Google's New Zero-Result SERPs

[The Engineer]

I just learned about this from Moz's post by Dr. Meyers, which you can read here, but I'm going to summarize the post for you below.

Like Meyers says, "We should have seen this coming."​

Take a moment to search the phrase "What time is it in Seattle" and you'll see something like this:

Yes, you're seeing that correctly. Google is showing no search results. They're providing the answer directly and nothing else. Usually Google's goal is to keep users within their infrastructure, pushing them to Adwords, Youtube, Shopping Results, Images, Maps, or SOMETHING. Here they do none of that. They feed the user the info they want and that's that.

In this case you may think "Well that's stupid because they should at least help out the webmasters and introduce searchers to sites they may find useful at other times." But what they value more is satisfying the need of the searcher so the searcher comes back next time. It trains them to return again and again.

It's a lot less dirty than what they're doing with the Answer boxes in the Knowledge Graph, but it still seems to go against the fundamental purpose of the Google search engine, which is to be a middle man between searchers and websites. In this case it wants to be the website.

Here's another example:

Moz says not to panic. They analyze 10,000 phrases daily and only 0.01% show these zero result SERPs. That's a pretty naive statement to make, because it's very unlikely that those 10,000 phrases are made entirely of these types of searches. I'd suggest that only 0.01% of them are, if not far less.

They have another example which is "Where was stephen hawking born":

This SERP still has some results below, but well below option that lead you to Google Images and Google Maps and other Google Searches. I had to maximize my browser vertically to get that snapshot of the blue result at the bottom. That means it's far below the fold for 95%+ of devices.

This is a question that has a single definitive answer, but the searcher asking the question likely wants more information. But how long until Google decides that the searcher doesn't deserve more information until they rephrase their query in a broader fashion?

Another question to ponder is whether or not they're creating a database of this information that's coming from all of our websites, which they'll ultimately use to cut us out of the equation. An even more insidious idea is that we know they already have. That's what their index is. It contains everything valuable that we've posted at our own expense. At what point do they no longer need us, and will the UK slapping them with another Anti-Trust suit really solve the problem? Do they need to be made into a public utility eventually? I'm not suggesting that's the case, but left to their own devices they're definitely not going to not "not be evil."

Moz says that of the 10,000 daily phrases they track, 51% have LESS THAN 10 traditional organic results.

On desktop they're not even identifying which results are "in-depth articles" any more (ones that aren't ranking organically but are being inserted into the top 10 from a specific elite club of websites that you and I aren't a part of).

There are a lot of "types" of websites built around certain types of informational queries that are soon to be completely cannibalized and cock blocked from the SERPs. I can't imagine it'll be long before they start going after the "best" and "reviews" style of searches, like we saw them do with their own credit card affiliate offers among other things.

SEO is looking more and more like a stepping stone that we all need to spring off of as soon as possible.

 

[bernard]

As long as it is stuff like mentioned here, then I am not worried. I also got a zero result when I wanted to know currency rates.

You are correct though that Google wants to be the internet. They are not alone, Facebook, Yandex etc.

I think anti-trust is coming and public utility will be discussed.

 

[F5K7]

Can't blame them. 99.9% of the people searching for "What time is it in Seattle" don't need more than this result.

The 5% of people searching for "Where was stephen hawking born" and actually want to know more than just the location can click on the results below the box.

If your website relies on Google traffic and you get your traffic from search phrases that can be answered in one sentence, I have bad news for you.

 

[Cash Builder]

The question of "What time is it in Seattle" has only one correct answer, so it makes sense and it was only a matter of time before this happened.

The ones who have built sites to answer queries like this and get ad revenue will be the ones losing out on this. The question is, how far will they go? Queries that the majority of affiliate sites rank for, such as "best dog bed for large dogs" don't have a clear-cut answer. But what's to stop Google from just picking an answer from their shopping results and displaying that?

 

[shaunm]

They have the show all results button beneath it so if anyone requires additional information then they are still able to get it.

