Google’s 2019 Research Report is all about Insights for 2020

Theme one:

Consumer journeys are becoming increasingly complex

“Simple” + “ideas” mobile queries have grown by over 60 %

So, I did some research for these queries and here are some of the popular related search queries

• Simple kitchen design ideas
• Simple digital marketing ideas for beginners
• Simple digital marketing ideas for restaurants/hospitals/small businesses
• Simple ideas to surprise your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband
• Simple ideas for a new career at 45
• Simple ideas to decorate a living room
• Simple ideas for a date/for a short film

Google does not share their search volume data. However, it is estimated Google processes approximately 70,000 search queries every second, translating to 5.8 billion searches per day and approximately 2 trillion global searches per year. The average person conducts between three and four searches each day.

Source: Hubspot

We all want our lives to be simple and we are looking for ideas that will make our day-to-day activities easy and convenient.

When it comes to solving a problem or self-diagnosing, people turn to Google search and they expect content that is meaningful which quickly addresses those needs.

Let’s try to understand the intention of these search queries — ‘Simple’, ‘Ideas’. You are most likely looking for information, in other words, you want ideas and solutions.

In all of our content classes, I tell my students –

“Every Google search is a problem. Your content should provide solutions”

Consumer journeys today are becoming increasingly complex. And, the question for you to answer is how are you going to solve these problems? or how are you going to inspire? or how are you going to attract these consumers to your business?

The answer is simple!

By providing valuable content that simplifies their search and provides easy solutions/ideas to their problems.

You can do this by:

• Creating relevant contextual content
• Optimizing that content to the best possibility

Actions: Do it now (Research)

Search for queries related to your business from your mobile.
Example:

• Simple _________ (your product/service) Ideas
• Simple _________ (your product/service) Ideas
• Now slowly type in A after ideas, then B, then C, then D till Z and you will get a bunch of interesting content ideas/queries that users are searching related to your product/services)

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

With the above activity, you will become aware of the user queries and problems. This will help you in coming up with possible ideas or solutions that will address the user queries.

Now the ideas/solutions can be represented as content in different formats.

For example Blog Post (text format), Video, Images, Infographics or a Podcast (Audio Format). This becomes your exclusive content which caters to the needs of the people.

Mobile searches for “personalized______” have grown by over 60%

Some of the examples were personalized gifts, personalized necklaces. The question to ask here is — Can your product/services be personalized?

We at Web Marketing Academy provide digital marketing certificate course in a classroom setting, and here is what I can think of, the possible search queries.

For example Personalized Digital Marketing Courses for working professionals/for students/for me/near me/for beginners

If you are a retail brand, users are searching for your store before walking into your store. According to the report, 83% of shoppers are searching before going to the store.

Here, when they are searching for your store, what is your brand/store reputation online?
What content shows up when they search for your product or service online?

Example:

Recently, I met with one of my friend’s friend. She visited us to get some information about the course. She runs a boutique. The Google My Business listing for her business had few reviews and ratings however the address for her boutique was incorrect, instead of 3rd Main, the address listed was 4th Main.

Small error but has a significant impact, as when people are searching online, they read the reviews and are inclined to visit the store. However, they end up having difficulty finding the store because of the incorrect address mentioned online.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind when users are searching for your store online, what do they see?

She made the required changes and her boutique now has several good reviews plus she has also added some videos which is helping her customers to take a look at the product, details of the product, availability, price, etc. (* Insight — 55% + shoppers say they used online video for shopping)

So what can you do for your store/business?

Actions: Do it now (Research)

• Go to Google and search for your business-related question. Hint: Use personalized searches like Me, I, Right for me, Near me, Should I and look for what users are looking for. Google gives that option of People also ask

Hint: Use personalized searches using ‘Me’ & ‘I’ — Right for me, Near me, Should I, etc.

Additionally, you can also do a Google search for your product/service and add quora/quora.com after the search query.

