Why Advertisers Need to Consider the Search Evolution - Colin Jeavons

If you are an ad and marketing vet reading this, you may be familiar with the ongoing discussions about entity search in the industry. With changes coming from search giants Google and Bing, many marketers are currently debating about what entity search means for their bottom-line. Let’s first take a step back and clearly illustrate how this new search engine behavior will impact the industry. 

Entity search offerings have less to do with keywords and more on intent-based or collective intelligence. The concept resolves language-based ambiguities and creates a database of facts about specific, unique entities such as people, places, businesses, events, etc. Now that the real estate on a search results page is different, it’s critical to understand how entity search affects online visibility.

One example on the minds of everyone currently is Google’s Knowledge Graph, which presents search results in a new layout, less focused on the familiar blue links. In some cases, Knowledge Graph is displacing and even removing traditional search ads, while bringing listings from Google’s product catalog or Google Reviews to the forefront.

Similarly, Bing recently revealed that it is integrating shopping information directly from its index of products into the main search results to show users product features, specifications, reviews, and related products, according to the company’s corporate blog.

With fewer traditional advertisements being displayed in search results, it is even more important to optimize your site for search engines so that your content shows up in the organic search results. However, there are different ways of doing this for different types of businesses. Brick and mortar companies, like restaurants and stores, should approach search engine optimization differently from online retailers. With Google’s focus on custom and local search results, the best thing to do is ensure your address is properly listed in the Yellow Pages, Yelp, and other online directories. Additionally, it is a good idea to develop incentives for online reviews. This can get your business ranked highly in local search results.

Since the business of online retailers is delivering goods and services to a vast customer base, local search will not play as crucial of a role as it does for brick and mortar businesses. Instead, online retailers should put more focus on listing products and services in Google Shopping rather than just relying on creating a long-tail keyword strategy for AdWords. These listings earn a high rank in organic search results, particularly when an image is included. Alternatively, extending your digital strategy to include contextual advertising on relevant publisher sites can drive traffic to your store.

The reality is that as search and search-based products like AdWords continue to evolve, so must the strategies that online publishers and retailers use to sustain, or boost, their rankings in search.

As the evolution of search is occurring, we have to be able to identify these trends and explore ways to make content commercially viable. To help marketers adapt to the entity search landscape they must first identify the new opportunities, and also stay focused on branding, in order to reap the benefits of the SEO that comes with it.

Colin Jeavons is the CEO of Vertical Search Works, a search technology company that leverages its proprietary services to deliver more valuable results for advertisers, publishers, and consumers across targeted vertical industries. At Vertical Search Works, Colin is responsible for thecompany’s strategic decisions and product direction to promote growth and profit.

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