Google is the most powerful search engine in the world, and the company is growing larger each day. Small businesses, especially car dealerships, rely heavily on Google’s features, reviews, and search results to generate leads and customers. However, the more Google takes over, the more it changes. Recently, as you may have noticed, Google’s feature, the “Knowledge Graph” has become much more prominent in many of your searches. This seems to be a growing trend that has some confused and concerned.
Google’s Knowledge graph is used by Google to enhance the results by giving you a “shortcut” answer. It is a display that has been part of Google’s search engine since 2012, and details information provided about a certain topic, without actually having to click a link. Google’s purpose for having the knowledge graph is for their readers, so they do not have to go through a handful of sources to get the information they are inquiring about.
A report by journalist Stephen Levy stated, “25% of all searches done on Google show a knowledge graph related answer.”
Steven Levy has dozens of years experience as a senior editor and technology writer for Newsweek. He has had articles published in multiple publications including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and more. Most notably, he is considered a respected critic of Apple Inc. Per Levy’s research; he has come to this conclusion that Google’s Knowledge Graph has an effect on publishers. With Google’s Knowledge Graph in place, the process of clicking a link, and going directly to the publishers website is void, since information on the search topic is provided at glance.
If you are a publisher on the Internet, 25% can affect your brand. If people no longer have to click on a link to retrieve information, then this could affect the traffic to your website. In addition, if someone reads the Knowledge Graph of your result, you won’t get credit for that because they can’t track the ROI without an actual click.
In conclusion, people are searching for information on Google, reading the Knowledge Graph for their answer, and never clicking the link to arrive at the publishers website. Google is a powerful search engine, and will only continue to grow. The Knowledge Graph isn’t going anywhere either. With all of the evidence and information coming from Steven Levy, and other researchers, it looks like this may really impact large amounts of businesses all over the world.
It is important to manage your own analytics so you are aware of what’s going on with your accounts at all times. Do you feel like you are aware? Share your thoughts on Google’s Knowledge Graph.
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