of a company that has developed a content strategy outside of just standard blogs.
• @Shadrach_Appi: Employ creative writers, mix things up a bit. If possible, have a face to face relationship. it is always better to have that personal relationship with the writers
• @ChinaShopBull: Be really specific about who your customer is and create content with a tighter focus.
• @jamesgurd: Understand personas & behaviours, then content becomes needs based not brand driven. I like the brands building content around people & personalities e.g. RedBull, Wiggly Wigglers. That has great social impact as well as people attach to people more than companies.
• @ahmed_khalifa: I think it’s important for all brands to have personalities so that customers can relate on a personal level.
  Ahmed’s comment spawned a discussion on whether the personality had to be famous or not.
• @ChinaShopBull: I don’t think the “personality” needs to be famous? More that the brand has some human quality to relate to?
• @ahmed_khalifa: Fair point, they don’t have to be famous. But they can become somewhat famous if done right. They can become famous for their style rather than be famous because they are a big name.
• @aattias: As well as style, they can become famous by virtue of their authority on a topic too, e.g. via good use of curation or thought leadership.
• @jamesgurd: Look at how Vine is making people become internet famous quickly.

Q3: What are the interesting quirks and anomalies of SEO that you have picked up on?

Sadly relatively few insights were forthcoming. Were people keeping their SEO cards close to their chests or is it just a lack of awareness of such subtleties?

• @aattias: I’m seeing more evidence of intelligent indexing. To use Will Critchlow’s eg. Google “that crap film with Ben Affleck”. Google is getting better at qualitative/subjective queries. A search for ‘best [x]’ doesn’t always simply load a page with ‘best’ in the actual content.
• @jamesgurd: The sporadic click on author snippet, stay on page for X mins, back to Google – inserts extra author links. But i”ve not seen that happening for a few months now. Perhaps it didn’t achieve what they wanted?
• @aattias: @JamesGurd Or are they continuously experimenting with different things #ecomchat I’ve seen search filter tools in SERPS appear sometimes (e.g. for ‘book a hotel’ type searches, date dropdowns appear above the search results).

A big thank you to Albie for the fantastic write-up!

James & Dan.