Google’s new Jelly Bean SERPs
SERP’s are the key to consumers finding your dealership online. It’s no surprise that Google is the SERP-master when they own 88% of all search traffic. Google SERP’s are evolving quickly in the mobile world.
Roughly 60% of a dealer’s SERP traffic results from searches of the dealer’s name. The next most popular search type combines a “locale indicator” plus a manufacturer name. Boston + Ford is one example. These two SERP results can drive up to 80% of a dealer’s search traffic, so it’s important to own these search phrases.
But how can you do that?
Building search credibility for your dealers name is straightforward, using proactive reputation management. If you want to own page one, use prominent social media and reputation sites to encourage consumers to leave feedback. Yelp, Citysearch, and Cars.com are just a few sites to consider. These pages will float to the top of the brand name SERP in short order as new, fresh content is gathered.
Today we’re focusing on the second search type: Locale + Manufacturer. Google has just made significant changes to “local intent” searches and how these results appear on mobile devices running Android OS. We found these changes in the newest release of the Android operating system, called “Jelly Bean.”
Let’s take a look… I apologize for the looooong screenshots but it is necessary in examining mobile SERP.
Here’s a SERP for “Boston Ford Dealers”, as viewed through the Google Chrome browser. Notice the familiar placement of (in order):
- Paid listings
- Organic results
- Local listings
Here’s the same search on Apple’s Safari browser on an iPhone running iOS 6.0.1. It’s similar, but the order of content has changed to:
- Paid listings
- Local listings
- Organic results
Hmm… local listings here have priority over organic search results. With 30% of search traffic (and growing) coming from mobile devices, reputation is increasingly important.
Now, let’s look at Android’s new “Jelly Bean,” which Google is still rolling out. The new OS offers access to this SERP through both the standard Google search bar:
As well as with the Google Search App (when run from Jelly Bean):
Using the Google Search App on an iPhone yields the same results as seen on a mobile Safari Browser, but on Android’s Jelly Bean it’s VERY different. Notice that our order has completely changed to:
- Local listings
- Paid listings
- Organic results
Wow! Local listings are more prominent than even paid content?
This is a Google first and perhaps a sign of SERPs to come. Additionally, this Jelly Bean SERP now provides a “Write a Review” button (once you click through to the business listing), which is the only way for consumers to leave a review on a mobile device. This is a BIG step for local dealerships and begins to address the loss of Google reviews on mobile devices.
What does this mean to you and your dealership?
Although we used to be able to optimize our search or reputation strategy for just one view, Google now provides multiple views across different devices. Think “Adaptive Reputation Management”. Email click-throughs for dealership-generated-surveys to Google+ pages that are not optimized for mobile devices are landing in a black hole. It is a process that consumers could not take action on, until now!
For all dealers, 2013 is the year mobile adoption changes the way you think about consumer experience.
What are you doing this year to optimize the consumer path to your dealership as local mobile search evolves?
