February 2013 Newsletter

Google Searches for "Specified" Construction Products

During a phone call with a long-time advertiser, I did a Google search for "folding doors" and was very surprised by the results. I typically use startpage.com for searches for privacy reasons. The screen shot I took below shows many of the changes in Google search results that affect your incoming searches and the results architects and specifiers see.

This search was done with a "clean" browser - I used Internet Explorer in the InPrivate Browsing mode. This provides Google with no history of past searches or websites previously visited. This search was done in Utah and your results will be different based on your location.

There are 3 major changes in the Google search results, 2 of which are demonstrated in this search.

1. Google predictive searches - Google will predict the next word you are searching for

2. Customized search results - based on your Google+ profile and past searches from this browser using the cookies passed back to Google

3. Vertical search results - depending on the words used, Google will optimize the results for the type search they assume is being made. Examples of vertical search types would include:

• People - searching for a person will return images, short biography, links to movies or songs, etc.
• Maps - searching for a restaurant will return a map of restaurants local to your Internet apparent location
• Books - searching will show a picture of the cover, and more information about the book, including links to Wikipedia and Amazon
• Movies - searching will show information about the movie, local theaters, links to IMDb information about the movie
• Construction products - see below for the example. Searching assumes you are a consumer wanting to purchase the product - and not an architect wanting to incorporate the product into their design or specifications.

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The Google predictive search shows the terms Google thinks you might be looking for to speed up your search and take you more directly to the results Google thinks you want. This will tend to drive the searcher to specific pages in your website, and not to the top of the site to see all your products. In researching this article, I found a page with funny predictive searches:

You can see more funny predictive searches here: [link fails]

Next on the search image above, note the "Shop for Folding Doors on Google" with pricing information in the upper right corner of the screen shot. These are sponsored or paid for results, as are the results in flesh tone near the top and the ad links under the images.

All of the organic or free searches in the visible area in the browser are places to buy the products - Amazon, Home Depot, Lowes and Menards, not the manufacturer of the product.

I recommend you discover the predictive search results for your top search terms. When appropriate, ensure your website uses these words in a meaningful way.

Do the searches using the browser private mode and do the searches from different locations in the country to compare.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Colin

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Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
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