Search engines compete with sites they search

Search engines are increasingly taking services and far-reaching information from the site they index. The three giants Google, Bing and Yahoo are busy with this development and are always trying to add new features to search.

Think integrated reviews & ratings, purchasing products and route planning. Where we used to go to locatienet.nl for our route, we now do so via Google Maps. The search engine thus becomes your dashboard and website in one. The search engines are now trying to attract a lot of information and especially services and transactions to themselves. The functions offered for product comparison should encourage sites like Vergelijk.nl and Kieskeurig.nl to think seriously.

Comparison sites obsolete

This trend in search engines has been going on for four years now. Money is the main driver. The longer the consumer stays with the search engine, the more ads are shown and the higher the ad revenue. But therefore, the lower the ad revenue on the site where the user should go.

Kieskeurig.nl, Vergelijk.nl and Consumentenbond.nl will eventually have to go. They will be overtaken by search engines and their right to exist will expire. Consumers will opt for convenience and Google will be the laughing stock.

Google has sixty percent of the market worldwide, even more than ninety percent in the Netherlands. Bing currently has twelve percent market share in the US and Yahoo has about ten percent in the US. All three are working to offer the content and functionality of the sites they index within their own environments, ultimately reducing visits to the underlying sites.

Eventually the search engines will catch up with each other. Distinction is the key word here. The one that can differentiate itself will take the lead.

Search engines must distinguish themselves not only in how they present results and features, but usability, layout and design are becoming more important than ever within search.

From relevance to intention?

We are growing up as Internet users, but also lazier. We go online, just as we do offline, for instant satisfaction. Search engines need to make it as easy as possible for us to reach our goal quickly without too much thought and choice. Users are "interface tired. They want information delivered to them as ready-made as possible, preferably in an interface familiar to them, rather than having to click through multiple Web sites themselves.

In recent years, it was mostly about relevance. How relevant the search results were relative to the search query. That's over. Google won that round by showing good consistent, relevant results. Meanwhile, it's no longer about the finding itself, but about the intent of the finding. What is the goal, the expected end result of your search.

An integration battle between Web sites and search engines is underway and Web sites must adapt. The search engine becomes your home page and itself the "website. The search engines are now trying to attract a lot of information and especially services and transactions to themselves. Users stay longer and bring in more in ad revenue.

Conclusion

The integration of services and transactions within the search engine will continue in the near future, and usability is constantly improving. Bing has already caught up significantly in this area.

The fact is that search engines are now mostly continuing to compete with the Web sites they search. They are taking over functionality and information and keeping visitors away from these websites longer.

For Web sites, the trend of integrating information and services means loss of (advertising) revenue. In addition, they now experience different and stronger competition because users can make 'objective' comparisons within the search engine. There is little more to do from the website side than to go along with this trend, which means making its own website suitable for integration with search engines and taking the context of content into account in content creation.

For Web agencies, the trend also has implications. They must focus on integration, develop new SEO methodologies and not lose sight of the context in which a service or product is shown.

Users experience only convenience from the developments. They can now act even faster and find useful information through search engine portals.

Concern here - as always in search engine land - is objectivity. We don't know how the search engines sort results internally. There is no accountability or control, and there should be. Search is such an important source of information - for the whole world - that such control should not be lacking.

(Source: Emerce - author: Hans Eilers, Senior Consultant at the Factor)