evolution of search and its impact on marketing

Evolution of search and

why we should care!

Maryam Mahdaviani

maryam@optemo.com

22/9/2010

What does search mean to you?

What does search mean to you?

What does search mean to you?

How much do you care about site search?

Keyword Search

User intentions

Keywords

“small camera”

Keyword Search

? “tiger”

“IMC”

How to benefit from keywords

Keyword marketing

Rearranging products accordingly

How to benefit from keywords?

% of successful and unsuccessful searches

Conversion ratio of visitors who use onsite search

Session duration for all sessions that included searches What site visitors did after they used the onsite search

Site Search KPIs

Keyword search is a direct search

The other (less popular) form of search is

navigational search

Navigational search is

morethan internet directories

Faceted search combines both paradigms

Keyword Search Navigational Search

Fast retrieval

No need to know the taxonomy

Ability to browse

Faceted Search

Introduces relevant specs!

Faceted Search

Guides the search process

Why is it better?

Gives an overview of available information

Increases the chance of searching

Why is it better?

Gives an overview of available information

Increases the chance of searching

Engages the user!

Faceted Search and Marketing

SEO Friendly!

Elicits direct explicit customer preferences

Measuring the user experience

Ran a usability test on

BestBuy.ca for 6 weeks

Measuring the user experience

Ran a usability test on Best Buy Canada site for 6 weeks

Measuring the user experience

Ran a usability test on Best Buy Canada site for 6 weeks

Provided users with keyword search and sliders

Measuring the user experience

13% used keyword search

77% used sliders

The remaining 10% checked items on the first page

New search Technologies & Trends

Semantic Search

Mobile Search

Location-based Search

Semantic search tries to understand the searcher's intent

Keyword disambiguationProviding contextual information

Semantic Search

Semantic Search

Should provide a platform for collecting relevant information

Engage the user as much as possible!

Engage the user with different ways of search

Use images! They are powerful!

Optemo Solution for BestBuy.ca

A Shift for SEO

No more keyword matching, keyword density, and ranking in the search engine results page

Need to know:

How the audience think and behave online

Latent or hidden relationships between ideas

The ways people express those ideas

What does it mean for Marketing?

It provides much deeper insight into customer behaviour and

needs

Real-time Search

Twitter / Facebook phenomena has started a new chapter for online marketing

If your site hosts real-time data you should consider on-site real-time search engines

Real-time Search

You already use social networks to get the word out but you should also use real time

engines to:

Learn about trends Fine tune your messaging Evaluate your campaigns

Mobile Search

Site Search

Location-based search

Mobile Site Search

Main benefit: search on the go

Main challenge:small screen

Mobile Site Search – Overcoming the Challenge

Native applications, mobile browser optimization or both?

Collect information, learn how they use their phones

Market your mobile features!

Location-based Search

Location-based Search

Becoming rapidly ubiquitous

Adding more context to the search

Increasing the conversion

Search & Marketing

Search is a communication tool

Customers are talking with you!

Search & Marketing

Look for tools that help you listen to them!

And help them communicate more effectively!

Thank You!

Please contact me at maryam@optemo.com

@mmaryam@optemo