Google is rolling out several new updates and features for Google Search aimed at making it easier for users to find the content they are looking for.
Among the announcements, the search engine revealed new ways to use augmented reality (AR) and Google Lens to shop for products and find information like how to get a dish you’ve been craving from a nearby restaurant.
Below, we will go over the announcements one by one to break down the details and when you can start using these tools to help users find your products and services.
Introducing Multisearch For Food
Google is working to unite its search tools including Google Lens and Maps so that users can seamlessly combine types of searches into one powerful search.
For example, using multisearch, you can now take a picture of a meal in Google Lens and add a text modifier such as “near me” to discover what restaurants serve that meal.
“This new way of searching will help me find local businesses in my community, so I can more easily support neighborhood shops during the holidays,” said Cindy Huynh, Product Manager of Google Lens.
This feature is rolling out for all English-language U.S. users today.
Search For Specific Dishes
Along with the announcement above, Google revealed that users can also simply search for specific dishes by name to find information including who serves this dish, pricing, ingredients, and more
As Google’s Sophia Lin says:
“I often crave comfort food this time of year — like truffle mac and cheese — but I don’t always know where to find it. Lucky for foodies, starting today, you can now search for the exact dish you’re craving and see all the places near you that serve it.”
The first way Google is doing this is by allowing you to see potential show purchases in your living space.
Starting today, shoppers can not only see high-quality 3D models of shoes. They can spin them around, zoom in on details, and even see the shoes as they would look in your typical surroundings.
Importantly, this is available for any brand with 3D assets of their shoes or home goods.
Additionally, Google has upgraded its AR shopping tools for makeup to include a broader range of skin tones and models with a more diverse set of features.
The search engine has added over 150 new models with a diverse spectrum of skin tones, ages, genders, face shapes, ethnicities, and skin tones to test cosmetics on.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Blog_Post_Illustration.max-1000x1000-1.png4281000Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-11-17 20:38:112022-11-17 20:38:13Google Reveals New AR And Multisearch Features For Search
Google is updating its online shopping features on desktop with a new focus on visual elements including an increased focus on product images.
The company released a screenshot as an example so you can see how product search results start with a row of thumbnail images.
As users scroll down the page, they will also see details about pricing, user reviews, and ratings for specific products included in the result,
When clicked on, the product listings bring up a panel with more information and links to purchase the product from different retailers.
Most importantly, the panel does not interrupt your browsing process and users can immediately resume shopping from where they left off.
As before, users can also filter product results using a number of categories including brand, type, retailer, and discounted products.
The announcement says about the overhaul:
“Whether you’re looking for clothes, electronics, beauty products or home goods on desktop, you’ll see a more visual feed of shopping results that includes products, brands, articles and videos from across the web.”
Additionally, Google says these product results and search filters are all dynamic, so they will continuously be updated to include the newest products, popular retailers, and up-to-the-minute discounts.
The new Google shopping update is already rolling out to all users and should be available to everyone within the next few days.
With Halloween fast approaching, Google has updated its Frightgeist website with all the latest search trends for this year’s spooky holiday.
The Halloween Frightgeist site has tracked the biggest holiday search trends annually, with a primary focus on Halloween costumes.
Notably, the tool allows you to go beyond the national search trends to find out details for a specific city or state.
For example, it appears fairy costumes are particularly popular this year in Tulsa, as the leading costume-related search.
As Google says about the Frightgeist page:
“Every year, trillions of searches take place on Google, and Google Trends gives us an unparalleled look at what the world is searching for.”
“With Frightgeist, we went on a hunt to find the most popular Halloween costumes of 2021. Pulling from the top 500 costume searches in the United States, Frightgeist used Google Trends to tell people what costumes were trending around them and help them find a costume that was sure to turn heads.”
Below, we are going to cover the top costume search trends both nationally and in the Tulsa area, and a little bit more of what you can do with this data.
Top National Halloween Costume Ideas in 2022
Witch
Spider-Man
Dinosaur
Stranger Things
Fairy
Pirate
Rabbit
Cheerleader
Cowboy
Harley Quinn
Clown
Vampire
1980s
Hocus Pocus
Pumpkin
Chucky
Doll
Angel
Batman
Bear
Top Halloween Costumes In Tulsa Oklahoma for 2022
Fairy
1980s
Spider-Man
Chucky
Spider
The Frightgeist site also allows you to see more details about each trending costume idea, including where it is most popular across the country, how it has performed in past years, and more.
