On Friday we held the Transformation of Search Summit 2019 here in New York City. Huge thank you to all of our speakers, attendees, and sponsors who made the day a success!
In this article we’ve compiled some key quotes, stats, and otherwise tweetable highlights from the event.
Keynote: The transformation of search
First we heard from Carolyn Shelby, SEO Manager, Audience Development at the Walt Disney Company / ESPN.
One of the key quotes from her session was “The trick is to understand the psychology of people. Get in front of the consumer. That’s where search engines are going. What is the least amount of thinking that I can make a consumer do? How can I get them what they want the fastest?”
“The trick is to understand the psychology of people. Get in front of the consumer. That’s where search engines are going. What is the least amount of thinking that I can make a consumer do? How can I get them what they want the fastest?”@cshel at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
She also walked us through a brief SERP evolution, from collecting and organizing, to scoring / ranking relevancy, to now delivering immediate gratification.
A SERP evolution, from:
– Collect and organize
– Score / rank relevancy
– Deliver immediate gratification@cshel from Disney / ESPN kicks off #TSS2019 ! pic.twitter.com/L7FpU9THAJ— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
The future of search is visual
Next up we heard from Michael Akkerman of Pinterest on the growth of visual search and its role in the future.
He talked about the evolution of consumer expectations, from physical stores, to digital convenience, to omnichannel promise, to the inspired shopping of today.
Where it once may have seemed that consumers were only focused on convenience, we’re now seeing the re-emergence of shopping and discovery in the consumer experience.
Evolution of consumer expectations:
-> Physical stores
-> Digital convenience
-> Omnichannel promise
-> Today == Inspired shopping@Mike_Akka of @Pinterest on how shopping / discovery are re-emerging in the consumer experience#TSS2019 pic.twitter.com/iegoYfLCn4— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
He also talked about the role of Pinterest in consumer discovery. On Pinterest, he says, they have billions of text-based searches every month. Of those, 90% are non-brand searches. “People don’t know what they want,” he says. For brands looking to focus on the discovery portion of the consumer journey, Pinterest could be a great option.
“We have billions of text-based searches every month, and 90% of them don’t have a brand qualifier yet — people don’t know what they want.”@Mike_Akka on the potential to be found on @Pinterest #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Michael was joined on stage by Dave Fall, CEO of BrandNetworks. They did a Q&A about what brands can do to get started with visual search.
For many brands, they said, it can feel like there’s a big barrier of entry or that it has to be a huge undertaking. But, they noted, remember that your brand does have visual assets already — think about what you use for your website, display ads, Amazon product listings, etc. Consider how you can re-purpose those to get started.
Advice on getting started on #visualsearch?
“I would say just start. Sometimes the barrier to entry is going from text to visual. But your brand has visual assets: website, display, Amazon. Collect that and think about how you can reuse it.”@Mike_Akka & @davefall #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
What DTCs and legacy brands can learn from each other
Next we heard from Kerry Curran of Catalyst (GroupM). She talked about what brands can do to flip their performance marketing mindsets.
One particularly interesting finding she shared was that in campaigns, when brands communicate like a human, it can improve conversion by 900%.
“Communicating like a human increases campaign conversion by 900%.”@KSCdigitalpulse from @CatalystSEM on what #DTC brands can do to flip their performance marketing mindset.#TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
She also noted that in the US, women over age 50 have $15 trillion in buying power. For many marketers, it might seem like younger generations have more appeal — but older generations have deeper pockets.
“Women over 50 in the US have $15 trillion in buying power. Yes the younger generations might seem to have more appeal, but how can you expand into audiences with deeper pockets?”@KSCdigitalpulse from @CatalystSEM at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Embarking on a search transformation project
After this, we had a panel discussion on “embarking on a search transformation project.”
The panel included experts from Conde Nast, Microsoft, Mindshare, Volvo, and McKinsey.
John Shehata from Conde Nast shared some work they did to refresh and consolidate older content in order to boost keyword visibility by up to 1000%.
The challenge, as he pointed out, is that 90% of online content was created in the last two years, and 90% of that content gets no traffic. And, 50% of searches on Google end in no clicks. To face that, his team is working on taking past content, consolidating multiple pieces, and focusing on making each piece amazing.
90% of content online created in last two years
90% of that content gets no traffic
50% of searches on Google get no clicksWhat can we do about this?@JShehata from @CondeNast on how they refresh / consolidate older content to boost keyword visibility by up to 1000%#TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Noel Reilly of Microsoft also touched on the speed at which new content is created. She encouraged marketers to think more broadly about what people want and are looking to discover. At Microsoft Ads, she said, 18% of queries each month are new queries.
