Google doesn’t just want to display the internet, it wants to be the internet. This will mean a lot of websites, especially small business websites will be consumed. But it also means that those who adapt early, will rise to the top.
The main shift occurred in 2015 when Google released Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). The new AMP service involves Google hosting a copy of your website on its own computer servers so that your page is already loaded before someone clicks on it. AMP makes websites load four times faster on average. But, only specific AMP websites enjoy these huge benefits. Other websites start to fall by the wayside in Google’s ranking, and this is only the start….
Major Shift: Google is Storing The Internet
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages; it’s the new gold-standard for making mobile pages, and that’s why the mobile websites of The Sydney Morning Herald, Bauer Media, Reddit and many other big companies are already being provided by Google AMP.
What does this mean for the business website? Faster load-times equals losing far less potential customers to bad internet connections especially on mobile. The Washington Post recorded a 23% increase in mobile users within seven days of adopting AMP.
And this is just the start. We can expect more and more of the web to be stored in Google’s own data centres from now on. There are going to be benefits to complying with what Google wants (to become the internet itself), and those who don’t are going to be left behind.
For your small business website, you want to be leading the pack. Any change in Google’s search algorithm is a chance to jump ahead of your competitors in the organic search rankings (to get closer to the top of the page in search results that aren’t Adwords).
But there’s a lot more in store for you–
How Google Search is Replacing The Website
Have you noticed that if you search for ‘weather’, you see a neat weather display right on Google’s search page. There’s no need to visit a weather website anymore. Do you see what Google did? It just made every weather website almost redundant in one fell swoop. Fortunately, if you are on-the-ball, your business website will fare a lot better.
This is the future of internet searching: Searching for your local carpenter won’t involve looking at four different carpenter’s websites, evaluating them, and then scrolling around for the contact details. Google Search is trying to make visiting websites a thing of the past. If you search for ‘local carpenter’, you see the names, ratings, websites, locations and phone numbers of the top carpenters right on Google’s search page. Many people don’t visit the websites, they just call the highest rated, nearest one.
Google is extracting the data from these individual carpenter’s pages and displaying it straight on the Google search page. All of these websites are being replaced by Google search, however it’s not bad if customers are getting your phone number even more quickly.
Google Search Will Start To Look Very Interesting
Right now, when you search ‘weather’, more than half of the page that you can see is taken up by the weather widget. And Google keeps making more of these nifty gizmos. It’s not hard to imagine a near future where the entire front page of Google search isn’t a list. Instead, it’s an array of ‘gizmos’ organising data in different interactive ways.
Then how will people find your business? They will see the details nicely organised in one of these gizmos. That is, as long as Google can extract your business details from your webpage. Most websites don’t have what’s called ‘structured data’, which allows Google to identify your business details. But this will be absolutely imperative in the future, and it’s best to get your data structured now before it becomes a major factor in Google’s algorithm.
The Next Stage: Voice Search and AI
AI apps like Siri and OK Google are gaining rapid acceptance and sophistication. Right now, not everyone knows the convenience of using voice search or they find it a bit too clunky, but this will become a major way that people search the web in the future.
How will people find your business website through voice search? They will say "direct me to a local service station", and Google will direct them to the nearest, highest rated service station. Google won’t want to send people across the country to a store that doesn’t even do car repairs. Google needs solid, accurate data.
This is why your website must tell Google, in the most definite, structured way, the location, rating and type of your website. Not many small businesses have the foresight to do this, but if you start doing this now, you will be well ahead of the pack when AI breaks through as the next big change in society.
Conclusion
When the business website is eaten by the Google search engine, will your website be ready? Many websites will be completely discarded (hopefully those of your competitors). Luckily, you got the memo by reading this article, and you know that structured data is the thing that you need to be found on Google search, even in a post-website world.
If you haven’t got a website and want a simple one that’s structured to perform in Google and you don’t need to worry about, click here to learn about our Jetsites.