Airbnb recently hosted their SEO Meetup in San Francisco, where we were able to meet a number of interesting people and discuss the current state of search. Of the many conversations that we had, perhaps none were as interesting as the one we had with Dennis Goedegebuure, head of SEO for Airbnb, about Google data strategies and the future of search. Dennis has been working in the SEO industry for over a decade and has a unique perspective on the current state of search, Google, and the ways in which our online and offline existence will coincide in the future.
During their interview, Murray Newlands and Dennis took the opportunity to talk about all of these topics and more, sharing their experiences and insights and offering an interesting look into the future of search.
To find out more, watch the full interview below:
These are the key takeaways from the video:
- The undeniable hot topic of the night was Google data collection, how the company is using its data, and what the potential results of this could be for business in the United States. Dennis openly admitted that he chooses to use an iPhone because he is aware that Google is collecting data and tracking Android users, and he is wary that the search giant is collecting too much data and knows too much about customer profiles.
- Dennis says the overwhelming trend in search right now is personalized search, which undeniably ties back into the need for consumer behavior data collection and enables personalized search to work the way that it does currently. Dennis suggests that because of the focus on personalized search, sites such as Google+ could play important roles in SEO in the future.
- The second trend Dennis talked about was the correlation between data collection, personalized search, and our online and offline lives. Dennis predicts that in the future, everything will culminate in one overarching experience that ties our digital and real world lives together. He gives the example that one day we will be riding in self-driving Google cars and need gas, milk or other goods, and pull over to the “most relevant” store to get those items. It’s lead generation in a very real way, and that’s what Google’s data collection strategies are leading to, according to Dennis. “It’s all about the direct response model. It’s the Internet of things that’s bringing your offline experience, using technology to bring it online lead generation to bring more foot traffic into retail stores,” he explained.
Please visit SEJ’s YouTube page for more video interviews.
