Version TL; DR

The SERPs have changed. The search features are now a dominant force on the results pages of major search engines, especially Google. This could have significant implications for millions of small businesses that rely upon search engines to get their traffic.

Google has historically provided an open playing field for small businesses in both organic and paid searches. These changes could endanger the relationships Google has had with smaller companies and tip the scales in favor of the big brands.

What are the changes? What are their impacts? And, most importantly, what can we do about them?

A Seismic Shift

Marketers love to talk about “the year of”. It’s hard to believe how many years it’s been “the year of” (there are currently 3.6 million results for this search term on Google), but marketers love to talk about what 2019 will bring.

These declarations can be misleading, but they are great headlines. I am going to retroactively declare 2018 as the year of enhanced search.

Google has been continuously enriching the SERPs over the past few years. They have added more features than the traditional ‘ten red links’ but they started at the end of last year and continued throughout 2018.

The Changes

Many of these enhanced in-search experiences that we are seeing are not new or have been around for some time. A non-exhaustive list includes:

* Knowledge Graph (and derivatives like Knowledge Cards etc)  

* Live Results (weather and sport) 

* Carousels (everything, from songs to products) 

* Questions/Answers (including highlighted snippets). 

* Enhanced regular search results (rich snippets) 

* Videos and movies (which make heavy and exclusive use of YouTube videos). 

* Local results (again exclusive to Google Maps) 

* Google My Business 

* A variety of tools, including a mortgage calculator 

* Custom in-search portals, including Google for Jobs (which was launched in the UK earlier in the year).

This is what is new the massive exposure that Google has given these results over the past year. According to Spark Toro this (along with subsequent large drops of organic CTRs, and click share) started at the tail end of Q4 2016.

Google is not uncommon to test stuff before making a decision (remember 300-character meta descriptions). However, 2018 has shown that the shift in SERPs isn’t temporary or unnoticeable. It is a significant directional shift and it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

We’ve seen Google test new enriched features in paid search ads, other than organic. However, this is only a small part of what we have seen, and I’m not surprised if more are added in the future.

The logic makes sense. But is it beneficial?

The Philosophy

All of this fits in with Google’s evolving philosophy, which aims to shift from a search engine into an answer engine.

This is due in part to the rapid growth of voice search. Voice searches are not compatible with the traditional ten-blue link format. Google’s enhanced search features enable them to give single* authoritative answers in a matter of seconds.

* Recently, Google started offering multiple answer options for ambiguous questions and disputed subjects. However, the overall effect is the same.

Google is attempting to answer users’ queries directly from the SERPs, rather than redirecting them to other sites. While Google’s promotion of Accelerated Mobile Pages has been welcomed in certain areas, it has also been criticized elsewhere for similar reasons. This is part of a worrying ‘walled yard’ approach by Google, which starts to restrict users from accessing the content in the SERPs.

A related but different note: The changes to Google’s paid search ads are part of Google’s recent shift to focus. Google rebranded AdWords to Ads and tried to get away from its ingrained image as a search engine.

The Impact

Miami’s digital marketing is constantly changing. If you don’t like it you probably aren’t in the right job. However, sometimes change can be disruptive and even downright harmful.

Rand Fishkin and Dr. Myers have raised concerns about the changes to the SERPs. Peter J. Myers and Dr. Rand Fishkin have made great points about the possible negative effects of these changes on organic marketers.

Both of these are worth checking out. The impact that this will have on smaller businesses has not been mentioned.

* Effects of Organic

The search query length and the industry sector can have a significant impact on the size of the organic effect. While weather and sports queries have experienced huge drops in organic CTRs, other areas are relatively stable.

It is clear that while enhanced search results can provide huge CTR benefits for a few select links, overall organic traffic to the links languishing far lower can be hammered, especially on mobile devices where screen space is already limited.

This has been true up to a point. Google cannot possibly give equal treatment for every search term result. The CTR of links on the first page has always been higher than those that languish on the lower pages. And the higher a page was, the better the link performed.

These changes are however different in three important ways.

They reduce prime positioning. The SERP features are… huge. The screens haven’t gotten any bigger (in actuality, they’ve gotten smaller with the rise in mobile), so it’s harder than ever to squeeze.

Some searches require you to scroll through six or five mobile screens full of featured snippets and structured snippets. Knowledge cards, ads, and more to reach the first organic link. This is more than most users can manage. There has never been a greater squeeze on prime search real property. 

They are also more engaging than regular organic search results. If you can forgive the metaphor, the ten blue links are representative of a fair and democratic search universe.

Every link is created equally and everyone can compete equally (factoring in ranking) for user intent. This has all changed with the advent of SERP features. The new, colorful, and feature-rich SERPs are more popular than the old blue links which appear blatantly boring and are less likely to get a click.

