With constant changes to the way Google displays search results (
Panda,
Hummingbird), it is key for travel marketers to keep a check on new features and trends that might ultimately affect a company's revenue.
Searchmetrics, a digital marketing software solution provider, studied the Universal Search Integrations on Google search results (US) throughout 2013.
The study examined these forms of integration - videos, images, news, shopping/Product Listing Ads (PLA), maps - for several million keywords searched on Google.com.
Universal Search Integrations
Apart from the ten organic search result links displayed in Google's first page result, the site also lists various media properties such as images, videos, maps, news, and shopping products. The combination of these are termed "Universal Search Integrations".
These Universal Search elements such as maps and images can also be seen often in Google Knowledge Graph section.
During 2013, Google delivered Universal Search results for around 81% of all searches.
Videos are displayed often
By the end of 2013, video integration was appearing for 65% of keyword searches in Google. Among the Universal Search Integrations, videos topped the chart, followed by images, news, shopping and maps.
- Videos: appear for 65% of keywords
- Images: appear for 40% of keywords
- News: appear for 16% of keywords
- Shopping: appear for 6% of keywords
- Maps: appear for fewer than 1% of keywords
The following chart shows the market share of each integration type within Google.com:
In addition, more than half of videos (54%) shown in Universal Search integrations was hosted on Google-owned
YouTube.
Though the percentage of video integrations from YouTube had decreased by 30% by the end of the year, it still topped the chart by a huge margin compared to other services such as
DailyMotion and
Vimeo.
It is interesting to note that no other video hosting sites appear in more than 10% of video integrations. For example, Vimeo and Daily Motion videos both account for around 5% of video integrations each.
The average first position for video integrations from YouTube ranks two places above the average first position of videos from other sites.
Images, Images and Images all over
Images are now more frequently shown at the top of the Knowledge Graph, rather than between search results.
In absolute numbers, the number of images displayed is higher than any other Universal Search integration item.
Below is the percentage share of media items displayed in Universal Search integration (in absolute numbers):
- Images: account for 45%
- Videos: account for 29%
- PLAs: account for 18%
- Maps: account for 7%
- News: accounts for 1%
Image integrations appear at least once for 40% of keyword searches.
Below is an infographic from the study:
NB: The entire report can be accessed here.