Google’s got a great name in commerce, helping advertisers and website owners optimize their methods for success. They’ve released recommendations and suggestions, and have launched AdWords, one of the most helpful tools that the world of eCommerce has ever seen. Now, they’ve released information on their Commerce Blog saying that a new pilot program is to be offered to AdWords advertisers in the US. It could benefit any advertiser or website owner greatly, helping them to perfect the search options that they offer. Even though it is only a pilot so far, there’s evidence of a big improvement in the works.
The new big Google creation is called Search As You Type, and it will allow advertisers and site owners something that they’ve hoped for for a long time. On the Commerce Blog, Google explains, “Search As You Type uses Google’s predictive suggestions and instant product results to enhance a merchant’s existing website search functionality. When shoppers type a search query into a merchant’s site, Search As You Type shows them product suggestions and photos, making it faster and easier for people to spot the product they’re looking for and click through to make a purchase.” So as you can see, it’s a pretty exciting update for site owners. The blog provides an example image on Hasbro’s website, and it gives good insight as to what the new feature may look like.
When typing the name of a product into the search bar on the company website, the results that appear are in google format. However, in the given example, they appear with the link, price, and an image of the product. The aim of the feature is to bring potential customers directly to the product, upping the chances of their purchase. It’s just another one of Google’s many ways of adding new technology and tools to websites all over the internet.
The standard search bar that most websites have now may come up with results pertaining to what is being typed, making suggestions as Google does, but this is nothing like that. Instead of bringing up the names of products that customers may like, Search As You Type will come up with the products themselves, allowing people to go directly to them. It will quicken the shopping process for the consumer, as well as allow site owners to suggest products to their customers over the web. It’s sort of like a digital salesman, showing customers what they might like based on what they say they’re looking for.
So far, this feature is just a pilot, so the intentions that Google has for the feature won’t all show. However, it’s available to AdWords advertisers in the US, meaning that people can start trying it out. Google states, “Over the coming months, we plan to expand the pilot to include more online retailers.” So, this will eventually be something we see all over the web, inevitably. It will be exciting to see what this does for businesses and advertisers on the internet, being that it seems to be such a helpful tool.
