Search is undergoing dramatic changes taking it away from a focus on keywords and websites, towards conversational search and app indexes. In this presentation Distilled discusses the ways search is fundamentally changing including compound queries, implicit search signals, user signals as a ranking factor, the move from keywords to intents, and the drive towards data driven search.

1. EMERGING TRENDS IN
ONLINE SEARCH
Tom Anthony
Head of R&D
@TomAnthonySEO
Will Critchlow
Founder & CEO
@WillCritchlow

2. COMPOUND
QUERIES
IMPLICIT
SIGNALS
PERSONAL
ASSISTANTS
1 2
5
WEB SEARCH TO
DATA SEARCH
4
KEYWORDS
VS INTENTS
3

3. 1
IMPLICIT QUERY SIGNALS
1

4. search query
“london tube stations”

5. explicit aspect of query
implicit aspect of query
iPhone user, on street in London
“london tube stations”

6. IMPLICIT SIGNALS: MODE OF TRANSPORT

7. • NBED - PHYSICAL WEB
IMPLICIT SIGNALS: HYPER-LOCAL (BEACONS)

8. TIME
TOTALSIGNALINFORMATION
explicit signal
implicit signal

9. My vision when we started Google 15 years ago was
that eventually you wouldn't have to have
a search query at all.
SERGEY BRIN
GOOGLE

10. COMPOUND QUERIES
2

11. Query
Algorithm
Response
Revised
Query Algorithm
Response
OLD MODEL: INDEPENDENT QUERIES

12. HUMMINGBIRD
Credit: mikebaird on Flickr

13. brought to you by…
https://youtu.be/JfJOFvKDNu4

14. NEW MODEL: DEPENDENT QUERIES
Query
Algorithm
Response
Additional
Input
Algorithm
Revised
Response

16. https://youtu.be/M1ONXea0mXg

17. KEYWORDS
TO INTENTS
3

18. Source: /u/UpboatOarKnotUpboat
SEARCH HISTORY OF A 5 YEAR OLD

19. KEYWORDS
INTENT
IMPLICIT
SIGNALS
COMPOUND
QUERIES

20. CONTEXTUAL SEARCHES
http://selnd.com/1MnLlF8

21. WEB SEARCH TO
DATA DRIVEN SEARCH
4

22. SHIFT AWAY FROM ‘WEB SEARCH’: ENTITIES

23. SHIFT AWAY FROM ‘WEB SEARCH’: DIRECT ANSWERS

24. FROM WEB TO APP INDEXING & DEEP LINKS

25. DOESN’T STOP AT APPS
?

26. CROSS DEVICE TASKS & SEARCHES
source: http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf (thanks, Dr Pete)

27. CROSS DEVICE: APPLE HANDOFF

28. CROSS DEVICE: SHARED SCREENS

29. DIRECT ANSWERS & CARDS

30. CARDS: UNITS OF DATA

31. CARDS: ADAPT EASILY CROSS DEVICE
source: http://blog.intercom.io/the-end-of-apps-as-we-know-them/

32. CARDS: NEW MOBILE INTERFACE

33. CARDS: DATA SOURCES
Knowledge
Graph
Data
Partnerships
Everything Else
US

34. FACETED SEARCH: CROSS DEVICE CARDS?

35. PERSONAL ASSISTANTS
5

36. GOOGLE’S MISSION

37. ‘PERSONAL INDEX’: PHOTOS

38. ‘PERSONAL INDEX’: CALENDAR

39. ‘PERSONAL INDEX’: EMAILS

40. A single interface for all searches.

41. PERSONAL DEVICE

42. FOCUSED ON SCREEN SIZE

43. It can take
photos

44. It can take
photos
It knows
where it is

45. It can take
photos
It knows
where it is
It knows who
your friends are

46. It can take
photos
It knows
where it is
It knows who
your friends areIt knows
if you are
walking,
running,
etc.

47. It
interacts
with the
world
(beacons,
pay, NFC)

48. It’s personal,
signed-in,
and taken
everywhere
It
interacts
with the
world
(beacons,
pay, NFC)

49. It’s personal,
signed-in,
and taken
everywhere
It has
natural
m
ulti-
touch
It
interacts
with the
world
(beacons,
pay, NFC)

50. It’s personal,
signed-in,
and taken
everywhere
It has
natural
m
ulti-
touch
It has
notificationsIt
interacts
with the
world
(beacons,
pay, NFC)

51. It's actually the PC that has the limited, basic, cut-down
version of the internet… it only has the web.
‘mobile first’
via Ben Evans

52. NOT JUST GOOGLE

53. MICROSOFT CORTANA

54. PROACTIVE SIRI

55. HOUND

56. FACEBOOK ‘M’

57. COMPOUND
QUERIES
IMPLICIT
SIGNALS
PERSONAL
ASSISTANTS
DATA
DRIVEN
SEARCH
INTENTSKEYWORDS
PERSONAL
INDEX &
DEVICE

58. THANKS
@TomAnthonySEO
@WillCritchlow