Example: “ladies tailor in Bangalore quora”

• List down all the FAQ’ your customers asked or are asking, check your emails. Here, your customer support team will be a good resource.
• Free video tools: Lumen 5 (This converts your blog to video), Adobe Spark Video

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

• Create videos, blogs
• Create multiple formats of the content. Video, audio, text, visual content. One user query can be answered in multiple formats.
  Hint: Re-purpose content

And when you come up with the required content, keep the basic SEO strategies (Search Engine Optimization) in mind.

If you don’t have content or if your content is not showing up its time to do SEO. Here is a starter guide from Google

Theme two:

New media channels are emerging

Mobile searches for “Image search” have grown by over 60%

We all love visuals, and as per the report, images are not only helping online shoppers decide what to buy but also inspires them to purchase.

So, how can you include Images that drive your business?

Actions: Do it now (Research)

Go to Google Image and search for your brand.

• What images do you see?
• Are you seeing relevant useful images?
• Will users get inspired by seeing those images?

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

If you don’t have an account on Pinterest. Create an account and upload images on Pinterest and optimize it. Create multiple boards for each category (Example: Guides, Culture, Events, About Us) and add/pin relevant images.

When uploading the images, Pinterest will ask for title, description, tags, category. Use long-tail keywords to describe the images.

For example — Use keywords like Digital Marketing Guide for Beginners instead of just Digital Marketing

If you are running Google Ads, now Google allows you to add user-generated reviews in the ads which include photos. You can structure these images and make them visually appealing. Read more about Google shopping ads with Images

A tool to create awesome images: Canva

SEO for images. Optimize your images on your website. If you are using WordPress, there are plenty of plugins like All in One SEO, Yoast, etc, that will allow you to optimize your images.

Ensure all the images on your website have the alternate text and description with relevant keywords.

Details about alt text and how to optimize.

Example:

As media consumption habits change, marketers need to be more informed than ever about where to connect with customers

Today, our customers are using voice assistants like Google Home, Alexa to get their day-to-day work done and they want to get connected at their convenience from their preferred devices.

Does your business exist in Google Assistant, Alexa skills? Does your business have a podcast?

The new media — Podcast, Voice search, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality is changing the habits of users and the way they consume content. Pay attention to all these new emerging media and technologies.

Do a voice search for your brand, product/services.
Is it showing up? If not, this will be the right time to optimize.

Examples:

Actions: Do it now (Research)

• Install the Amazon Alexa app in your phone & search for business categories. Does your competition have Alexa skills?
• Open up podcast app, browse for relevant podcasts. Understand what are the top business podcasts? Get ideas for your podcast.

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

Start a podcast. With anchor.fm anyone can create a podcast within minutes, you don’t need to have any technical expertise.

Explore Actions on Google

Explore Amazon Alexa skills

Theme three:

Satisfying immediacy is often more important than loyalty

75% of smartphone users expect “Immediate Information”

“Best” + “right now” queries have grown by over 125%

Technologies, habits, platforms are all about convenience, why do you think today Uber, Swiggy, Big Basket, Zomato, Practo, Dunzo, Rapido are all successful in India?

Time!
All these brands save us TIME and Time = Money & Convenience!

Same thing you follow the theme one and two. Do your research for Near me searches, look for your brand/product/service

Actions: Do it now (Research)

Similar to theme one and two, do your research for ‘Near me’ searches, look for your brand/product/service

Actions: Do it now (Solution)

• Update your Google my business page with Google posts
• Frequently check for your business listings in Google, Yelp and other local directories

Thanks for hanging in there. I hope you found something useful in this article. If you like me to do some in-depth analysis for theme 4 & 5 would be happy to.

Please leave a comment below. You can get in touch with me here in LinkedIn and Web Marketing Academy

Thank you Priya H Iyer for the edits. You can follow Priya on LinkedIn

Theme four:

Traditional industries are transforming with digital

Theme five:

Standards are being raised in privacy and digital wellbeing