Well strictly speaking they are not actually breaking up so this may be a slightly misleading title, but as we all love any news involving Google, it’s no bad thing!

So where has all the traffic gone? Buzz Feed reports a 20% drop across search engine traffic over the past 6 months, including a 30% drop in organic traffic to sites from Google. This sample was taken from sites in a publishing network, over a 6-month period between October 2012 and March 2013, which have an audience of over 300-million people. Granted, publishing does not represent every sector but if they are the bearers of news then perhaps we should all listen to their listeners.

I don’t mean to alarm you but times are changing and at quite a rate! The way people search and the way people administrate search channels are changing for good. I would go as far as to say that the way people are actually communicating is changing for good!

Traditionally, Google has stood proud, in a helpful and sympathetic position to SEOs and businesses, but it strategy has evolved somewhat aggressively. The gatekeeper has now very much set up shop with the integration of many aggregators across various sectors: retail, finance and travel to name just a few. Also, its increasingly granular approach to paid search is prevailing, inadvertently creating a bottle neck for organic listings

It seems that Google no longer wants you to travel to your destination but in fact shop and relinquish your content needs at the very surface. We continue to see additional function as well as Google scrapers providing information for the user directly on the SERPs. Creating this culture among web users will ensure business for Google for a long long time. Also, with the advancement of micro-formatting and APIs, the semantic web is becoming easier for Google to digest.

As is common in business innovation, there has been an explosive catalyst in Google’s evolution.  The boom of social media has pulled more and more users towards these communal networks and away from search engines. Adopting a social strategy – and fast – has never been a better idea. With social sites becoming a so-called ‘destination’ themselves, where one can not only converse with friends and colleagues but also perform extensive searches internally, users are finding the need to crawl through organic listings less of a necessity. Social and Mobile apps are syphoning search engine traffic, and I don’t blame people! It’s a world of rich and popular content now and there is no better place to indulge.

So what sort of impact is all this having on us? Well we know that reporting has to be as modular as search is now. Knowing the impact these breaking up channels are having is the first step to optimizing for them. We also know that if you can’t beat Google, embrace their granular modules; get in them and compete in them. Also, we do not need to be pushed into social content, we are already there. Using real content that provokes emotion is the only way you will get heard now.

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