Deciding Among Many Options
When a search event combines both context and intent a powerful opportunity arises. As a consumer I find what I'm looking for and for a merchant there's an opportunity to sell. But when context and intent meet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome. Choice. There's usually more than one option that will meet the context of a search and a searcher's intent. There is one more search factor that can narrow the field of options. Recommendation.
Recommendation is the final factor that makes search the powerful marketing platform that it is. I'll use a real example from my search history to demonstrate. A couple years ago it was time to buy a new mp3 player. I had intent, and no doubt my search for "portable mp3 players" delivered many options that met the context of my search. But there are many mp3 players to choose from! Which one would I choose? iPod, Zune, Creative MuVo?
In the offline world recommendations help us a lot. Our buying decisions are often influenced by the recommendation of a informed friend or a trusted expert.
Is there an element of recommendation in search? There is!
When I was searching for an mp3 player I found lot's of options. But when I thought to check which mp3 players work best with Rhapsody (my online music service), I discovered an interesting change in my results. Suddenly, SanDisk's Sansa was prevalent in both the AdWords, and the organic search results. Google's search algorithm linked Rhapsody's service with SanDisk's product. This was a form of recommendation. In fact, we all tend to give Google search results a fair amount of credibility when it comes to recommendation. (Why else would any of us care about our site showing up in the top of Google results?) Upon further investigation I discovered that the Sansa was indeed a common accessory to the Rhapsody service. And I bought one.
The Intersection of Context, Intent, and Recommendation
When you set up shop at the intersection of context, intent and recommendation, selling is almost inevitable. Which is one reason you want to give appropriate attention to both search engine optimization and search engine marketing, since both efforts can complement and magnify each other.
By the way, the power of recommendation is what is driving much of the business interest in social media. Aggregating massive numbers of personal profiles can potentially integrate a powerful recommendation factor into marketing. But most of the experiments in this area are still a ways off from working effectively. For example, I wrote about Facebook last November and started a Facebook ad campaign to test the waters. I can confirm that Facebook ads do not perform nearly as well as AdWords. While they have a strong recommendation component they don't often meet people at the point of intent.
Using these three factors: context, intent, and recommendation, can help you to evaluate any potential online marketing opportunities. When the three align you have a powerful marketing opportunity. And search is a unique platform where they do frequently converge.
