The Future of Search (And SEO): Google's Three Shifts

Last year, in October, as part of Google's 20th birthday celebration, the search engine announced "three fundamental shifts" in philosophy.

These shifts support Google's "core principles":

• Focus on the user
• Offer the most relevant, high quality information
• Work through an algorithmic approach
• Rigorously test every change 

These principles also define the guiding principles of SEO: user experience (UX); relevant content; and, importantly, website optimization. Google's three fundamental shifts, however, promise to change search--and, by extension, SEO.

So how will Google change search--and SEO--for the next twenty years? Below I take a preliminary look at the new, exciting frontier by discussing each of Google's fundamental shifts.

Read: "Improving Search for the Next 20 Years"

Google's Three Fundamental Shifts

From Answers to Journeys

To help you resume tasks where you left off and learn new interests and hobbies, we’re bringing new features to Search that help you with ongoing information needs.

This shift, as Search Engine Land noted, is a response to the notion--discovered by Microsoft years ago--that search is not "a one-off behavior."

We search, and search, and search some more--like a journey.

To facilitate a seamless "journey," Google will offer "activity cards," to reveal "where you left off"--basically previous searches and recently visited sites and pages.

Google is also offering a new version of its "collections" feature tied to the activity cards. Users will curate collections by adding content from the activity cards.

These additions may not have an immediate impact on SEO, per say, but they do indicate an increasing emphasis on structured data, the new coding scheme. With structured data, webmasters create a shared vocabulary to help search engines "understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results" (Source).

From Queries to Providing a Queryless Way to get to Information

We can surface relevant information related to your interests, even when you don’t have a specific query in mind.

Google will add this feature as an upgraded version of its feed tool (which you may or not know about). The new tool, Google Discover, will function like a feed, surfacing "relevant content to you, even when you’re not searching."

A new element of the mobile experience, with this tool users will customize their own feeds by choosing more or less content on any topic. Additionally, Google will surface information based on search history, offering new uexplored possibilities.

This shift reinforces Google's emphasis on quality content that speaks to specific topics. As usual, relevance is key.

From Text to a More Visual Way of Finding Information

We’re bringing more visual content to Search and completely redesigning Google Images to help you find information more easily.

Taking a cue from Pinterest and other visually-based sites, Google is attempting to "make visual content more useful in search."

"People coming to Google Images today are looking to find information," Google notes, "or for help doing something—not just to see an image."

Images and videos will now have a greater role in search results, so websites should strive to provide unique visual content clearly defined with appropriate keywords and tags. 

Read: SEO 101: "How to Optimize Images for Search"

An SEO Company That Knows the Importance of Change: Stepman's SEO

To build an effective, fully-optimized website, you need a web development company that understands the evolving nature of SEO. Stepman's SEO is the rare company that offers a host of SEO and marketing professionals to optimize your website for today and tomorrow.

Call Stepman's SEO today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.