Commentary
Holistic Search: The Future Is Silent
- by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, April 29, 2019
Rob Pavacic, SEO Lead, Verizon, noting that trends point down for search, said his company relies on clickstream data to better answer the question whether it is winning in search or not.
Directional metrics to measure search results "doesn't indicate if you're winning," he said. "Instead of measuring top positions, we started looking at traffic share."
"We are capturing a larger percentage of traffic than our competitors. It helps us future-proof our approach no matter who's out there."
Such methodology is a bulwark against the future of search, he said, which is in doubt. Not long ago, it was thought that the future of search was voice. But will it be "a bit more quiet than anyone expected?" Pavacic asked after showing a short video about a breakthrough in "mind search."
"What if we looked at search data we currently have and build a better model for measurement?" he asked, rhetorically. "Starting with keyword search -- no matter what we did, clients had a problem understanding it. Algorithms, ranking positions they don't understand. But it's simple if you explain it in layman's terms. And there's a data set that tied a lot of channels together -- clickstream."
"A lot of SEO tools today use clickstream to normalize numbers in systems. We are starting to leverage this data between paid and organic search to see what value can be added," he said.
"Ordering pizza with your mind? A more realistic future of search than voice. It's not just search -- this is thinking. Integration with machines, micro transactions are not too far away."