 

[The Engineer]

I could see the first victims of this potential "zero results" rollout being Question and Answer sites.

Nothing is stopping Google from showing quite expansive answers to more complicated questions, pieced together from multiple sources.

It'll all hinge on the data they collect from users who visit these SERPs, most likely related to whether or not they return to Google at a higher rate or immediately type in another query more frequently. They could also begin showing very inexpensive CPM ads for large brands surrounding these answer boxes as well.

The true value of this discussion and their testing is anticipating which niches could be next. Because they've already stepped foot into shopping ads and commission based CPA offers, and have begun offering (or selling, if you're conspiratorial enough) non-organic, non-advertisement results and not distinguishing them in the SERPs as well.

Q&A sites might be next on the chopping block, but I could see them targeting higher value queries too. "Best" queries are a prime target. All they need to do is scrape all of those articles, curate a list of products and show the ones that get mentioned the most, with their own affiliate links in the SERPs.

Yes, any sites targeting the queries being taken in the examples above are dumb and should be scoffed at. There's a lot of "not so dumb" webmasters that will be next, and we won't have seen that coming either.

 

[Potatoe]

"First they came for the spammers, and I did not speak out, because I was not a spammer.

Then they came for the Q+A sites, and I did not speak out, because I didn't run a Q+A site.

Then they came for my 'best' SERPs, and there was nobody left to speak for me..."

 

[built]

I agree with the @The Engineer I don’t get why people think Google is on their side. They’re a business, their goals are to line their pockets not help you line yours.

I 100% believe they will/can do something like this because if it was my business I’d do the exact same thing

 

[Ryuzaki]

I tell you what. Whatever it is that you're doing with SEO, if it's currently working and doesn't have a target painted on it's back yet, now is the time to scale and scale hard. Get paid while the getting is good.

 

[Andrewkar]

We all know since few years back, that all of this is geared twords making buying KWs a part of Google advertising programs. Want to make money? PAY! "Free ride" called seo as we know it today is about to stop, not yet but it's coming.

 

[Ryuzaki]

In what was probably a 50/50 toss-up, Google has reversed the Zero Results SERPs back to how they were, now showing all of the organic results again:

Danny Sullivan has said that they got enough data and feedback that the "Condensed View Experiment" should stop.

But he indicates they still have intentions of using it, they just want to improve when and how it appears.

He goes on to explain the "motivation" behind it. I always say, whenever a company does something self-serving, they always have a plausible deniability related explanation for why they did it. It's like when Apple got busted for reducing the speed of their iPhones on older models, which all of the data indicates is to push people to buy a new one, they claimed it was a feature to help keep your phone online all day since your battery was probably dying. If it was such a feature, why didn't they market it as such? Same kind of thing happening here:

​

They claim the main motivator was to speed up the results of these SERPs because nobody goes beyond the tool info. While this is likely very true that few went past the info box once they got their answer, I really doubt that was their "main motivator." Call me paranoid.

Either way, the Zero Results SERPs are gone but will be coming back after further testing and brainstorming, it seems.

 

[Prentzz]

They claim the main motivator was to speed up the results of these SERPs because nobody goes beyond the tool info. While this is likely very true that few went past the info box once they got their answer, I really doubt that was their "main motivator." Call me paranoid.​

Either way, the Zero Results SERPs are gone but will be coming back after further testing and brainstorming, it seems.

Evidently this was an attempt to improve user experience and simultaneously jackup ad clicks on these SERP's if possible. I'd be very surprised if they didn't achieve both of those. The only reason they stopped is because they managed to screw up a bunch of other SERP's. People were searching all types of stuff like whiskey and getting time and date style SERP's with no results. They don't care about the backlash from some in the industry. If it doesn't come back within a few months I'll be shocked. Thanks @Ryuzaki

 

[RomesFall]

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[DD1]

Hi Builders,

Has anyone seen the below?

Today I saw the above image result for the first time.

