Guest Blog: 'Graph Search is Local Recommendations', By Simon Wharton, MD of PushON


There has been much mumbling about the impending Facebook search offering. Could this seriously be a the threat to Google that Bing has single handedly failed to be? Could this be the threat to Google that genuine competition really needs? Simon Wharton, MD of award-winning online marketing agency PushON, shares his thoughts.

Well, Graph Search launched earlier this month and the answer is clearly a resounding no.

It was a ludicrous supposition in the first place that Facebook could relatively rapidly threaten the Google search experience. Facebook has infrastructure and it employs enough ex Googlers to be able to manage to deliver a reasonably good search algorithm but it doesn’t have the index data.



So what is Graph Search and what does it do? Well at the time of writing there is little to be seen other than some fancy videos and a waiting list to gain access to the function. It’s fair to say that strategists have received this with a resounding “What evs”. Now speaking from a completely ill-informed position and taking a punt on what I think Facebook should be doing (obligatory IMHO), this is about monetisation once again.

To provide some background, search at a global and national level is congested. It’s a difficult and expensive place to play in. the nature of the Google algorithm is increasingly such that it favours brands. It favours those brands that elicit chatter and those happen to be the brands that spend significant sums. Google itself is playing at that level in terms of offering its own affiliate type product in various verticals such as finance. It’s not necessarily the greatest user experience any more.

However (another IMHO), the battle grounds will be drawn up around localisation and recommendation. Consider where you are more likely to eat, the place that places prominently in search or the place that places prominently and people that you know like it? That’s why Google has G+, it needs that human voice to personalise its algorithm so it can return targeted results. And if it can return targeted local results then it can offer that space to advertisers.

Similarly with Facebook. Their strength is personalisation of product and service. Your friends or friends of friends like something, so when you search based around interest, they have an offering that they can sell to very personalised service/product providers. This is a whole slew of potential new money for either Google or Facebook that will deliver very targeted results. If Facebook can demonstrate that its ads work, that they satisfy a demand then revenue will follow. And that’s the point (IMHO III) of Graph Search.

Simon Wharton, Managing Director of online marketing agency PushON



JANUARY 2013

Missed last month's guest blog, by Origin's New Business Director, Duncan Slater? You can read it here: 'The World of Sharing Capitalism'



Comments...

  • All valid points, but this also implies that not only "Big Brands" but also "Local Businesses" get prime estate rankings within Google's Blended Results. It is not that difficult for a local business to rank well for local searches (and most searches are local by default). You just need to play the SEO game slightly differently.
    08/02/2013 by Greg

Add a comment


Name:   
Comment:   
 

Jobs we know about

Things we know are happening

  • Creative Networks 9

    Bradford-born Turner Prize winner Elizabeth Turner talks through her creative process.

    20/06/2013 | Leeds - Leeds College of Art

    Bradford-born Turner Prize winner Elizabeth Turner talks through her creative process.

  • Manchester Internet Meeting June 2013

    This group is for all those in Manchester and the surrounding area, who are interested in ...

    21/06/2013 | Manchester - The Castlefield Hotel

    This group is for all those in Manchester and the surrounding area, who are interested in Internet Marketing, whether you currently have a business and an income or just starting out.

  • Creative Arts and Creative Industries: Collaboration in Practice

    Welcoming the diversity within creative practice and the creative industries. This conference ...

    21/06/2013 | Manchester Metropolitan University

    Welcoming the diversity within creative practice and the creative industries. This conference seeks to reassess how such research can be explored while going beyond definitions of practice-led and practice-based research.

  • Koogar Digital: Creating a beautiful experience on and offline!

    Do you have social media account(s), a website, a blog and yes, you’re updating and tweeting ...

    24/06/2013 | Liverpool - The Women's Organisation

    Do you have social media account(s), a website, a blog and yes, you’re updating and tweeting but not getting what you want from it? So, why not "Create a beautiful experience" online and offline for your audience?

look at all events Go to our calendarlink