When inputs are continuing to change so much, she recommended marketers really look at their search query reports to build content around those.
“At Microsoft Ads, 18% of queries each month are new queries.
Inputs are changing so much, you need to broaden your thinking to discover what people want.
Look at your search query reports, build your content around that.”@Noooel from @Microsoft at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
John Shehata of Conde Nast also spoke a bit about what they’re doing to prepare for voice search. Overall, he’s adopting a more conservative approach: investing a little, getting the foundation ready, and waiting for more clarity before diving into larger scale investment.
He likened the current discussion of voice search to the conversation about mobile a decade ago: “Remember when we said ‘mobile is here’ for ten years? But then it took ten years.”
“Remember when we said “mobile is here” for 10 years? But then it took 10 years.
Be ready for voice search, invest a little bit. Beyond that, there’s not much we can do yet on a big scale. Have the foundation ready, wait for more clarity.”@JShehata on #voicesearch at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
And to wrap up from this session, we heard another great point from Noel of Microsoft: “The most successful brands I see are the ones putting people at the center of their advertising. Regardless of what the next big thing is in search, your job as a marketer is to understand your customer.”
“The most successful brands I see are the ones putting people at the center of their advertising. Regardless of what the next big thing is in search, your job as a marketer is to understand your customer.”@Noooel from @Microsoft at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Amazon search
Next we heard from John Denny with some interesting statistics and expert tips on Amazon search.
When it comes to how different generations search, he revealed that 52% of Gen Z named Amazon as their favorite site for shopping. The number two spot went to Nike, who claimed just 4% of votes — putting Amazon at 13 times that.
What are Gen Z’s favorite sites for shopping?
Amazon took the #1 spot with 52%
13x higher than the #2 spot — Nike at just 4%@johnhdenny on the latest in #AmazonAdvertising#TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
He also discussed three of the main options CPG brands have for driving purchases / traffic: a brand’s own website, a brand’s detail page on Amazon, and in-store traffic.
For the largest 100 CPG brands out there, he said, there was five times more traffic on the Amazon detail page plus in-store than there was on the brand’s own website.
His message: for brands not on Amazon, might be time to consider it.
Of the 100 largest CPG brands out there, between
1. Brand website
2. Brand detail page on Amazon
3. In-store trafficThere was 5x more traffic on the Amazon detail page + in-store than there was on the brand’s own website.@johnhdenny at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Optimizing for voice search
Next, we heard another panel, this time specifically on voice search, from Mastercard, Synup, and Advantix Digital.
While earlier in the day we heard a more cautious perspective from Conde Nast, this panel was a bit more bullish on voice search.
Synup CEO Ashwin Ramesh gave one interesting rationale around the rapid adoption of voice search globally in countries like India, Indonesia, and parts of Southeast Asia. In India, he says, 50% of all searches are already done via voice. “They’re leapfrogging markets,” he said. He also gave the personal example that his grandmother — she doesn’t type and has never used a computer, but she sends him voice messages via her iPad.
“In India, 50% of all searches are voice.
Countries like India, Indonesia, SE Asia — they’re leapfrogging markets.
My grandmother doesn’t type, she’s never used a computer. She sends me voice messages via her iPad.”@ashwin_ramesh of @synup at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Paradigm shifts in search
After this we heard from Stephen Kraus, Head of Digital Insights at Jumpshot. He shared many interesting statistics about the current state of the search industry and how it’s shifting.
90% of all search happens on Google, he says, and it skews branded (unlike on Pinterest). Of the top ten most used search terms on Google in the past couple months, seven are brands: Google, Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Walmart, Craigslist, and BMW.
The other three, interestingly, were “you,” “weather,” and “news.”
Top searches on Google in past couple months (total volume):
– 7/10 are brands
– Others are “you,” “weather,” and “news”@stephenkraussf from @jumpshotinc at #TSS2019 pic.twitter.com/CZbz8L8Z9H— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
While 90% of all search happens on Google, when it comes to product-related search, 54% happens on Amazon.
54% of product-related searches happen on Amazon. @stephenkraussf from @jumpshotinc at #TSS2019
— Search Engine Watch (@sewatch) October 25, 2019
Stay tuned for part two with highlights from the afternoon sessions, as well as some deep dives into specific insights!
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