Google Working on Conversational Shopping in Search

With the rise in mobile search queries, conversational search has become a huge part of how users are searching Google, particularly with the way voice search queries tend to be formatted when compared to desktop or type-in queries.

During yesterday’s keynote as SMX West, Behshad Behzadi, Director of Search from Google in Zurich revealed that Google is currently working on conversational shopping, an extension of regular voice search but specifically for shopping.

“We are working on conversational shopping,” Behzadi said. “We are definitely moving in that direction.”

What exactly is conversational shopping? Similarly to how regular voice queries are more long tail and are refined without repeating the initial search query, conversational shopping would be applying those principles to online shopping.

Behzadi also provided some examples of the types of conversational shopping searches.  “I want to be X cheaper,” Behzadi said.  “What shops are around me?”

Behzadi didn’t reveal any timelines about when we could see more conversational shopping in search, but he did note that it is on its way.

If you sell products, it will definitely be an area to keep an eye on.  Many SEOs create pages around the types of conversational voice queries in order to capture the traffic on pages built to be answering the types of voice searches people do.  Many use it as a supplemental strategy and still have pages that serve desktop or non-voice search traffic pages better.

It could also potentially have an impact on both organic and pay per click in the search results.  Some AdWords advertisers have had success with campaigns targeting voice search previously, so this could definitely be another area that this expands to.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, ClickZ and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

Latest posts by Jennifer Slegg (see all)

• Use Google Disavow Like Before, No Changes With Real Time Penguin - September 26, 2016
• No Changes to Link Related Manual Actions with Penguin Real Time Launch - September 26, 2016
• Google Launches Real-Time Penguin 4.0: All The Changes & Details - September 23, 2016
• Google Testing Individual Hotel Booking Block at Top of Search Results - September 22, 2016
• Recovering From Accidental Site Removal via Google Search Console Remove URL Tool - September 21, 2016