Imagine if you were Google. Hundreds of millions of people come to you everyday and ask you questions. A large percentage of the questions are generic and vague. What are you supposed to do if you don’t really know what the person is looking for?
In Google’s case they are increasingly making assumptions and guessing the person’s intent by returning a mix of search results that MIGHT actually match.
For example, if you ask Google about “Pizza” — are you interested in recipes? Nutritional info? Or a listing of local delivery shops?
Without knowing your true intent — Google will guess and give you back a hodge-podge of results. If Google guesses wrong — it’s no big deal. You’ll probably refine your search query — and give Google a second (3rd, 4th, 5th) chance to return a better set of results that hopefully satisfies your needs.
Although Google’s guessing game is no big deal to the consumer — it’s a HUGE deal to other people — namely internet yellow pages and online directory sites. You see now nowadays people searching for pizza will get a list of local delivery shops whether you wanted that info or not. It’s called the Google 10 pak and it’s the list of businesses plotted on a map with address and contact details. In other words — it’s the kind of information you used to get from the yellow pages or an online directory. Indeed Google used to prominently surface these directory sites in their search results. Nowadays the directory sites still get surfaced on Google — but it’s below the 10 pak — and possibly on page 2.
To see the true impact of this dynamic, check out this great post by Chris Silver Smith. In summary, yellow pages and directory sites are being hurt by Google’s guessing-game because they are getting less traffic referrals.
