Jayson DeMers wrote a very detailed and well thought out post about Google and coming changes in search. In the article DeMers discusses that search will change to accomodate a more mobile world, that SEO professionals will have to adapt and change as well. All things search must evolve.
DeMers goes on to discuss that there will be more color and more information, targeted data to get users what they need faster. He goes on at length to discuss the rise of the Knowledge Graph.
From the article:
Google’s knowledge graph has been a point of emphasis for the search giant over the last couple years. The knowledge graph displays data above all other search results when a suitable query is entered by a user. For example, try the query “famous jazz composers” and you’ll see a carousel of results, with names and dates of birth and death. Other example queries that trigger the knowledge graph are “Seattle weather forecast,” “nba teams” and “seahawks roster.”
The knowledge graph is, of course, designed to quickly answer questions so that searchers have quicker and easier access to answers. Frankly, it does a great job of that; user feedback has been generally positive, with a few exceptions.
I expect that graph to become larger and trigger for more search queries as time passes. Google wants it to attract more attention and thus keep users on Google’s pages for longer. This gives them more time to click ads, and gives users a better overall experience with Google, which helps to keep them away from Bing.
I predict that definitions triggered by the knowledge graph will become longer, small infographics will start appearing, and more queries will trigger knowledge graph results . Images will become more important, and charts will appear more frequently. A “related topics” section will help users dig deeper into the details. A “context” section will show several lines from popular websites that use the search phrase.
This is all built to help give people their basic search engine answers. The good news is that it will work well for Google and its users. The bad news is that websites displayed in Google’s search results for these types of queries will see decreased traffic as users no longer need to click through to those websites to get their answers.
DeMers also discusses his belief that search will return more specialized results. All in all this was a very good read and worth taking 15 minutes out of your day to read.
Read the full story on Forbes.
Very significant indeed
personally i am not a fan of the ‘knowledge graph’. when it came up for me i had just assumed it was google images. i had no idea if you clicked the pictures it would bring up information. also you can’t see how many results there are when the graph thing comes up.
This was inevitable. The same situation happens when Google releases new products in areas that have significant search results; such as online translators. I imagine they all took a huge hit when Google Translate came out. Exact match keywords that have definitions will have to be careful. Sometimes I go to google something, and the definition will pop up before all search results. Food for thought.
must read for any developer ( specially rookies like me…)
Thanks Raymond.
Thanx for pointing that out, @ Raymond Hackney – I like the Google search articles. I read the Forbes article you linked, and the article Jason DeMers linked, about Hummingbird!
Google Hummingbird: A Mobile Content Marketing Strategy Just Became Essential
forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/10/01/google-hummingbird-a-mobile-content-marketing-strategy-just-became-essential
Neilson’s February report entitled, The Digital Consumer, summarizes, “When looking at the average American household,HDTVs (83%), Internet-connected computers (80%) and smartphones (65%) are in a majority of households”
With 80% US households interconnected via their PCs, traditional search AND domain names will still have their place, IMHO.
You guys do realize these are just his predictions, right? He certainly has a great deal of insight, but nothing on that post was anything set in stone or code, for that matter.