Why local and behavioral search must keep Google successful
We know the number of web pages is growing exponentially, more and more content is out there.
We know that around 75% of small businesses do not even have a web presence, try searching for a butcher in your local suburb. This will grow over the next 3 years.
We know that large companies can afford good web design and search engine optimisation (SEO) firms to help them build their rankings in search engines.
We know that Google is largely dependent on search related revenue and continued growth, and it is thus critically important for them to keep users engaged with search results.
We know that human beings are creatures of habit and that most will not act more than around 30% of the accepted norm.
Finally, we know search is a set of software based rules, search engines cannot see the patterns or form opinions, it is rule based.
So what? I hear you think?
Well, if most established sites and companies can afford large websites and the best SEO advice money can buy, the chances of a smaller company ranking for a highly searched on term does not look so good from the start, and we know search users will use similar key terms to find things. In fact Google helps with the suggest feature. So other than for obscure, long tail items, pretty much, you are going to see the same culprits ranking for certain keywords, being branded, well known large organisations. Right? In fact search users get comfort they have used the right search terms when they see brands they recognise in the results who provide the product or service they are after.
So if 20% of all keywords provide 80% of the traffic and there is big dollars behind these search terms, how will Google keep users engaged in search results which have the potential to become increasingly similar for similar terms, other than to encourage them to click past the first page of results.
