Most people on the Web seem to act like an ostrich. They stick their head into the sand because of the approaching end of search. It’s been increasingly visible all over the place for years.
Whether it’s mobile or local searches: googling is not about search anymore in many cases.
In 2015 it’s also time for search in general to reflect Google’s new approach to the Web. It’s all UGC (User Generated Content) Google can use.
I’ve written a few times over the recent years how Google becomes increasingly “ads only” or mimics their own personal assistant app called Google Now in that it only offers answers instead of search results. Both tendencies become increasingly apparent with almost each new Google feature or interface update. I won’t repeat that. In case you still don’t know about
- Google ads and services
- the Knowledge Graph
- or Google Now answers
showing above real search results you’ll never notice and I can’t make you by explaining again and again.
How Google is closing the gates, my story
Today I’d like to focus on what happens when Google becomes the gatekeeper of the Web in its most literal way, even though it still shows organic search results or downright forces you to navigate using them.
Google is not only the gatekeeper of the Internet, it also becomes the only entry point on Android mobile phones.
By default there is no browser icon on the Android start screen. There is only a Google icon. In order to access the Web you have to use Google search. There are only two ways to enter a URL: either you type it using a minuscule virtual “keypad” into the Google search box or you use voice search which ideally should simplify the process but it doesn’t. For example
I was not able to find my site via Google Voice when searching
- for my personal name (Tadeusz Szewczyk)
- my nick name (Tad Chef)
- my brand (onreact)
- my main URL (onreact.com)
by using voice search on a fairly standard Android phone, a Samsung Galaxy something
You might argue that with a name like Tadeusz Szewczyk that’s no wonder. Humans wouldn’t understand it either. Well, what about my web-friendly personal brands onreact and Tad Chef? Well, the best thing I could make Google understand was {on react} in two words and {ted chef} with “e” instead of “a”.
Leary Peach and Sir Key Brim
For {on react} all I got were mostly dictionaries explaining to me what “to react (on)” means. For {ted chef} I got suggestions like ted.com or chefs named Ted. I wasn’t even able to make it understand my correct Internet address. Instead Google wanted me to learn about reactors and the likes.
You can imagine that I have seen many bizarre misspellings of my name in my life abroad as I don’t live in Poland where I was born. Google managed to surpass most of them
by showing results for Thaddäus Scheffzik – not that there were many. Yes, Tadeusz Szewczyk is Polish and I used a German Android phone but I don’t call the Google founders Leary Peach and Sir Key Brim either. I’d rather expect some respect.
A history lesson about my “exotic” name
The supersmart PhD’s of Google should be able to use a database of common names from large European countries like Poland, especially since one of the most famous people called Tadeusz lived in the US and was also hero there: Tadeusz Kosciusko.
I effectively ceased to exist on the Web due to the combination of Google supremacy over Android phones and their utter inability to understand any of my names.
You could argue that I’m a nobody and thus it’s not really Google’s fault but I have been a popular blogger, search engine optimizer and social media power user for a decade at least. So all these name dropping, profiles, inbound links and branding should be useless then?
Also as mentioned above, typing on a smartphone screen is really a challenge for a man with fingers that haven’t been optimized for mobile yet. They are too large obviously and my movements are too clumsy for the screen. I mistype my onreact.com URL at least half a dozen times and Google’s suggestions aren’t exactly helpful most of the time either.
Google adding injury to insult
Now let’s imagine I try to find a workaround to make Google understand my name or at least find me through misunderstandings as well. I could optimize for {on react} and {ted chef}, even this article could be part of such a strategy to get found via misspellings. I certainly consider that.
Yet, as always, relying on a Google workaround will only make you findable fora while at best.
You have to anticipate Google’s next steps. What will happen when Google decides to show only paid results for names too? What happens when Google limits the number of results to one and lets Google Now reply instead of letting the user choose?
AI and personal assistants
It’s not all bad or evil Google schemes. In future Artificial Intelligence will guide us around like we’ve seen in the sci-fi movie “Her” set in the near future. We may even fall in love with our personal assistant because it will understand us so perfectly and keep us entertained and informed all the time. Yet we’re not there yet. Speech recognition ails as of now as we’ve seen based on my example.
Can an advertising company like Google that offers a personal assistant in exchange for your personal data be trusted?
Giving Google access to everything available on your behavior online is not the best set up. One day all these data might be used against you even in case you are “innocent”. Then Google might recognize me but at what price?
Mipselling
In the past we had to optimize for many misspellings, etc. but one day Google updated its “Webmaster Guidelines” and from then on putting misspelled words on your site meant you were a spammer trying to “game” Google. Even in case I’d decide to optimize for the misspelled top 10 to contain at least some references to me Google might ban my site altogether.
One day the separate developments of Google might converge and we might end up being served with just one paid result.
Who would pay for my name you might ask? I was surprised to see other people bid for it. The SES (Search Engine Strategies) conference buys ads for my name for example. I’ve spoken at the SES twice or rather once and a half.
The second time a rude host invited two other speakers to my session at the last minute and interrupted me several times. I had to cut off my presentation because there was no time left for me. So I wasn’t important enough to let me speak as planned but my name seems to be worth the ad spending five years later.
Paying for your name?
Do I have to outbid the competition for my own “personal brand” now? On the free Internet, I don’t have to pay gatekeepers to be online. Many average people mistake Google for the Internet by now. Google Chrome, Android and the likes make it even easier to forget that there is an Internet not being controlled by Google yet.
The only way to optimize for a Google without search results is to force Google to provide the right answer to the question for your name, business or achievements.
You have to make Google look stupid in case it doesn’t provide the right answer. You have to popularize yourself in the real world and on the free Internet. Yeah, you heard right. I’m huge on Google+, I also have several accounts, one for onreact and one for Tadeusz Szewczyk (Tad Chef) yet Google Voice won’t find me. It doesn’t suffice to tell Google about you.
Many people and websites have to tell Google about you. Then at least Wikipedia or another third party source will explain who you are, what you do or where to find you. After all Google becomes a directory now using the whole Web as theirs content farm. The Web of the “knowledge grab” is not about websites you optimize anymore, it’s about information that has to be available on Google.
Photo Credit: Image from “Her” movie courtesy of Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.
