For those who can no longer live and do many things without first searching on Google, know that important changes are already being made and the near future holds many other promises.
But why is it important for companies – and anyone doing Digital Marketing – to be aware of what the leading search company is planning for tomorrow?
By understanding what’s happening and what’s behind it everything, you will be able to better plan your online presence, but also what you do in the real world and, consequently, your results.
Therefore, a lot of attention to everything we brought here for you!
What will Google searches look like in the future?
It seems like yesterday, but it’s been almost a quarter of a century since that extremely minimalist page, counting basically with a search field and the colored logo appeared.
Many of those who followed the history of Google, perhaps have not realized, that in addition to the some aesthetic details, that search from 1998 and today, has changed a lot and promises to change even more.
At the Search On ’22 event, aired in September 2022, the company’s senior vice president , responsible for Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce and Payments products, the Indian Prabhakar Raghavan, revealed what is already underway and what in the coming months should gradually be made available to users.
The textual search, using the simple page, but most accessed and known in the world, will still be there and should not change much beyond the visual and usual subtleties. But even it is being reformulated and improved, in what is working “behind the scenes”, based on the already released BERT update.
But what will be delivered and how to obtain the results of any search , should gain new and intriguing perspectives, making use of various technologies, mainly Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Big Data and more specifically what has been called Google MUM.
MUM is the acronym for Multitask Unified Model or Unified Multitasking Model and whose purpose is to understand and offer different formats of results for a survey, or more simply, guess everything you eventually want or need to know about something and highlight what might be more interesting.
Right at the opening, Prabhakar reveals his mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.
What he didn’t say, but what we saw next, is that for him To carry out this mission, they will use the entire technological arsenal and services that the company offers today, which go well beyond the search engine.
Anyone who knows and uses the resources of an Android smartphone or even the owners of devices with iOS, but that have some of the apps of the main competitor, will recognize the contours that the search is taking.
Starting with the cameras of the devices and that the second vice president said, will be the keyboards of tomorrow.
If you have Google Lens installed and use it, you know how much it has evolved. But it’s just the beginning. Today, more than 8 billion searches are made monthly using Lens, and that same volume is obtained in just one day for text searches.
But as people realize its power, the numbers can grow.
Imagine that part of your car that broke and you don’t know the name, because you’re a total layman on the subject. Just submit your image and then the name of the part, possible model and part number, supplier information, prices, nearby places to buy and everything else, appearing in the search results.
No need be an image from your camera. It can be something you have in your gallery or that you received from a friend.
And it’s not just that. Even occasional texts on photos and packages can be translated into up to 70 languages or use the reading tool.
Coming soon and integrated with Google Maps, through Live View, using the camera and pointing it to points (facades, buildings, signs, monuments, etc.) several other types of establishments and their opening hours, products / services, prices, evaluations and everything else that is part of its immense database.
It will be a much more immersive way of using the Maps and that, according to the company, will be a new way that users will get used to performing searches.
This is because according to the research that has been done, it can produce many unfoldings and here that is noticed Google MUM. Depending on the subject, people usually do up to 8 textual searches on average from an initial theme.
That is, if you initially searched for any XYZ product, you may also want to know where to buy, see photos, price variations, opinions of those who have already purchased, alternatives from other brands or other models from the same manufacturer, among other information. For each additional information, an associated search.
With the new alternatives, we aim to provide all this, without having to go back to the search page.
People have used Google to support their purchases – online or physically – more than 1 billion times a day and this is another point where results are moving in new directions.
And in the process , one type of information is decisive – the visual.
Furthermore, people are 50% more engaged by 3D object visualizations than by static images. And for that reason, Google itself is working on a tool that uses Artificial Intelligence to produce this 3D view from a set of static images.
The buying guide is nothing more than that the results displayed in the format of a buying guide, promises to gather everything possible about the product of interest, in what they have been calling “page insights”.
People will also have option to filter or emphasize a brand and so, when they search for the respective product, the brand in question will have more prominence in the results, to the detriment of the competitors.
And if it wasn’t enough, with over time, the advertising that appears today on Google Discover will also be based on the interests revealed in the searches performed. Yes, advertising on Discover is heavily tied to the searches you’ve done, as well as what’s trending in people’s searches.
The details and list of features are many and only those who watch the presentation, manages to assimilate everything. However, what we present here is enough to understand the directions of searches in the near future and why companies start to prepare.
How do changes in search affect companies?
Searches, as most people are used to doing, will not end. Neither SEO, nor the practices recommended by Digital Marketing and Content Marketing.
Among everything that changes, is that just creating and feeding a website or blog with good content may be insufficient.
Content will still be extremely relevant, but now in different forms and presentations.
If you have an e-commerce for cycling products, for example, don’t it will be enough to inform the brand of a particular mountain bike and that it has 12 speeds, comes equipped with Shimano components, color options and frame sizes and payment methods.
For one or another rider who is just getting started, it might even be enough, because he thinks it’s all the same. For those who are looking to improve and are going to their next bike, no.
But even for some who are starting, the amount of doubts and questions about it, if well and properly answered, can make the difference.
The most attentive, realized that the wealth of product information will be decisive in how it will appear in the shopping guide. That the quantity and quality of images on the site is what will determine whether Google will be able to produce the 3D image or not.
But also that the reviews that customers who have purchased from your store and testimonials on the website, the quality of the service provided, the clarification of doubts, the deadline and how the delivery was made, will be essential in the purchase decision.
That website you resorted to from a manufacturer, to have access to the complete technical sheet of a smartphone model, if you do not do your “homework”, you will automatically lose points in the shopping guide.
Restaurants that, in addition to the flavor they deliver, do not take care of the presentation of the dishes, essential for beautiful photos and that accompany many reviews, as well as the environment, service, location, prices, will have less rich and less influential reviews to bring in new visitors.
It helps a lot to be on Google My Business, but it helps even more to understand that despite the rich The richness of online information, the consumers’ experience and the associated service provision, will be even more decisive.
This allows that, unlike the time when it was only possible to search for Indian restaurants in São Paulo, now you can find out which one makes the best samosa, what the portions are, the filling variations, the size, appearance, price and whatever else you can remember about it.
Even aspects that were previously secondary or even disregarded by most should gain more prominence and appear in searches. For example, the search for restaurants that have vegan and vegetarian options is growing at very high rates and it is estimated that by 2025, in every 10 consumers in the segment, 3 belong to these two groups.
No there is no way to neglect 30% of no consumer market. Whoever closes their eyes to this, will be giving up a significant share of the market.
Along the same lines, environmental concerns and policies aimed at sustainability are another factor that has made brands win points compared to its competitors. In fact, this concern with aspects of sustainability, to some extent, are already privileged, but should gain even more prominence in the news that are being incorporated in the search.
Therefore, companies need to understand that a website must be the representation of the company on the Internet and that at various times the face-to-face and virtual are the two sides of the same coin.
The different types of website, social networks and everything that their presence implies digital, cannot be dissociated from the real world.
Increasingly, consumers will have a voice and the experience that your company provides them will be decisive to bring or not other customers, at least via the web, after all it is often said that those who are not on Google are not on the Internet.
In other words, in addition to producing vast and good content, to attract visitors to your site (Inbound Marketing), it will be useless if there is no concern in aspects that go well beyond online, as I answered personalized marketing, branding and rebranding, quality of products / services, net promoter score, the experience provided, social responsibility and ESG agenda, to name just a few of the main ones.
Conclusion
The future of Google searches will link the content you produce for the brand, with the experience and image you produced in established customers.
