Facebook Search Launched…A Better Search Engine?

Friday, 1st April 2016 highlights the amazing tool which is Facebook search!
https://search.fb.com

Since 1998, there has always been a handful of major players in the online
search world. The biggest to date and the one most commonly known to the world
is Google. The search giant has provided us with easy tools and lighting fast
results…but could this eventually come to an end? A strange question to ask
and probably the immediate response would be to dismiss this, but stop and think
about the question.

Why do we use Google to find results?

When was the last time you woke up, dismissed your alarm and then opened a
browser to Google to search for the latest news or find out what your best
friends did last night? Not many would, but I bet you would click the small ‘FB’
icon and instantly start to scroll down instant updates from your close friends
and followers, read snippets of breaking news reports and even better see small
adverts of products you’ve recently been looking at which are now on offer!

Research shows us that 87% of web users do not scan past page 1 of current
search engine results, so if your site appears on top of the search list then
chances are your site will be visited more often. Other than using a paid
service, wouldn’t it be great if local, recommended websites were shown?

What information does Google provide us with?

A simple search, an initial list of paid results you know are probably not
offering the product or service you require just paying to be first! Further
down a list of crafted sites matching your search criteria, but who are these
companies? How do you know you can trust the link and ensure they are genuine,
reviewed and trusted suppliers? What if you carried out a search and were given
truly local results, based on their address, ordered by the rating your
friends/family have provided them with and a snippet of the recent reviews and
posts they have shared…Better?

Can we change or influence the results we see?

We all lack the urge to review websites, it’s generally difficult or time
consuming…right? When was the last time to ‘liked’ a company page, added a
comment or shared a recent post you saw with your friends and family? What if
the websites you like, share and review help others with finding the same
website? What if you could change the order of your searches based on your
favourites, not just the websites you’ve recently visited?

Our agency offers organic and pay-per-click search engine marketing, it’s a fast
paced industry and things can change quickly.
The process to ranking a website on the first page of Google can be a tricky one
which takes time depending upon your keyword and phrases, but it is possible.
There is a skill, understanding and dedication which is involved in this service
and many companies offer this – but do they truly understand the customers you
are trying to reach? We spend time with our clients to ensure the
SEO we carry out is going to reach the right audience – could this be made easier using
social media?

Can companies advertise to their chosen audience?

Google Adwords is the world’s largest online auction system; it allows companies to
place their Ads on a SERP,to market their services and products. Through this paid service,
a search that includes keywords that relate to your campaign will place your ad in the
auction. If you have a good ‘quality score’ and a high ‘max PPC’ your ad is
likely to win the auction and so will appear on the results page as a ‘sponsored
link.’ But this is based on keywords and phrases…

Facebook Ads gives you a huge opportunity to show your ads to people you may
not have been able to reach through other methods. Similar to other platforms,
you are able to target people by their locations, age and gender but with
Facebook Ads you are also able to target people by their likes, interests,
relationship status, workplace and their education depending on your target
audience. Wouldn’t it be great to target an offer to those people that already
like your website, their friends and family only?

Quick, easy and direct communication!

So, you’ve carried out a search and the results are shown. Are the listings
current, when was their last update? Can you click to chat or message them
instantly without the hope that once you have visited their website they have a
plug-in which allows this? Wouldn’t it be more convenient if you could quickly
see the last time they updated their status and then message the website owner
directly?

In closing, we all know and love Google and the other big search giants –
they are safe, we know what to expect and they continually try to improve the
results we are shown but how far can this go without the interaction on a
day-to-day basis with the information we share with friends, family and
colleagues? Being April Fools, the world may not see the real Facebook Search
as so many dream of yet…But is it only a matter of time until we see this service
become a reality? Would it improve how we search and what we find?