The document discusses recent changes in search engines like Google. It explains that Google's Hummingbird update moved search to focus more on natural language and topics rather than keywords alone. It also discusses Google's move to more secure "not provided" search data. While related, Hummingbird is an algorithm change and secure search is a technology decision. The document provides key takeaways for marketers, noting the need to focus on meaningful content, collect analytics data, and understand search is becoming more conversational and focused on intent rather than keywords.

1. The
State
of
‘(Search)’
A look at the latest in search evolution, including Hummingbird and Secure Search,
(aka: keywords ‘(not provided)’)

2. Search is
growing up.
(And we should too.)

3. What’s changing?

4. What’s changing? Devices.
Devices like
smart phones & tablets
have created a new search
experience and have started
the movement toward
voice-activated search.

5. What’s changing? Search Engines.
Google continues to revolutionize
search with social signals,
emphasis on content, releases
such as keywords ‘(not provided)’
and more. International search
engines such as Baidu, Sogou and
Yandex gain popularity.

6. What’s changing? Location.
Wearable computing
technology like the
Pebble watch & Google Glass
will become a common way for
people to search.

7. Still not convinced search is important?
A few stats that might convince you...
2/3 of in-store mobile
searches are conducted to
help make purchasing
decisions
Google had 114.7B
searches per month
(in Dec. 2012)
Global smartphone use will
reach 2 billion by 2015
28% of mobile
searches result in
conversions
2/3 of in-store shoppers
prefer mobile sites to apps
40% of users will click another
mobile result if a site is not mobile
friendly
73% of mobile searches trigger follow-up actions
Smartphone search use
most often occurs:
during travel (72%),
in restaurants (64%) &
in stores (63%)
Mobile search queries almost double
during the holidays
89% of B2C customers use
search engines for purchase
decisions & 71% of B2C
purchase decisions are started
with a search engine query

8. Hummingbird v. Secure Search

9. Hummingbird v. Keyword ‘(not provided)’
Google’s Hummingbird and the move toward
becoming 100 percent keyword ‘(not
provided)’ (Google named: Secure Search) are
often being grouped together in conversations,
or even confused for one another;
however, the two topics are different.
“There is a relationship between them over the long term, but there’s not an explicit
relationship, and there’s not a specific connection on the technology side.” -Ray Grieselhuber

10. What’s the difference between
Hummingbird & Secure Search?
Hummingbird is an algorithm change, one of Google’s largest updates in the
last 10 years. It moves search queries and behavior away from focusing purely
on keywords and short searches like “pizza locations nearby” to more
conversational search. For example, the types of questions asked on Quora
are longer, more natural language queries.
Hummingbird was designed to help Google keep up with ongoing changes in
search behavior. People are searching for more nuanced topics and seek very
specific results. Short keyword phrases are not equipped to provide the best
results. Mobile is also having a large impact on how people search.

11. What’s the difference between
Hummingbird & Secure Search?
‘(not provided)’
In contrast, the move toward 100% not provided data, labeled by Google as
secure search, was a technology decision made to encrypt keywords that
people are searching on to find new sites. It is not an algorithm update like
Hummingbird.
In the past, keyword level analytics data has been the focus of identifying
performance changes and traffic drivers, and therefore has been critical in
accomplishing goals. In the absence of this data, based on the new Google
changes, new metrics will need to be prioritized for these purposes.

12. Aren’t they a little bit related though?
+ ‘(not provided)’
In the long term, Hummingbird and secure search are indirectly related
because now you aren’t able to get keyword-specific data from your analytics.
You are forced to rely on two things:
1. A content-centric analytics approach to measure your performance
2. Increased reliance on technology that enables you to model data to
understand what people are looking for and tie learnings back to your
content.
Secure search pushes us in that direction and the Hummingbird algorithm
dovetails with that because there is an increased emphasis on topics vs.
keywords.

