Google recently rolled out tweaks to their search results algorithm, the most notable of which (to me) is their snippet expansion. This is not to be confused with whippet expansion (in which a purebred dog is overfed), whip-it expansion (not safe for your brain cells!) or “Whip It” expansion (in which an extended Devo remix crosses the 12 minute mark). The snippet is the caption below the title of a search result that serves to provide context to the user.
Google claims that longer search queries benefit from longer snippets to provide more detailed information. In response for queries over 3 words, they have increased the length of snippets from a few lines to several (they aren’t specific as to exactly how many.)
If we take Google’s logic as granted, would it make sense for them to roll out a version of this for paid search, allowing marketers to deploy two different ad lengths to reach deeper into the long tail? The other side of this isif the relevance of organic results for long tail queries goes through the roof (a big assumption) , will it drive up the cost of reaching these searches with paid search?
There is also an argument to be made, strictly on an empirical basis, that Google has this all backwards. If I’m searching for a long tail term and have put several different terms into the search box, I ought to be drilling down to more relevant sites at the outset. It’s when I use one or two search terms that I’m least likely to know what I’m looking for and need more guidance from my result before clicking through to a page.
I do think Google has this mostly right though – it has to do with click tolerance. When people put in a shorter terms they expect to do some level of clicking around. Longer tail terms often mean that some searching has already occurred or they are fairly certain of the sort of thing they are looking for so there is less tolerance for clicking multiple results.
Still, it seems to me that a longer snippet, while helpful, is a bit of a stopgap solution to serving up more relevance on a long tail search query. At best, it’s an insurance policy that puts the burden on the user i order to keep them on your search results page. If indeed I’m wrong (which is always a possibility) , then lets see the principle applied to paid search.
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