Satya Nadella is the SVP of the Search, Portal & Advertising Platform Group for Microsoft. In this session, Satya discussed the evolution of search and outlined strategies to help prepare for success. Specifically, he brings light to how we think about the evolution of search and the unique assets that will take it to the next level.
The evolution of search:
We can categorize the history of search by looking at 3 dimensions:
1. Core technology of search
2. Business model
3. Expectations
The core technology of SEO is the magic of keyword base search. The business model continues to shift with CPC driving efficiency as we continue to measure quantitative results and ROI.
Today, search Engine Marketing (SEM) is really an art form and a science to some respect. The end users are interacting with of us by using keywords and our ability to talk within the search engine is as simple as it’s ever been.
The question on everyone’s mind: Is search going to change? Is there room for improvement and if so what are the pressure point to cause change?
3 trends in search that will drive change:
- User intent. On average 50% of time spent searching is spent in sessions over 30 minutes and around 50% of the time spent searching is a repeat search. The question is: what are we going to do to help users with the task of search?
- Content & Context. Our index is becoming broader and deeper, and is not the size of the text based index any more. Users expect the content to understand time and be relevant to what’s happening today. Bring user intent and content understanding together with context is the next step.
- Advertising efficiency. Looking at the broader needs of both the Advertisers and the Agencies to correlate ad systems to meet those needs
Understanding the search behavior and using this data to optimize based on behavior patterns is one of the biggest areas of opportunity.
The next phase for trends in search technology:
- Rich semantics and user experience come together
- CPC will remain in the business model
- End user experience will move from just queries to accomplishing tasks
Principle that drive Microsoft: Build a great search experience
- Openness and transparency
- Paid advertising portfolio and platform
- Long term commitment
Microsoft’s 3 Strategy Pillars for Search:
- Deliver the best search results
- Simplify key tasks
- Innovate the business of search
What influences do you see as driving the evolution of the search industry?
For more photos from SES San Jose, be sure to visit TopRank on Flickr.
I actually think Microsoft is quite correct in determining the existing problems and the tools to compete with current leaders. But what they seem to fail to notice is that while they are trying to catch up with the competitors as they are now, Google and Yahoo won’t be stable and by the time Microsoft new search tools are ready, the company will have very different competitors already and will probably need to catch up again.