Lastly, the site includes a costume selection wizard you can use to brainstorm what to wear this Halloween. The costume wizard lets you adjust sliders for spookiness and uniqueness and toggle between classic and modern costumes that are trending locally or nationally.
As expected, Google’s Search On conference this week brought tons of new announcements and previews of new features coming to the search engine. Though most of these features are not publicly available yet, they show that Google is intent on revamping many aspects of its search engine to make searching easier and more engaging.
Below, we are going to talk about the 5 most exciting and essential changes that both users and companies hoping to improve their online visibility should be aware of.
Google Search Shortcuts
Over the past decade, Google has steadily expanded the ways users can search for information beyond just entering a text query.
You can upload an image to find other similar images, take a pic of an equation to get help solving it, or turn on the microphone to help identify a song playing – just for a few examples.
The problem is that Google has not always done the best job of promoting these new ways to search or making them easily accessible to users.
Now, that is all changing as Google is adding advanced shortcuts on the front page of the Google Search app.
You can see what this looks like in the screenshot below or, if you have an iOS device, you can see the feature for yourself by simply opening the Google app.
In-Search-Bar Results
Typically, users have to at least enter their query before they have the chance to click on a relevant result. Coming soon, however, that won’t always be the case.
Google announced that it will soon be delivering results to users even as they are still typing in the search bar.
You can see what this might look like in the example below, where Google delivered a link to a location page directly within the search bar:
For now, it appears Google will be limiting this feature to just one result in a search bar, though we will know more when it rolls out later this year.
Enhanced Query Refinements
Along with the results like described above, Google is also adding new ways to refine your search query for the most useful results.
As you are typing a query into the mobile search bar, the search engine will start populating the bar with options to make your search more specific.
For example, when searching for queries like “best Mexico cities”, Google will suggest refinements like “to visit”, “to retire”, or “for families”.
More Prominent Web Stories
Google is making web stories a bigger part of mobile search by giving them a more prominent place in mobile search results.
As the company said in an announcement:
“So we’re also making it easier to explore a subject by highlighting the most relevant and helpful information, including content from creators on the open web. For topics like cities, you may see visual stories and short videos from people who have visited, tips on how to explore the city, things to do, how to get there and other important aspects you might want to know about as you plan your travels.”
One Page For Text, Image, & Video Search Results
Instead of making users switch between web, images, or video result tabs when searching, Google is unifying them all into one endless search result feed on mobile.
“We’re also reimagining the way we display results to better reflect the ways people explore topics. You’ll see the most relevant content, from a variety of sources, no matter what format the information comes in — whether that’s text, images or video.”
When users would typically encounter the end of a search page, they will be given the option to either show more results or continue scrolling vertically to explore a more specific search – as seen below:
Though Google has not announced exact dates to expect these updates, the company says they will be rolling out to mobile search in the coming months.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GoogleRankings.png360640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-09-29 18:31:272022-09-29 18:31:29The Top 5 Announcements From Google Search On 2022
A new video from Google focuses on helping e-commerce brands stand out on the search engine, including specific strategies for ensuring your listing is eligible for search features that make your listing more prominent and visible.
For starters, the video lists three general guidelines for making your products stand out:
Images help visitors understand your products
Product reviews and star ratings increase trust in your brand
Pricing and availability information allows shoppers to choose the best seller for their needs
With that in mind, Google’s Alan Kent then breaks down six ways to make your site more visible on the search engine.
1) Title Tags
As one of the first things any searcher will see, title tags are crucial for helping searchers understand your web pages. This is why site owners should take extra care when preparing the titles for their pages – especially product pages.
“A good title link can greatly help users understand your offering, bringing quality traffic to your site. … Low-quality title links can harm a users’ impression of your site.”
While Google will rewrite title tags if it believes the existing titles do not adequately describe the related page, it is better to deliver informative titles on your own.
Kent also advises against adding time-sensitive product details like pricing or availability in titles because they may be outdated by the time this information is updated in search results.
2) High-Quality Images
Improving the quality of your product images can make shoppers feel more confident about your products and their potential decision to purchase.
As Kent says, “we’ve observed that users generally respond well to high-quality images and recommend that key images be at least 1200 pixels wide.”
