What is the Future of Digital Search?

With the advent of social media, and an increase in PPC advertising some may wonder if the era of digital search as king is coming to an end.

It is certainly true that social media has changed the way in which marketing campaigns can be conducted. Established companies have seen some success in using PPC campaigns on social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and other portals.

While a PPC and Social Media can play an important, supporting role in the successful marketing of one’s company and products, they will never replace the importance of search engine results and ranking high in those results. Search is still the number one way people seek out products and services that they need. This is true whether they are seeking a local, regional or international business. Your company is invisible to most consumers and will remain so unless your company ranks high in search engine results.

Some marketers have thought that as the platforms that are used to access the internet has grown and gone from desktops and laptops to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones that individuals will abandon search and turn to social media to find the products and services that they need.

The current research suggests that these marketers are wrong, as studies show that consumers still overwhelmingly turn to search when seeking products and services, even from mobile devices. As with the traditional platforms for access, mobile consumers are still overwhelmingly using search and choosing businesses that are in the top ranking. What has changed is that when mobile consumers use search to find a product or service, they quickly click away from a site’s landing page if it is not optimized for the mobile platform. This simply means that any specific site’s design must take into account the needs and limitations presented by mobile and stationary platforms to keep the visitor on site.

Many point to the recent release of Facebook Home, Google Glass, and the Google Glass API, as signs that search’s days of dominance are coming to an end, but this is a misconception brought about by a lack of understanding of what these two new platforms can and will do for users and businesses.

The Facebook Home app is software that can convert certain compatible smartphones into the long awaited “Facebook Phone.” The app makes Facebook the portal through which users access the internet and allows users to easily see which of their friends are available for chat, as well as their recent notifications. Contacting them is at the touch of a button, and sharing and liking things are also easier. While it might be easier to see the “recommendations” of one’s friends through the notification feeds, and even receive targeted ads at some point, this is still not the way people are going to search for the nearest, best business to meet their needs. People will still turn to search to find the best, local provider of the products and services that they need.

Google Glass connects to the internet through a compatible smartphone’s Bluetooth or through WiFi access and is controlled by touching the unit’s arm or by voice command. You can shoot video and take pictures, read email and receive notifications, and access Google+ features such as get a local weather forecast, get driving directions through maps, and you can search by telling the unit to search for something.

While the Google Glass API was recently released to third parties so that new apps can be created to make the units more fun and functional to use, as apps have done for smartphones, the one thing that is certain at this point is that all of these innovations will still rely heavily on search and search engine rankings for consumers to find the products and services that they want and need.

Technological advances and new platforms will not diminish the importance of digital search; in fact, the need for locally defined search will become greater as connectivity becomes more mobile as well as more social and user-centric. As more and more consumers turn to mobile platforms, be it Google Glass, the latest smartphone or tablet, or even up and coming wearable smart watches, searching for a local restaurant, doctor, or even a department store as you are walking down the street in any given city will become even more dependent upon search engine results.

The rapid expansion of social media sites and platforms to access the internet has not dampened the need for search, in fact, each technological advance in platforms and expansion of social connections will only increase society’s dependence on search as the one functional, indispensable tool that is needed and used by everyone, regardless of how or when they connect to the internet.  The future of digital search then, and those companies that have the expertise to use best SEO practices to put their products and services at the top of the search engine rankings, is bright indeed.