
Now we can official say 2015 is on it’s way. As each new year starts, the buzz around Google continues to grow. With each expert giving their advice one thing still remains constant – Google search results continue to evolve. The engine’s latest updates focus on mobile Web access and Internet security. Google is also attempting to reduce the number of steps that users must take to find suitable content. With each update Google is still trying to remain the nation’s top search engine.
Mobile Growth & Updates
Content Integration
Another trend has enabled many searchers to conduct research without visiting separate websites. For SEOs this isn’t ideal because it is sort of like jacking the information with giving the original writer credit – but nevertheless it is happening. Each year, Google integrates more useful content into its result pages. It supplies maps, weather forecasts, word definitions, zip codes and other data. Google “Elvis Songs” – look at these results. Although, this material benefits searchers, it reduces traffic to websites that provide similar information and seems to be heavily focused on Google specific results or YouTube…which of course is owned by Google.
Secure Advertising
Google continues to transition more services to HTTPS and reward other websites for doing the same. The jury is still out on this but I have seen favorable results for strictly E-commerce sites that made the change (although it was a very small sample size). As part of its “HTTPS Everywhere” campaign, the company recently decided to encrypt advertisements. It began using secure connections to deliver YouTube video ads in 2014. The company plans to switch most other promotional content to HTTPS by the end of June.
Social Metrics
One of Google’s major goals is to add more up-to-date social network content to its results. For instance, it displays Google Plus ratings alongside local business listings. The search giant renewed its focus on social media integration when it signed an agreement with Twitter in early 2015. Search Engine Land reports that standard search results will probably contain the latest tweets by June – but I guess we will have to wait and see.
These trends affect webmasters and searchers in numerous ways. Users can expect to accomplish more and more tasks without leaving Google. People with mobile Internet devices will find it increasingly easy to browse the Web. Meanwhile, website owners must work harder to achieve or maintain high rankings in the results (as if it wasn’t already extremely hard). Companies that enhance security and mobile accessibility will benefit from increased traffic as we enter the second half of 2015.