Once these images are in place, Kent suggests checking the Max Image Preview metadata as that provides Google with guidance on how to handle images within search results.
Additionally, best practices indicate you should use product structured data to allow Google to pick the best images to display in search results.
Lastly, he provided some broad guidance for product photos, encouraging e-commerce brands to focus on creating product photos that best help shoppers understand their products. For example, you might highlight different angles or provide size comparisons within product photos.
3) Share Rich Product Data
Google uses structured data to more easily understand web pages and enable them to be shown as rich results or “special presentation treatments”.
Specifically, Kent emphasizes that these details should always be included in structured product data:
Product Title
Description
Images
Ratings
Price
Availability
Kent also encourages brands to regularly use the Search Console URL Indexing tool and Rich Results Test tool to ensure you don’t have any issues with structured data on your site.
4) Share Price Drop Data
Google uses special price drop presentations to highlight special deals in search results. Still, e-commerce brands must share pricing information with the search engine and include the Offer property in the product structured data to be eligible.
However, there is no guarantee your listing will be shown in a special price drop presentation once you’ve provided these details.
5) Identify Products You Sell
Use accurate product identifiers – such as GTIN identifiers – along with Google Merchant Center data and structured product data to make your site eligible for product carousels.
6) Create a Business Profile Listing
Kent advises brands to create a Google Business Profile via the Google Business Profile Manager if their shop also has a brick-and-mortar location.
This enables your site to be included in local search results which makes your physical locations more visible in search.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Google-Ecommerce-SEO.jpg6311203Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-08-02 19:32:332022-08-02 19:32:35Google Gives E-Commerce Brands 6 New Tips For Standing Out
Have you ever wondered what the most searched keywords and phrases on Google are?
While the search engine regularly details trending search topics and trends, the company does not share details on the top overall search terms. Thankfully, Ahrefs used data from over 19.8 billion keywords to list the top searches in the U.S. and worldwide on their own.
To generate the list, Ahrefs looked at the number of times search terms were used each month and averaged these monthly totals over the course of a year.
Below, we will share the top 50 Google Searches in the U.S. and worldwide. For complete lists of the top 100 searches and lists of the most frequently searched questions, check out the full report here.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GoogleRankings.png360640Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-06-28 19:14:362022-06-28 19:14:38The Top Google Searches From The U.S. and Worldwide
Ever feel like words aren’t quite enough for what you want to ask Google? But, at the same time, the Google Image Search isn’t right for the job either? You’ll be excited to hear about Multisearch, the new way to use both text and images to find exactly what you’re looking for when searching the web.
Multisearch is a new feature in Google Lens, designed to deliver results based on contextual text phrases to better understand visual queries. In the announcement, Google says it designed the feature to “go beyond the search box and ask questions about what you see.”
How Multisearch Works
As part of Google Lens, Multisearch is still first-and-foremost about visual search. You start by opening the Google app on Android or iOS devices and uploading or taking a picture using your device’s camera. Then, you can provide more information about what you’re looking for by swiping up and tapping the “+ Add to your search” button.
Google offers a few examples of how people can use Multisearch to get better search results:
Screenshot a stylish orange dress and add the query “green” to find it in another color
Snap a photo of your dining set and add the query “coffee table” to find a matching table
Take a picture of your rosemary plant and add the query “care instructions”
In its current shape, Multisearch is best used for shopping search results. This means it is something e-commerce brands should definitely keep an eye on in the near future.
While the feature uses Google’s AI systems, the announcement clarifies it does not use the search engine’s most recent AI model, MUM – yet:
“We’re also exploring ways in which this feature might be enhanced by MUM– our latest AI model in Search– to improve results for all the questions you could imagine asking.”
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Flow__1.max-1000x1000-1.png5641000Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-04-11 19:33:142022-04-11 19:33:16Google Multisearch Lets You Search With Pictures and Text at the Same Time
Google is offering a new solution for e-commerce brands interested in improving their site’s search capabilities.
With the release of Retail Search, Google Cloud is making it possible for online retailers to provide Google-quality search results on their own websites. This means it will be faster and easier for customers to find the products they are looking for on your site, making them more likely to complete thor transaction instead of abandoning your site.
How Poor Search Experiences Hurt Online Retailers
According to a 2021 survey from The Harris Poll and Google Cloud, at least 94% of American consumers have abandoned a shopping session because of poor quality or irrelevant search results and 76% of shoppers said that an unsuccessful search led to a lost sale for a retail website.
