Smartphones and tablets are an excellent resource for getting the most out of the world around you. Apps like Yelp and Vurb can find popular local restaurants, and some search engines have enhanced local content. However, it’s still necessary to know what you are looking for, and isn’t optimal for today’s on-the-go consumers.
That’s beginning to change as new search technologies take into account social preferences and mobile specific data. Apps, like Jybe (acquired by Yahoo in 2013), are leading the way in this new personalized world. Imagine, someone who’s walking the streets of New York could immediately receive a recommendation notification and know that they are close to a top Indian restaurant, a street fair, or that there are discounted tickets available for a Broadway play nearby. How is this possible? Semantic search technologies are taking into account various data points and your geo location in order to push out and deliver “personalized” results: your preferences based on your items you have liked via your social profiles, your friends preferences (as indicated on your social profiles) and actions within applications like Fandango, Yelp, Open Table and your calendar, etc.
Those scenarios enrich the user’s lifestyle, and are the perfect opportunity for advertisers and search engines to personalize the web experience.
Semantic Search Today
Semantic search, which uses machine intelligence to determine user intent by deciphering the meaning of words in real-time. It’s already enhancing the world’s leading search engines so that users can receive answers instead of a list of results. It’s not yet augmented reality, but the concept is similar: machines understand the context of words so that they can serve up highly relevant content for the end user (including sponsored messages). The inclusion of Geolocation data dramatically broadens those capabilities.
Semantic and location based technologies will become more important as consumers demand access to relevant information in real-time in a format that is specific to the type of device they are on while intelligently utilizing personal preferences. That’s not a new trend, but now search technology providers are racing to provide smarter content experiences to meet consumer demands. Whether you are in app or chatting on your mobile device, it’s about exposing the most relevant and meaningful content to the user.
New Monetization Opportunities
There are big revenues at stake as mobile ad spending is expected to increase by over 50% this year and with a staggering projection of 200 billion mobile queries to be performed worldwide over the next five years. Mobile devices are quickly moving to become the main platform through which consumers access the web. Whoever can control the query will have a better chance of controlling the revenue generated via mobile search. Advances in search are presenting marketers with an alternative to ineffective banner ads, which may not be relevant to what the user wants or where they are located at a given moment in time. Banner ads are very unpopular with end users – especially on mobile devices – and make little sense to be included with augmented reality apps. It’s really about empowering the user and super serving them based on known interests and preferences.
That is where personalized content discovery and relevant experiences come into play. Localization, paired with personalized content, increases the odds that the consumer will be engaged. Ad tech providers that position brands where their content is relevant, based on what consumers are engaged with, will be winners, and so will applications that offer the same value proposition through paid services.
The smart mobile experience is on the cusp of becoming more in tune with the lives of users and eventually, their surroundings. Search technology that understands user intent and location services will power the coming generation of apps and will complement whatever is next.
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