The document discusses Amazon's massive sales over the 2016 Christmas period and strategies for companies to improve their internal site search and prepare for voice searches. It notes that during the holidays, Amazon customers purchased watches every 1.5 seconds, enough luggage to fill 20 Boeing 747s, and enough 4K TVs to reach Mount Everest's peak 9 times. It then provides tips on auditing site search, optimizing for zero search results, using search data for business decisions, and marking up content for voice searches. The overall message is that companies should focus on building their own search capabilities rather than relying on Google, as search will increasingly be done via voice in the future.

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How to be Amazon
Stephen Kenwright @stekenwright

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Over the 2016 Christmas period
Amazon customers…

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…purchased a watch every 1.5 seconds
phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2232897

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…purchased the weight of a grizzly bear in gold
…and the weight of a rhino in silver
phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2232897

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…purchased enough luggage to fill 20 Boeing 747 airplanes
phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2232897

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…purchased enough 4K TVs to reach the peak of Everest 9x
phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2232897

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So while we’re dealing with big numbers…

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398,040,250

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The number of products for sale on Amazon.com
scrapehero.com/how-many-products-are-sold-on-amazon-com-january-2017-report

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4,470,000,000

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The number of links pointing to Amazon.com
Ahrefs

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Which contributes more to this visibility?

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Customers care about inventory –
not authority

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Amazon
45%
Google
34%
Retailer
21%
Bloomreach
Where do shoppers start a search?
2015

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Amazon
56%
Google
28%
Retailer
16%
Bloomreach
Where do shoppers start a search?
2016

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“People don’t think of Amazon as search,
but if you are looking for something to buy,
more often than not you are looking for it on Amazon.”
Eric Schmidt

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Half-right

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…really we’re all just @rachel_weber10

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60 million people Googled for
cars on AutoTrader in July 2016
AutoTrader

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50 million people Google for
flights on Skyscanner every
month
partners.skyscanner.net/travel-insight

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What about people who Google for flights on Google?

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Google is scared of niche search engines

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…17 days later
techcrunch.com/2017/05/17/google-to-launch-a-jobs-search-engine-in-the-u-s

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Time to revisit “search engine optimisation”

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SEO *was* about building links

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Now we build search engines

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Until we get better at informing customers than Google…
Here …or here?

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…it will continue to screw us
inc.com/john-lincoln/why-googles-new-buy-button-is-a-direct-shot-at-amazon.html

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Shouldn’t you control your own search?
fortune.com/2016/02/04/google-ends-search-appliance

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How to build a search engine:
start with search

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30% of visitors will perform an onsite search
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

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Searchers generate more revenue
than non-searchers
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

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2.41%
5.45%
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
Non-site search users Site search users
Average conversion rate
Non site search users vs. site search users

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84% of companies don’t optimise
or even measure site search
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

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Turn on site search analytics
Click

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Turn on site search analytics
Click

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Turn on site search analytics
Make sure this
is checked

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Find your report

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Visitors whose search returns 0 results
are 2.5x more likely to leave
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

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Create variables in Tag Manager

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What text is displayed for 0 result searches?

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Variable #1 looks for CSS Selector called “#search-results”

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Variable #2 codifies all pages with results as “Results”

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Variable #3 scrapes the searched keyword

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Create a tag to fire the event on Search Results pages

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…and get this back

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The Search Meter plugin does this for you
wordpress.org/plugins/search-meter

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0 result searches are a
great source of content
B3

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0 result searches for products you don’t stock
can drive merchandising decisions
B3

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A successful April Fool’s for ThinkGeek…
nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29fob-consumed-t.html

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…led to a successful product
thinkgeek.com/product/bb2e

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0 result searches for products you *do* stock
means your site search needs some work

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How to audit your site search

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Questions to ask
Technology
 Which product/platform/tool powers it?
 Was it implemented in house or externally?
 Whose job is it?
 Is there a functional spec/search user journey document available?
 Is there another site with a search experience you think is good?

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Questions to ask
Response
 Are there known use cases where search results are poor?
 Are the results returned (particularly first page) highly relevant to your query?
 What happens when you add more complexity to a query?
 How fast are results returned?
 Is relevance/speed consistent?

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Questions to ask
Functions
 Is there an autosuggest/autocomplete feature?
 Can it cope with typos?
 Can you sort the results?
 Are queries for dates/numbers/special characters supported?
 Is the number of results shown correct/useful?

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Garbage in, garbage out –
Poor/duplicate meta data ruins internal search
(and costs organic traffic)

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Site search is not just for ecommerce…
…products = answers

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An early attempt –
The ultimate guide to cruising

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*The* search engine for cruise information in 2013
web.archive.org/web/*/cruise.co.uk

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Making information more accessible…2013 style
virginholidayscruises.co.uk/cruise-guide

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We built it for SEO

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…but search for “drinks packages”…

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Wouldn’t the results below the fold have been better?

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Reasons to start with search –
2017 edition

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“Alexa, ask Virgin Holidays what drinks packages
are available on Celebrity Equinox”

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Alexa-powered devices (not watches or TVs)
were the best-selling products
on Amazon over Christmas

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50% of searches will be voice searches in 2020
comScore

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Cortana has 133 million monthly users
Microsoft

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25% of *desktop* searches on Windows 10
taskbar are voice

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Alexa has convinced us to buy things
without ever seeing them

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How’s that for voice search optimisation?

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Time to get serious about voice search
conversational UX

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Voice search ≠ speaking aloud
thenorthface.com/xps

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“Optimise for voice search” = answer questions

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Markup plays a huge role
Location is used
for weather –
which products
are suitable?
Sorted by
relevance, not
price (searchers
spend more
than non-
searchers)

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If you don’t have the answer
What are you going to mark up?

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Next steps
 Understand what your customers hoped to find on your site – and if they found it
 Make it easier for customers to find your content on your site than via Google
 Build and mark up a product database an answer database
 Make it your mission to answer every possible question about your product/service

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Your search strategy: build the
one-stop shop for whatever it is that you do

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Thanks
stephen.Kenwright@branded3.com
@stekenwright

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Image credits
Reuters/Hannibal
Dallas News
Devon Janse van Rensburg
Jakob Owens
Mario Gonzales
Linval Ebanks
Dustin Holmes
Mallory