Search in 2012: 4 Trends to Watch

Along with the rest of the web, search continues to grow and evolve this year. Here are our top search trends to watch and be a part of in 2012.

Search Gets Personal
With the 2011 advent of Google+, it is no small wonder that Google search has gone social too. When logged into your Google account, your searches and browsing are tailored to you and your network.

Search becomes social

You now have the option to view posts from friends first, and additionally, the remainder of your search results will be tailored to you, your preferences, and your network as well.

As a result of social media’s rapid gains in search, we can expect to see links that are shared most via social networks to gain higher organic rankings on search engines.

Page Rank? Not so much.
As a result of search becoming so personalized, page rank as we knew it in the past will fall to the wayside. With so many factors being used to determine page rank—social media, location, and search history—results will differ for each individual, making page rank an obsolete measurement.

Mobile Search: More personal than ever.
With exponentially more cell phone users upgrading to smart devices, mobile search is changing rapidly to keep up. Highly localized apps and sites such as Foursquare, Yelp, Groupon, Scoutmob, and other geo-based services have changed the way we search from our phones. According to websitemagazine.com, Foursquare is the check-in app leader. Foursquare’s plans to enhance their offers and explore features, means that Foursquare and similar apps will be used even more for search in 2012. Google reported in 2011 that 79% of mobile users search on their phones while shopping and that 95% of mobile searches relate to location.

Mobile advertising will also increase in 2012 as advertisers increasingly realize that mobile search provides valuable leads. eMarketer.com reports that mobile ad spending is projected to exceed $2.6B this year. $1.45B was spent on mobile advertising in 2011.

Paid Search
In 2012, more and more ads will be delivered via video as opposed to text ads. There is speculation that Google will begin offering incentives to advertisers (based on budget size and ad quality) to maintain their stronghold of the PPC arena.

With social media becoming increasingly ubiquitous, advertisers will keep up with the trends by asking for “likes,” “+1’s,” and “follows” in their 2012 advertising.

Search = Influence
Google hit the 1 billion monthly unique visitors mark in June 2011, so it is no secret that search has become quite powerful. Search has become so influential in fact, that correspondents project that Google searches may be a better indicator of election results than preliminary polls.

So, what was the most-searched term on Google in 2011? Facebook.

We’ll be back soon to report on 2012 mobile trends. In the meantime, please share your thoughts with us on search. What are your favorite tools for finding the information you need?

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