I saw the video result for the first time earlier this week, but I was busy searching something else and I didn't realize it at the time. Google is even suggesting a section of the video as the most appropriate answer for this query. (BTW, the "suggested clip" does not answer it properly.)

So, in the name of "user experience", it's ok to scrape other people's content and not even send them a visit? Where is this going to end? More than that, what are the long-term implications of that?

Make bank while we can, side-hustle our ways in ICOs while we can, and build that Fortress of Solitude while we can?

Or perhaps things are not that bad, so stick with everything like it is, adapt as circumstances change, build and foster that email list, sell our own products, and keep on going?

 

[CCarter]

So, in the name of "user experience", it's ok to scrape other people's content and not even send them a visit? Where is this going to end? More than that, what are the long-term implications of that?

There is a lot more going on than this, it's being discussed here: Google's Web Page Creation Algorithm - Stealing & Spinning & Mixing, Oh My!

Along long time ago - in a distant future, a Wickedfire member named JCash stated that one day Google will simply use your content to summarize answers for users. At first summaries will be pretty bad, but over time and with user feedback it will get really good - good enough that users will not even need to visit the website in the SERPs that's giving the answer.

Realistically if you think about how technology evolves, with the advent of things like Siri, Voice search, and A.I. the only real end path is search engines will become "answer engines". You think in 10 years people will really be clicking around within the top 10 results for their answer? REALLY? No, some engine, probably Google, but something that could potentially unseat Google will simply give you the answer, and the days of "search engines" and clicking around the top 10, 20, 100 results are going to the EXACT way of the yellow pages. Lists of "potential answers" are going to be replaced with "the mostly correct answer".

If you guys think consumers are really going to be clicking the top 10.... in 10 years - you haven't been paying attention for the last 10, or even 20 years. Things keep progressing whether we like it or not. So what's the solution? Keep up with the times or get left behind - that advice goes for SEO as well as in all of life (or hopefully you've made enough money to cash out and relax on some beach somewhere).

Again, I've been repeating this over and over again but referral traffic, traffic leaks, and making sure you are not a slave to one source of traffic - whether it be Google, Reddit, Facebook, or your email marketing channel - you diversify yo bonds:

--
Marketing isn't "just SEO". Look at all the people that do "just SEO". Notice how they aren't doing that well as versus people with a holistic approach to online marketing. Some of these SEOs are going to have to wait 1-2 years - read that YEARS!!!, for SEO results... Give me a break.

ALL other marketing channels like email, Facebook, Reddit, radio, TV - can generate you 10,000 to 100,000 visitors in a single day today or the very next day. They ALL have the potential to do that, all except SEO. SEO is a long-term solution that cannot generate you 100,000 visitors tomorrow if you need 100,000 tomorrow. All the other marketing channels CAN - IF you are willing to take the time to study, practice, and master them. No matter how much you master SEO, there are time delays purposely put in place by Google and other search engines to hinder your growth. The only hindrance on growth on the other channels are limited to your resources - money, creativity, and/or skill.

If I start a new business or sign up a marketing client today - and they need traffic next week or this month, SEO is going to be at the bottom of the list for options to get that goal accomplished. And no serious business I know can wait 2-3 years to start gaining their first customers, and just stay in the red that long unless you got magic VC money that you can burn through, even then those guys use "growth hacking" tactics to gain customers.

The writing is on the wall, it's been on the wall for years.

I can't put it anymore concrete - using my SERPWoo as an example, SERPWoo, an SEO Tool, would not be in business today if we had to wait for SEO results to kick in to gain our first set of customers. It's just not possible. 3-4 years later we still aren't ranking in the top 10 for a ton of terms that most people would find us through if we relied only on SEO (the biggest factor being that we aren't churning out the traditional SEO content at the rate that is needed and are concentrating on our internals first). Over 90% of our traffic comes from affiliate, referral traffic, and our own marketing efforts that we drive in manually. That's the only way a business can survive - diversifying our bonds.