The search results are more likely to be regarded as having Google’s official seal. Google began to give unambiguous, authoritative, and unacceptable answers to questions about Barack Obama, women, and the Holocaust. This led to amusing and embarrassing consequences for Google. This isn’t a joke. If Google presents an answer as “the”, whether it’s a fact, weather forecast, news story or company, product, or service, it automatically gives official weight to these results.

Why is this important for smaller brands?

Although enhanced features are dominated by larger, more established brands, they seem to dominate. You need to have a good organic ranking, high-quality structured data, and often the resources to produce quality images and videos.

It is a very high barrier. It’s not easy to rank organically, but it’s likely more difficult than ever. You could argue that brands should invest their time in marking up websites, and Schema.org makes it easy. While you could be correct, it doesn’t change the fact that many smaller businesses are unlikely to do this.

These changes will make SERPs more exclusive and the top brands will be at the top.

This would create a very unequal environment, in which those in the top positions are more likely to be able to cement their power at the expense of smaller companies that are pushed further down the screen space. This would be a betrayal to the very people Google founded its business upon.

Google seems to be taking the piss here, dragging a carrot to make us mark up our sites. This makes it easier for them, while simultaneously beating non-compliers to the big stick of plummeting organic CTRs.

Although I don’t know what the legal definition is of abuse of monopoly power, this seems to me to be it.

* Effects of Paid

This trend doesn’t just apply to organic results. Google Ads has proven to be a great way to allow smaller companies to compete with industry leaders due to its fair Ad Rank algorithm, auction-based, and other features. However, there are rumors of potential changes.

This was first noticed by Google’s Ads Grant account minimum guidelines. These restrictions require that charity accounts have a minimum of 5% average CTR across all campaigns.

This is possible if your charity has a large brand presence, but it’s almost impossible if your charity is small. This means that those who are most in need of the money (which is still a great thing for Google to do) will have to work hard to obtain it.

Search Engine Land spotted the video ads for Search. This beta is currently only available to a few major film studios. However, if the program is extended, it could hurt smaller advertisers.

Although video ads are great, many companies don’t have enough money to produce them regularly. Therefore, a larger roll-out would inadvertently but automatically favor companies that have the funds to invest in the necessary creative assets. 

Both cases show that the smaller players are at risk of being pushed out, while the established brands get preferential treatment.

Key Questions

Are these all bad changes?

No. No. These enhanced SERP features are not necessarily bad for marketers. There are many opportunities for SEOs who can make it to the SERPs. They’re also great for big brands. They do have their drawbacks, however.

Is this against Google’s ethos to be fair and accessible for all?

It’s difficult to imagine how it could be. If this trend continues, smaller and less technical-competent companies will be squeezed out.

Does Google take liberties with

One that is controversial. Google might argue that the changes are better for the end user. After all, they are their number one customer. It doesn’t feel half as a misuse of monopoly power for smaller companies, content creators, and advertisers (who Google heavily relied upon to get to this position) who are quickly finding that their search for real estate is being pushed to the margins.

Is Google being greedy?

Maybe. Google might argue that it is putting the user first. However, with organic links being pushed further down, advertisers are under greater pressure to pay for rank via paid search ads. This is Google’s primary source of revenue.

I for one welcome our new SERP Overlords

According to Vladimir Lenin, a well-known capitalist advertiser, what can be done?

1. Play the Google Game

The easiest, most palatable, and unfortunately most effective way to deal with these changes is to follow the leader. Google demands that we use structured data to simplify its indexing process. We have no choice but to accept this. We have been there in many ways. But this time it appears we won’t be able to get back as much as before. It leaves a bitter taste, but it’s the truth.

For more information, see our articles on the importance of structured data and our article on how structured data works.

2. The long tail is the best.

The new enhanced SERPs are currently limited to short-tail searches. This includes the ‘fat head’, and to a lesser degree the ‘chunky center’. While featured snippets, knowledge cards, and featured snippets still exist for long tail queries they are less common.

This means that SEO best practices are still applicable for the time being.

3. Try to get in the Top 10

Although this may sound a bit patronizing, considering that SEO is what it all started with search engines. However, the truth is that you have almost no chance of being featured in any enhanced SERP features if your query isn’t in the top 10. It’s time to increase your efforts to get to the top page for your target keywords.

4. Your brand is what you should be building

This is not a new recommendation, sorry. These changes are not likely to be going away anytime soon. They also favor larger brands. Being more well-known in your target market will provide additional organic benefits. Instead of trying to reach every sector, you should focus your advertising budget on smaller segments and work steadily to build your brand.

5. Complaint

Last but not least, I believe it is the best option. It is to voice your opinion to Google in unison. Voting with your feet is not an option (yay, monopolies!) So your only option is to speak up and hope that it has an impact.

Despite its shortcomings, Google has been generally open to listening to organic marketers, even when they were wrong. They may again do so. So stand up and be counted and contribute to the discussion about this evolving face of SEO.

It might just work, maybe.