SEO Game-changers, Part 2: Expert Interview Series with Mike Grehan

LC: We also talked previously about local search and how it's becoming more important. What can local businesses do to be sure they get seen on Google and other search engines aside from search-engine optimization and paid search?

MG: One of the great things about Google and local search is its Local Business Center. You type in an address and upload your information, and then it appears on all sorts of Google applications, such as Google Maps.

Suppose, for example, you have the OpenTable application [which uses Google Maps] on your iPhone, and you're walking around New York City, and you're looking for a restaurant with open seats. The satellite [which tracks you through your iPhone if you turn on that feature] will see where you are and then will tell you there's an open table at one of its participating restaurants even a yard or so away from you.

Search by Voice

LC: What about applications that use voice-recognition software?

MG: This is also something that people have been working on, again related to an iPhone application. It's coming together in the car. Google is working with both Garmin and TomTom (GPS device manufacturers).

You enter the information about where you want to go, using speech. For example, you click "search" and say "sushi restaurant Los Angeles." The satellite, again, will know where you are, find a restaurant and give a description. You click on it, and the route finder changes the route of your car to direct you toward the restaurant.

Browsing Without a Browser

LC: You've talked about the importance of businesses being seen in applications that rely on search, like those for the iPhone and others. Is that where search is heading?

MG: Browser-based search isn't going away, but applications are the way to go these days, especially the ones that use Google. With the Open Table and GPS locater examples, the user does all of that in an application on the iPhone. You don't need a browser for that.

As I said, though, browsers won't go away, but they will change. Google's new Chrome browser is doing all kinds of stuff with [the] Ajax [application] and new technology. When you install Chrome, it becomes more of an operating system, not just a Web browser sitting on top of your OS.

The old model was using search in a browser that lead to a text page, but searchers don't want just that anymore. They say, "Give me the video; give me a podcast, a press release, or whatever." They're saying it with their clicks. This delivers a richer end-user experience.

The end users, by the way, don't know that all this is going on. They just know that they're having a better time with search than before.

The Future of Search

LC: Okay, we've talked about how different aspects of search are evolving. Now, let's zoom out a couple orders of magnitude. Please give me a 360-degree perspective on where this is all going.

MG: We will move away from crawler-based protocols, the idea of just a mindless bot crawling pages, and have greater and broader relationships with the content producers.

Data created by the end user outweighs that from content creators by about 5 to 1. We see much more materials coming from user-generated content such as blogs, social media, forums, YouTube and Flickr. That's why, for example, you should have your videos on more than just your own site. Ultimately, it increases your visibility.

Resources

Mike Grehan is Global Director of Keyword-Driven Marketing for Acronym Media.

Find Part One of my interview with Mike Grehan here.