Is Google Taking Your Traffic?
Cathy Halligan | Contact Cathy | Comment | Print version
Google is the consumers' choice when searching for information. Will Google be the consumers' choice when shopping? Consider this: - Today, Google is one of the top three sites consumers visit during their shopping process. Amazon.com is another. As such, Google has a key relationship with the consumer.
- Google is the number one source of traffic for commerce sites. As such, sites are reliant on Google for their traffic that converts to sales.
- Google constantly innovates the user experience, delivering more relevance and ease to the consumer. Case in point is the most recent Panda/Farmer update, one of the most consequential algorithm changes in the last decade. As such, the consumer develops a stronger relationship with Google based on positive experiences.
- Google continues to improve its shopping capability and its integrating shopping functionality into the SERP. As such, Google is seeking to be more relevant to the user in the context of shopping.
- Customer reviews, the UGC core to consumers' shopping process and a key traffic driver for sites, is also prominent in Google's shopping capability.
No question, Google is a quasi retailer. The questions are, at what point in time will Google's experience be compelling enough to occupy more of the consumers' shopping process? And, what actions should retailers and brands take to be top of mind and get the consumer directly into their shopping experiences (whether those experiences are in their stores, on their site, or on Facebook)? There will be winners and losers. In this column, I'll set the stage and lay out the timeline and my observations of Google's shopping capabilities. Most readers are aware of the following individual actions. What I've found is very few have pieced together these individual actions, seen the material change in the past 12 months, considered the implications, and clarified the strategy and program in response. In future columns, I'll showcase common shopper scenarios and speak to the implication of Google's capabilities now and going forward. Google Shopping Visual Timeline 2002 Froogle: It all started in 2002 when Froogle launched. Froogle was added as a home page link in early 2004. You'll notice there are only five links above the search box. Froogle is one of those five. As such, Google was clear eight years ago that product search and shopping are a meaningful part of its business. 
2007 Shopping: Froogle was removed as a home page link in late 2006. Google rebranded to Google Product Search. And in late 2007, a "Shopping" link occupied one of the coveted spaces above the search box. Shopping is a word consumers easily understand. Froogle, not so much. Great change by Google. 
2007 DoubleClick: Google acquired DoubleClick and launched an affiliate advertising network. With this acquisition, Google now has a larger data set of consumer behavior in the context of shopping. Let's look at a SERP for a portable DVD player (a hot product back in 2008). You'll notice a few things. 
- Sponsored Links (SEM) occupy the top and right hand rail. Then organic (SEO) gets the balance of the page. Google product search results listings are organized for the consumer, listing products and prices (good). But, the listings are for Home Depot, Macy's, and PC Connection. It's fair to say, these brands were not the brands top of mind for consumers for portable DVD players. Not a great user experience.
- Key to note, the links in the product search results listing link directly to the retailer product pages. This is not the case today.
2008 to 2009 Shopping OneBox and Product Listing Ads: Google's innovation in service of the user experience results in more real estate for Google and less for organic on the SERP page one. While the user experience was not optimal, Google learned and is responding. Let's look at the SERP in January 2010. 
- Sponsored Links (SEM). Consumers are visual. As such, having a photo of the product significantly enhances the user experience, and the advertisers' satisfaction. You'll also notice Google's Shopping OneBox takes page one real estate. The implication? Organic real estate is now reduced and pushed down on the SERP page one.
- Key to note, the links in the product search results listing link directly to Google shopping, not to the retailer or brand product pages. Big change. And, Google does not have the customer reviews, used by 80 percent-plus of consumers in the shopping process. The consumer, as a result, needed to go to the retailer site to get this critical information. This is not the case today.
2010 customer reviews:In April 2010, Google incorporated the consumers' number one social tool in the buying process, customer reviews. Reviews are incorporated in many places: Google shopping (example 1), Google OneBox on the SERP, Google product ads, and in organic search through retailers' and brands' use of Rich Snippets (example 2). 
Let's look at the SERP today. 
- Google dominates the SERP introducing left hand navigation. New value is delivered to the user via shopping, local, and product availability links. Google now does return top of mind brands for refrigerators in related searches (Sears, Best Buy, Amazon, Abt, Frigidaire), unlike the results for DVD player in 2008. And, you'll notice customer reviews are included in the Shopping OneBox, a significant value for consumers.
- Key to note, if the consumer clicks on Best Buy in related searches, she lands on the Google shopping page, not BestBuy.com. The consumer is having a Google experience, not a Best Buy experience. And, on this page, Best Buy paid for an ad.
Google's learning and innovation around shopping continues with the acquisition of Like.com, brand refinements in search results, and the launch of Boutiques.com. Steps for You to Take - Develop your brand. A strong, differentiated, relevant brand, infused through all your touchpoints, drives business performance on all dimensions online and offline.
- Execute better than anyone on the fundamentals important to consumers.Retailers: product, price, easy to find, in stock, fast checkout, fast delivery. Brands: product innovation and new product introductions.
- Carry the products your target customer needs and wants. Those products can be available online and/or in your stores. Make sure a product page is on your site even if the product is only available in a store and clearly showing price, the store at which the product is carried and in stock, and customer reviews. And, if you don't carry that product directly, you can supplement your assortment through a marketplace program as Amazon, Walmart, Sears, and others have done.
- Allow the consumer to easily find the product at the price she's looking for through optimized search and navigation.
- Make sure once you've done the hard work to get the consumer to your product page and about to click the "add to cart button," you have it in stock and available.
- Offer a range of easy delivery options online and in-store (order online, pick up in-store).
- And, get your customer through the checkout line fast; fewer clicks online, and fast checkout lines in store.
- Increase the quantity and quality of customer reviews.This user-generated content in the shopping process matters now more than ever.
- Customers rely on reviews in the shopping process; make sure that you've got substantial UGC volume and a process to ensure that it's constantly updated and fresh.
- Consumers are accessing reviews via a mobile phone and on a tablet anytime including while standing in a store. Organize reviews into the mobile experience so that they're easy to find and browse with at-a-glance summaries highlighting pros, cons, and best uses of a product, in addition to average rating.
- Google favors UGC in search. Make sure that you've got at least one source of keyword-rich UGC on the product page and that your content can be seen and indexed by Google, directly on the product page.
- Consumers share product reviews on the social Web, most notably Facebook. Make it easy for your customers to share with an integrated Facebook Connect login.
- Facebook Storefronts incorporate customer reviews. Make sure your content is built on an open platform that allows for open syndication to Facebook and across the Web.
Deep appreciation to Blake Brysha and AJ Kohn for your insights and collaboration. |
