Why is Google Doing That?
January 14th, 2014 by
Techcrunch announced yesterday that Google acquired the connected device company Nest for approximately $3.2 billion dollars USD. [1] While this may seem like a large investment to us laymen (laywomen? laypeople…), it is understood that Google’s disposable capital cannot be quantified by the finite numbers we are used to using. So this investment may not mean as much for the company as the tech-blogosphere would suggest. But what will happen if the people at Wired and Techcrunch are right, and Google keeps doing more Google-y things like buying every robot ever along with the firms that produce them? Well for one thing, SEO will probably work a little differently.
Prediction 1:
In the Future Google/Future SEO Realm/Matrix, display space will be even more precious and SEM will get more expensive.
A lot of SEO bloggers have been beating this drum for a while now. It’s obvious to most that if the screen space is smaller, the amount of results consumers are willing to investigate will reduce as well. The Google Glass has approximately 90% less surface space than traditional smartphone platforms.[2] Intuitively, this kind of face streaming will probably devalue the real estate of any ranking positioned outside of the top three. As the displays get smaller and smaller, SEM will gain more and more popularity as companies like Bing and Google are likely to price gouge for the precious paid display space on these next generation platforms.
Prediction 2:
In the forthcoming Future Google Realm, it will be simply irresistible – if not physically irresistible – to share everything.
With the iphone, consumers were given the opportunity to commodify everything they experienced in their lives.[3] As we begin to wear microphones and cameras on our faces[4] and while the most mundane of our home appliances become members of the global village,[5] there will be more and more opportunities and incentives to share everything. As we begin to create more devices and metrics to record social media, sticking out in the endless void of user created content will become even more challenging, and social currency will become even more invaluable. With the creation of these new outlets, we should expect to see SEO become even more dependent on social media rankings, while performing well in these arenas will be crucial for any successful business.
In conclusion, now is the perfect time to start honing your SEO and social media chops. Now I’ll leave you with a gif of a stock photo model using different technology.
[1]To put this in context, Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.
[2]Made this up.
[3]A recent study showed that users are three times more likely to share content via their Iphone versus their desktop. http://bit.ly/1d3DAAw
[4]Shout-out to Google Glass.
[5]Google’s Nest acquisition will likely lead to the existence of a consumer experience where home appliances – fridge, oven, stove, coffee maker etc. – will all be connected to the internet and synced up to your smart phone.
