Back in May I wrote about the Google livestream that introduced the changes that they will be rolling out to mobile search, and talked about the I-want-to-know, I want-to-go, and I want-to-buy moments. Now Google is slowly rolling these out and here’s the latest information:
For those I-want-to-know moments, last month Google announced the rollout of new enhancements to shopping ads – gently expanding ads that do so as you swipe, revealing additional information about the products, such as ratings and availability.
This feature is rolling out across Android this month, with iOS to follow later, and aims to drive more qualified traffic to retailers, by giving the user that bit more information before they click. Here’s an example:
Mobile search is becoming more and more important for businesses as a whopping, 28% or nearly one trillion dollars worth of in store sales in the US, were influenced by mobile searches last year.
Another change that Google is rolling out is that it plans to start ‘listening’ to the user by interpreting the phrases they are searching for. For example if the user asks for reviews/recommendations, that’s what Google will provide and the same goes for searches querying / seeking information about a particular product’s features.
Similarly for the I-want-to-go moments, Google is making it more clear to users when the product they are looking for is in stock in a local store, that is driving distance from them.
Back in 2013, local inventory ads were launched and due to their success for both shoppers and retailers, Google will now be showing these more often by prioritising them over PLAs for search queries that imply local importance – ie. containing “near me”.
It has also launched Google Now which claims to “give shoppers the right information at the right time – without them even needing to ask”. It allows users “to browse that store’s shelves 24 hours a day” and also see “useful information such as sales, closing hours, loyalty card data, and more.”
Lastly, for the I-want-to-buy moments Google is working on new features to help retailers improve their conversion rates on mobile devices (in the US conversion rates are two times higher on desktop than they are on mobile). It is working with some of the big retailers to roll out linking from PLAs straight to the retailer’s app, rather than the website, as well as testing ‘Purchases on Google’, which does exactly what it says on the tin – allows users to buy through Google.
For more information, directly from Google about these updates, see: http://adwords.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/winning-shopping-micro-moments.html