Based on this, the report estimates retailers lose $300 billion each year solely because of this phenomenon known as search abandonment.
Understanding Intent To Deliver Better Search Results
The biggest hurdle to delivering successful search results has always been understanding search intent.
Most basic search engines struggle to identify user intent and deliver the most relevant search results quickly. Google’s systems, however, are constantly being updated with the specific goal of better understanding user intent and delivering the best results quickly.
With Retail Search, retailers can now deliver that same quality search experience on their own site.
Customizable For Your Needs
Retail Search is fully customizable to suit the needs of almost any e-commerce site.
As the announcement says:
“Our site search solution builds upon decades of Google’s experience and innovation in search indexing, retrieval, and ranking. Retailers can make product discovery even easier for shoppers, while optimizing for their business goals with advanced capabilities.”
These capabilities include:
Advanced query understanding that produces better results from even the broadest queries, including non-product searches.
Semantic search to effectively match product attributes with website content for fast, relevant product discovery.
Optimized results that leverage user interaction and ranking models to meet specific business goals.
State-of-the-art security and privacy practices that ensure retailer data is isolated with strong access controls and is only used to deliver relevant search results on their own properties.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Google-Store-Promotions.png450800Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-04-04 18:11:442022-04-04 18:11:46Provide Google-Quality Search Results On Your E-Commerce Site
If you’re a business owner or operator, you’ve probably been told 100 times by 100 different people that you just HAVE to invest in Search Engine Optimization. Unfortunately, you’ve also likely never really heard why SEO is so important beyond broad mentions of “being found online” or that “everyone uses Google.”
Marketers and salespeople have a bad habit of talking about the power and benefits of optimization without explaining what sets it apart from other types of online marketing, how it impacts your ability to reach new markets, and why many SEO packages don’t cut it.
So today, I wanted to do just that.
What Is Search Engine Optimization
Before we can talk about what makes SEO special, we have to talk a bit about what it is.
In the simplest terms, search engine optimization is the name for a wide range of strategies and techniques used to increase your visibility on search engines.
In the past, this could be boiled down to the phrase “making your website the top result on Google searches.” These days, search engines are much more complex and what might be the top result for one user might be completely different for another.
As such, SEO has evolved to focus more on overall visibility across Google’s many systems with the goal of attracting as many potential customers as possible to your site.
How SEO Works
For our purposes today, we aren’t going to go very in-depth discussing the numerous strategies or techniques used in SEO. Otherwise, we’d be here all day.
What matters for this discussion is understanding that these methods affect how Google sees and ranks your site.
While some strategies are dedicated to helping Google understand the content that is on your site, others are intended to boost the overall value of your site. Combined, these approaches help ensure Google picks your site for relevant searches and gives you the best chance to attract website traffic.
Why SEO Is Essential in 2022
Google Is The Most Visited Site In The World
Marketers always like to say “everyone uses Google” to emphasize the importance of SEO (and they aren’t necessarily wrong), but what does that really mean?
It means that Google is a massive part of daily life for practically everyone around the globe, and can massively influence what information we see, who we do business with, and what products people buy.
The most popular site in the world NOT owned by Google – Facebook – sees less than a quarter of the traffic seen by Google.com.
No matter how you try to spin it, Google acts as the central hub to the internet for the vast majority of people out there. If you don’t play by their rules, you risk being disconnected from this hub and any potential traffic you might get.
Organic Search is Still The Main Driver of Traffic
When considering where to invest their marketing budget, many businesses find themselves asking the same question: “Why should I spend money on SEO, which is complicated and not guaranteed to pay off, when I could instead run ads that are guaranteed to appear above those search results?”
Organic search results get underestimated because ranking highly is rarely a sure thing – even for the biggest companies. Meanwhile, paid search ads are built around driving results without uncertainty.
Despite this, there is actually a very simple reason you should invest in organic search optimization.
At the end of the day, the majority of search results still result in a user clicking an organic link from regular search results. So while it may seem riskier, investing in search engine optimization has the chance for much larger rewards.
Better SEO Means Better User Experience
Every brand wants its website to provide the best user experience possible. A positive user experience increases the likelihood of driving conversions, while negative user experiences can sour people on your company entirely.
So, it should come as good news that the majority of SEO practices are intended to improve user experience in a variety of ways including speeding up your site, making it easier to use, and improving accessibility.
