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How Google Search is reinventing itself in 2022
The evolving digital landscape has changed people’s search behaviours forever.
Google is completely changing the way that search engines operate.
Search behaviours encompass much more than simply asking a question and looking for an answer. Often, people don’t have a specific question in mind, but are curious to explore a topic. Or they might be trying to learn something that doesn’t have an obvious answer.
The online world has become more visual and interactive than ever, thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Many people are turning to multimedia to find what they’re looking for. Sometimes, a simple text result isn’t always the best format to satisfy a search query.
The tech giant recently announced many exciting plans during their “Search On 22” event to reinvent search by being more than a search engine.
Types of searches
Before we talk about how Google is adapting to this new era of visual search, let’s briefly talk about the three types of search queries to understand the motivations behind a search.
- Navigational — To find a particular website, such as ‘Medium’
- Informational — To learn about something, such as ‘the origins of Halloween’, or answer a question, such as ‘what’s a normal age to get grey hair?’
- Transactional — To make a purchase decision, which can be specific, such as ‘buy iPhone 14 Pro’, or broad, such as ‘book a flight’
By understanding these types of search queries, Google can decide which formats are best to display the relevant results, such as:
- Photos
- Short-form videos
- Long-form videos
- Reviews
- Forums
- Blogs
- News
Now that we’ve talked about why people search and the formats to display information, here are some of the ways Google is reinventing the way users search.
