Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

Google released Google Squared today, and as usual with out Google needing to advertise it, people go nuts about new stuff released by Google.

Essentially Google square takes your search results and contextualizes the search results with dimensions you can choose yourself. Pretty neat, and actually, pretty straight forward in terms of visualization. Calling it a revolution may be a bit excessive. It’s like Google search had a lovechild with Microsoft Excel.

For now, how Google Squared assembles the results of the square are a bit random in a way that doesn’t make it easier than google search to find specific things you are looking for. It may prove to be a more useful tool to get an overview of larger topics quicker for now. So it seems that we are getting a preview of where search might be going, not a final product.

Via Alina’s FB Stream

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Google launched their SearchWiki last week, and caused quite a stir in the blogging community.  It’s not really a wiki (as comments left are not editable), but it allows for unprecedented user control over search results.

Users can leave comments on websites returned as search results (and therefore on the Brands themselves) and move search results up or down in the list as they wish.  As initially launched the results and functions were only available to signed-in users.

Watch Google’s description here.

It was discontinued a few days later, but the implications are very interesting from a marketer’s perspective.

In the short time it was active, spammers added links to their websites to other, more popular addresses, the posted comments could not be edited (again, not very wiki-like) and users found that they could not  opt-out of viewing the searchwiki results along with the content that they requested.  (Several of these behaviors were not called out in the Google description of the function.)

The points for marketers are clear.  Perhaps this experiment did not succeed, but a form of it is likely to make a return.  Users will (and some say must) continue to gain control over their digital experience, and create their own experiences.  Given this cultural fuel, how will marketers participate?  Search engine optimization must evolve to include real reasons for users to include an organically presented result. Sponsored search links may radically decrease in terms of effectiveness.  Those that do not take an active stance on managing their own reputations online will continue to be at the mercy of (possibly) vocal minorities, and their silence can equal guilt in the mind of the digital shopper/surfer.  Below is an example of a possible future entry (from www.readwriteweb.com):

I don’t think this is the last we’ll hear about this kind of user empowerment.  And marketers will have to stop thinking about search results as ads and start making them Acts.

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With tough financial situations everywhere, and things not looking to improve anytime soon, more and more marketers will be tightening spending and looking for ways to stretch marketing Euros.

A recent post on Ad Age (http://adage.com/mediamavens/peterson.html) showed that Procter & Gamble Co.’s Randy Peterson has focused on research that shows a surprising level of search activity around package-goods categories and branding impact for search ads, even if clicks are relatively sparse.

Mr. Peterson says he’s found a way P&G can enjoy a scale advantage in search — by treating it as one of the few truly global media for a company with two dozen billion-dollar global brands.

“Usually, in media, we look at it on a country basis,” Mr. Peterson says. “If you buy a TV ad in one country, you don’t really want it spilling over into [another] and paying for that. [But] with search, you can have one system that works globally … doing keyword analysis in country A and with little or no effort reapply that in countries B through Z.”

…

“Seventy-one percent of consumers expect us to be there in the search-results page,” he says. “If you’re not there, it’s like not being on the shelf at the store. They think if you’re not there, you’re not a leading brand.”

Another big advantage for P&G in search is feedback that can create continuous improvement in marketing pitches, sometimes dispelling preconceived notions about what words have meaning for a brand. “You can see what keywords are driving the most results,” Mr. Peterson says, “and you should be trying to win against those words.”

How much time and attention do we place on making sure that the search experience for our consumers is supporting and encouraging the user?

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