By ensuring you are optimized for search engines, you are also investing in improving your site for the real potential customers who will soon be visiting.
SEO Is a Process That Is Always Changing
Companies looking to save some cash on SEO will have an easy time finding dozens of cheap SEO packages across the web. The problems with the packages are numerous, but the biggest red flag is the assumption that SEO is something you do once.
In reality, SEO is something that needs to be done regularly to have a real impact.
When left alone, Google assumes websites are becoming outdated or irrelevant. No matter what industry you are in, there are always new products coming out, new information that can benefit your customers, and new ways to improve your site.
Additionally, Google itself is always changing. The company releases new guidelines, algorithm updates, and features for webmasters seemingly every day. Any cheap package deal is unable to take these updates into account and help your company stay ahead of the rapidly changing search results.
SEO Results Amplify With Time
Unlike almost any other form of marketing, search engine optimization is one of the few investments which tends to build on itself for greater and greater results.
As you optimize your website and create quality content to improve your search rankings, you also provide a more robust presence online. Your website becomes an even greater resource to potential customers. You start getting linked to by others in your industry. People start sharing your brand around social media.
Ads may drive immediate results, but these tend to stabilize with time. Effective search engine optimization, on the other hand, pays increasing dividends the longer you invest in it.
The role search engines play in our lives will only continue to grow as people become more connected and expect information to always be at their fingertips. For all these reasons, it is imperative that companies invest in the best optimization practices possible if they want to continue reaching prospective customers in an increasingly digital world.
Due to the long-term impact of SEO, the best time to start optimizing your website was probably months or years ago. The second best time, however, is now.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/What-Is-Search-Engine-Optimization1.png6301120Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-03-17 18:39:372022-03-17 18:39:39What Is Search Engine Optimization and Why Do You Need It
Inspired by the popularity of TikTok, Google is working to find new ways to include short-form videos in search results.
Google Product Manager Danielle Marshak revealed this during a recent episode of the Search Off the Record podcast with hosts Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman from Google’s Search Relations team.
Why Google Is Interest In Short-Form Videos
Though the entire episode is more broadly focused on discussing how Google handles video content in search results, the conversation eventually turns to the most popular video format of the moment – short vertical videos less than 5 minutes in length.
Beyond their popularity, the Google employees agree there is a lot of interest in short videos because they are easily digestible and can contain a lot of information in a compact package.
As Marshak says:
“And this format, it’s really cool because as I mentioned, it is very concise. You can get a lot of information in a short period of time, and you can also get a loot of different views and perspectives…
“So we think this kind of content could be useful for a lot of different types of search queries, and we’ve been experimenting with how to show it to users more often.”
Could TikTok Videos Appear In Search Results?
Since TikTok is practically synonymous with this specific type of short video, it was only a matter of time before the social video app was brought up.
Interestingly, Gary Illyes explained that the unique way TikTok works makes its content much easier for the search engine to crawl and index compared to others like Snapchat or Instagram.
Since every TikTok video has a unique URL and can be opened directly in a web browser, Illyes says there is a chance the videos could be directly indexed and shown in search results:
“You can actually open it on the laptop and you will end up on a web page and you can actually watch it on the web page. You don’t have to have the TikTok app for watching the video.
“So I imagine that if they allow crawling – I haven’t checked – then we can probably index those videos as well.”
Other Ways Google Is Integrating Short Videos Into Search
When asked about other types of short video content that Google might include in search results pages, Marshak mostly focused on educational or informational content, such as recipes:
“So let’s say, again, you’re searching for some new ideas to make banana bread. And right now, you might see traditional recipes, you might see longer videos, but you could also see short videos, which could just give you a different style or perspective.
“And people’s preferences are different. Some people might prefer to read; some people might prefer a longer video; some people might prefer short videos.
“And so we want to offer a lot of different options to get that type of information, in the format that is most useful for you. So that’s one example.”
From what was said, it seems the ideas are still in their early stages but the episode makes it clear that Google is taking TikTok and its popular video format very seriously. You can expect to see much more of it in search results sooner, rather than later.
https://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Video-to-Content.png6401280Taylor Ballhttps://www.tulsamarketingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TMO-Logo.pngTaylor Ball2022-03-10 20:28:232022-03-10 20:28:25Google Wants To Emphasize Short Videos In Search Results
