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Changing the Paradigm of Search
Enquiro has carried the reputation of being on the leading edge of search behavior research for a long time now. In 2005, we were the first to define what has become accepted as the “Google Golden Triangle” for search engine results page (SERP) positioning.
However, in the last 2 years, the field of search has become more and more dynamic, growing to include social networking and user generated content. From an advertising perspective, sponsored search now includes video and graphic advertising interfaces, geo-targeting and dayparting, and with Google’s pending purchase of DoubleClick and Microsoft’s acquisition of aQuantive Inc., media buying. From an organic search perspective, new niche search engines are changing the competitive landscape, and the three big search engines are looking at vertical spaces to retain total market share, pushing down optimized listings. In addition, personalization is increasing. There are two things that have driven the rapid growth of search importance:
- Firstly, the market has demanded more relevant results to retain user loyalty. (Users not only expect to find what they are looking for; they also expect it to be in the medium they want. In other words, if a user is searching for “Heroes TV”, they expect video ads along with links to multimedia and Flash pages instead of purely text links and simple reviews.)
- Secondly, advertisers have shifted larger budgets to search engine placements because they have grown increasingly more effective in generating ROI with rapid broadband adoption, growing global accessibility to the Internet, and the rising consumer base of Generation Next. Basically, the market is growing and demanding more as a result.
In addition, the face of business has transitioned through the advent of search engines. Not only has the B2B market slowly started to gain faith in the power of search for branding and closing the gap in a complicated sales process (driving budgets from direct sales and brand evangelism), but B2C start-ups have opened their doors with an already established globalization strategy (where local bricks-and-mortar businesses target Italian teenagers just as easily as U.S. Big Box stores).
The change is that there is no longer a distinct relationship between the consumer and producer, where the producer pushes the product with the best fit. Instead, a new relationship exists, where the consumer initiates to select the producer for the best fit. The paradigm has shifted to people looking for chocolate and deciding to pick Hershey, no matter whether it is harder to locate or more expensive to buy.
The majority of industry research has followed a new marketing paradigm – positioning the messaging to create the best exposure to the potential consumer, to attract the most eyes, and to best encourage a conversion. Also, the new paradigm includes tailoring the messaging to fit the target market, talking in their language and not confusing the target market with “advertising” talk.
However, if we recognize that the audience is full of unique people, positioned around the world and holding the power in the new marketing relationship, industry research has so far been lacking by focusing on a North American audience and its interaction with search.
So how do other cultures interact with search engines? Also, are the “best practices” for the US and other English speaking countries universal to search engines? Do they work with script-based languages, different reading patterns, etc?
Overview
Because the Internet was first established in the US, it has been built on a North American platform. In fact, the vast majority of industry research has been focused on improving the usability and relevance of search for the North American audience. However, the Internet is a global medium. Unfortunately, most websites only offer simple translations or options to compensate for a variety of audience cultures, and do not drastically change layout or navigation to account for non-Latin alphabets or reading patterns.
Traditional print layouts for magazines and newspapers (text based user interactions) are adjusted for different languages, alphabets, and reading patterns. However, search results and processes are not.
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