13. Key takeaways for marketers

14. Key Takeaways for Marketers: Hummingbird
Get to know Google. Marrying social marketing and search into a larger content marketing
strategy makes Google more important to marketers than ever before.
Semantic search is in its very early stages. A lot of work remains for the search industry to make
semantic search a reality, so there’s no need to switch your entire marketing strategy immediately.
Algorithms have to be trained to be effective and that requires lots of data. As people start to update
their sites with more structured data and behaviors continue to change, Google will continue to make
updates. Pay attention and start making smart content moves and setting up metrics now.
Get comfortable with change. Marketers should understand that the search world is very
dynamic and highly active.
“We’re going to see tons of changes over the next few years.” - Ray Grieselhuber
Skate toward where the puck is moving. Place a broader focus on meaning and intent in all
of your content creation. Get to know your audience better and spend time learning about
semantic search’s history and principles.

15. Key Takeaways for Marketers: Secure Search
Collect & archive data. This is probably the last chance you have to collect and archive as
much data as you can. Make sure that all of your data is safely preserved in accessible places.
It may not be useful 4-5 years from now, but can be useful for the next 6-12 months.
Re-evaluate your analytics technology. Pure analytics solutions will not longer be sufficient,
because they have removed an important data set. Look for solutions that integrate across
content and provide recommendations.
Train teams & executives on the importance of search performance. Being found by
your audience is more important than ever and measurement will change in a content and
semantic search world. Make sure you are ready to explain these changes and to accurately
report on your performance versus competitors.
“Keywords are very easy for people to understand, and now we’re moving in to this world where it’s not just about
keywords, which are essentially just strings of text, but it’s about understanding their meaning.” - Ray Grieselhuber.

16. Further impact of search engine changes

17. Further impact of search engine
Further impact of search engine
changes
changes
Search engine users are adapting to using Google Now, although
many may not know it by that name. Upon searching a growing
number of specific terms, Google shows more dynamic content.

18. Further impact of search engine
Further impact of search engine
changes
changes
Brands and agencies seeking to get found or help clients be found online are
suddenly dealing with many more variables than ever before. The challenge is to
understand how to perform well in search and how to understand the
different behaviors people are exhibiting in their search.
“If you’re a brand or an agency trying to get found
you’re creating content, and our goal is take all of the
different data that’s out there and basically try to turn
it into usable intelligence for you so that you
understand what you should be creating, how you
should be creating it and how that content should be
distributed.” -Ray Grieselhuber.

19. Further impact of search engine
Further impact of search engine
changes
changes
Creating content is going to be more challenging. For example, responsive
websites are supposed to help content creators adapt to many different devices
and provide high-quality experiences, but what happens when people are using
voice search? What happens if people are only consuming the content
surfaced by Google Now and don’t leave the search page?
If you look at the types of queries that Google
Now and universal search are starting to
dominate, you can get information based on a
combination of smarter keyword parsing and
semantic details than you could get a couple
of years ago.

20. Setting up for success

21. Setting up for search success
Understand how much universal search and Google Now can impact your business. There will
be certain queries that will not get traffic, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on search as a
marketing channel. Topics that are more nuanced are going to provide more relevant queries; however,
keep in mind that with Google Hummingbird, they will be trying to surface more nuanced content.
Really understand semantic search. Understand what Google is really trying to do with structured
data and how it’s important on your website. Start structuring your data as much as you are able to
in relation to both knowledge graph and universal search. Schema.org is a good place to get started
and Google Webmaster Tools has a lot of information about structuring data
Create content that is located offsite. Whether that is user-generated content or content hosted
on channels like YouTube, it’s important to be more places. Branding and search marketing are
merging very quickly, so being everywhere and being findable is really your No. 1 responsibility.

22. Contact us
email r@ginzametrics.com
twitter @ginzametrics

23. Sources
1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-17/smartphones-in-use-surpass-1-billion-will-doubleby-2015.html
2. https://snaphop.com/2012-mobile-marketing-statistics
3. http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/mobile-in-store.html
4. http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/05/infographic-in-a-mobile-world-customer-reviewsmatter-more-than-ever-before.html
5. http://www.compuware.com/en_us/application-performance-management.html
6. http://searchengineland.com/google-search-press-129925
7. http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/
8. http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2215868/53-of-Organic-Search-Clicks-Go-to-First-LinkStudy