Google Gboard Key To Hyperlocal, Cross-Device Targeting, Ad-Serving For Wearables

Google made a move into quick, yet relevant, search in text messages, emails and a variety of other mobile apps, but the initial foray that provides a limited number of results will require marketers to pay more attention to optimizing for extremely relevant query results.

Doug Platts, VP at iCrossing, who oversees organic growth such as search engine optimization, content, and social, said the one-query first-page result will begin to affect sites like Open Table and Yelp, eroding traffic to aggregators that pull in a variety of sites. 

Gboard makes hyperlocal search results increasingly important, but it also opens the door to cross-device targeting and serving content on wearable devices such as the Apple Watch, Platts said. "Gboard and Emoji search will become very efficient on your Apple Watch," he said. "It caters to the small screen."

Platts predicts Adopt more across devices and move to accessible on the smartwatch and paid advertising to monetize the system.

Scott Shamberg, U.S. president at Performics, sees Gboard becoming another entry point into mobile search queries, which long term could increase Google's market share on devices running iOS into Google search.

"Over time, though, I could see geo-fencing becoming a heavier point of emphasis and product listing ads trying to push closer to the actual keyboard," Shamberg said. "I could see sponsored placement within Gboard, which would shorten the customer journey."

Misspellings, ambiguities and abbreviations could become another benefit for Google, said Brian Valentini, VP and group director at Digitas LBi. He believes those idiosyncrasies will help Google improve semantic search. Until now, Google only uses data someone types into a search query to feed its algorithm, but by capturing everything users type on their phone Google could potentially use this to enhance their organic and paid search relevancy and help give them a deeper level of understanding on how to map results based on what people type. 

Gboard gives Google the ability to identify everything users type on their phone, providing another source of data to enhance retargeting and increase the relevancy of ads across it properties. While they have yet to monetize it through paid-search advertising, as consumers send and respond to personal messages, this gives Google a direct line of site to what products consumers could want, before they even begin searching for them. "They could feed this behavior into any of their remarketing products and help advertisers reach a more precise audience," Valentini said.

Webmasters need to focus on assuring sites are optimized across devices, Valentini said, but also that local content remains clean and crawlable by Google's bots. Gboard, by default, steers users toward "near me" results that give any site with a local presence opportunities to connect with consumers through relevant keywords.

The layout on phones, however, truncates many titles and descriptions in Gboard results, which could impact click-through rates, Valentini said. "I would not recommend webmasters change their site optimization for Gboard now, but they may want to optimize exclusively for it in the future," he said.

 

 

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