Google‘s messy middle and what (ecommerce) SEOs need to know about it

31 categories, 1,000 shoppers per category, 10 purchase simulations per shopper, 310,000 data points: Google's Consumer Insights team recently conducted an extensive experiment to understand how users really arrive at a purchase decision on the Internet. What the findings of this study are and what this means for SEOs you will learn in this presentation.

Transcript

1. Google‘s messy middle and
   what (eCommerce) SEOs need
   to know about it
   Florian Elbers
   NEOSEO
   speakerdeck.com/neoseo
   @florianelbers
   

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2. Who is speaking?
   Florian Elbers (he/him)
   u Freelance SEO-Consultant
   u In SEO since 2009
   u Host of SEO Meetup Hamburg
   u florian@neoseo.de
   u linkedin.com/in/florian-elbers/
   u twitter.com/florianelbers
   @florianelbers
   1
   #BrightonSEO
   

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3. Who knows what it is? And from when?
   @florianelbers
   2
   #BrightonSEO
   

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4. The purchase funnel / conversion funnel
   @florianelbers
   3
   #BrightonSEO
   AWARENESS
   DESIRE
   ACTION
   INTEREST
   

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5. Google‘s shopping behaviour experiment
   u 2 years long study
   u Conducted in light of the pandemic in
   2020
   @florianelbers
   4
   #BrightonSEO
   

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6. Result: There are no typical journeys
   @florianelbers
   5
   #BrightonSEO
   Purchase trigger
   Purchase
   

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7. A new structure: The Messy Middle model
   @florianelbers
   6
   #BrightonSEO
   

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8. Search behavior evolves over time
   @florianelbers
   7
   #BrightonSEO
   

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9. The Paradox of Choice in eCommerce
   NEOSEO
   8
   #BrightonSEO
   

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10. Decision making principle: Category heuristics
    @florianelbers
    9
    https://baymard.com/blog/macys-filtering-experience #BrightonSEO
    

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11. Google helps finding category-specific filters
    @florianelbers
    10
    #BrightonSEO
    

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12. Decision making principle: Authority bias
    @florianelbers
    11
    #BrightonSEO
    https://longtailux.com/case-study/how-adore-beauty-reduce-customer-acquisition-cost-by-64-
    with-personalised-landing-pages/
    

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13. Buying guides on Product Listing Page
    @florianelbers
    12
    #BrightonSEO
    

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14. Build more specific SEO landing pages
    u Landing pages for „[product] +
    u [Purpose]“
    u [Country of manufacture]“
    u [Without XYZ]“
    u [With XYZ]“
    u [For XYZ]“
    u [Against XYZ]“
    u [Age]“
    u [Target group]“
    @florianelbers
    13
    #BrightonSEO
    

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15. Key action 1: Ensure brand presence
    u Be present in
    u SERPS,
    u Ads,
    u price comparison sites,
    u social media platforms,
    u etc.
    @florianelbers
    14
    #BrightonSEO
    

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16. Key action 2: Employ behavioural science
    u Consumers are looking for reassurance
    to strengthen their purchase decision
    during evaluation
    @florianelbers
    15
    #BrightonSEO
    

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17. Key action 3: Close the gap between
    trigger & purchase
    u Reduce the cognitive burden
    experienced by consumers while
    exploring and evaluating
    @florianelbers
    16
    https://de.slideshare.net/kloeckner/behemoth-seo-search-strategy-for-huge-websites #BrightonSEO
    

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18. Thank you & check the study!
    NEOSEO
    17
    #BrightonSEO
    https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-
    insights/consumer-journey/navigating-
    purchase-behavior-and-decision-making/
    

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