Like it or not, Google has OWNED search online for the last decade (the beta version of Google Search came out in 1999 for you history buffs, two years AFTER Yahoo refused to buy Google for $1M – ouch!)
But are things changing around search?
I’ve noticed that I do more searching now outside of Google…
- Twitter search for trending stories, news, to find groups of like-minded people to share things with and locate everyone from my idols to possible partners and customers…yes, there is Google Plus, but it’s not the same
- Facebook search for communities, joint venture opportunities and again…the latest trending information as well as tapping directly into information conduits around my interests:Â music, business, sports, personal development, etc…
- Instagram and Pintrest…have started searching on Instagram lately as I have had some of my community evolve toward Instagram
- Ask FM – I personally don’t use this, but my kids sure do…this seems to be one of the places the young people are moving after leaving Facebook
Why did I choose to perform searches on these other networks?
- Timeliness of information…you get information near real-time, search can’t give you that
- Reliability…my take now is that Twitter and Facebook are more reliable search vehicles than Google is. You get better results more often. Too many times lately I search Google and I get less than the best result…I typically get useless content developed years ago on About.com or some big Corporation – neither of which I was looking for. Instead, I can do a search on Twitter or Facebook and not only find what I wanted but usually tons of other really useful, related things as well
- Convenience…truth is that I spend more time on Twitter and Facebook each day and so searching within the app or on my PC is simple – it’s right there!
Sure, I still use Google – especially if I am looking for background information. When I want current, niche-related information though I’m more apt to start with other platforms these days.
What does that mean for your business?
Obviously my point here is that there are increasingly active means (other than Search) to reach your audience.
Make sure you are active on social tapping into interest groups, updated content and be posting frequently whether you are posting your own organic content or curating access to other timely and interesting information. From my findings, you are now just as likely to get your content picked up via someone searching it out on Twitter, Facebook, Pintrest, Instagram, etc…as you are optimizing around Google search.
Your thoughts?
