Google Search Results have changed significantly over the last 3 months, and if you haven’t been following along, here’s what you need to know.

Google has made a ton of changes to how search results are displayed. These are big changes.

Imagine that Google is your favourite grocery store and you know exactly how to navigate the aisles, that the deli is always labelled “Deli” and that the aisle end-cap promotions are the same whether you have a carry-basket or a cart. Then one day you walk in and all the aisles are rearranged according to what your friends like, the deli sign sometimes says “Deli” but other times says “Cold Cuts” or “Lunch Meat”, and the aisle contents vary depending on the mobility of your chosen device (carry basket or cart). This is the new Google Search.

Here’s a recap of 5 recent changes that affect Google search results.

Jan 12, 2012: Google implements “better” titles in search results

Google will now change the meta title displayed for your webpage in search results if it feels that it can improve the relevancy between the content of your webpage, the search query and the meta title in search results. There’s no report for when Google does this or what title they choose to use, but HTML Suggestions in Webmaster Tools will provide suggestions.

Recommendation: If you are using a meta title not specific to your page content, you are likely to see Google search results displaying a different title than your meta title to create more relevancy in search results.

In Google Analytics, set the advance segment to Non-Paid Search Traffic and use the Site Content > Page Title report to see what pages get the most visits from organic traffic. Add a secondary dimension to see Keywords. Is the keyword found in the page title? If not, you might want to revisit how your meta title is generated and talk to your SEO expert.

Jan 10, 2012: Google Search plus Your World launches

Users logged into Google see a different set of search results than those not logged in. In particular, those with a Google+ account see a big difference. The search results are specific to you and the things shared with you or amongst your Google+ circles.

Name searches auto complete with people and pages in your network so that People and Pages are easier to find within a few clicks (the assumption is that this is what you are seeking).

In some ways it reminds me of the bad paperclip that used to “help” me in Microsoft Word. For example, searching for “John Battelle SOPA” before he wrote his recent post only displayed his Twitter, Google+ and other social media accounts. I could not find a result for his blog. Here’s what SEOMoz to say (with examples).

Recommendation: Social sharing and a solid social media outreach plan have always been important. Now more than ever, socialization in addition to optimization is required to show up in results. Local search guru Andrew Shotland believes aggressive social sharing is the future for brands.

Dec 15, 2011: Googlebot-Mobile crawls webpages

Smartphones and tablets are on the rise. Googlebot-Mobile is a spider that crawls your website to see if it is optimized for mobile. The bot is looking specifically for mobile-optimized webpages. Mobile optimization does not mean “I think my site looks ok on the iPad and I can zoom in to see it on my phone.” Mobile optimization means do you have a mobile version of your website because Google search results on phones and tablets will skew towards websites that are mobile optimized, meaning your webpages might not show up in mobile search results.

Recommendation: Visit Google Analytics’ Audience > Mobile report. If more than 14% of your traffic is from mobile, you need a mobile optimization plan. Doing nothing is not an option—That’s like running a 7-11 and randomly closing 1 day a week. Check out the GoMo initiative, and if you run a big ecommerce site, definitely talk to our friends at Mobify.com.

Dec 14, 2011: Authorship introduced

Google search results now show annotations for authors. See below. This happens only if you verify ownership of the sites where you blog. Stats appear in Google Webmaster Tools under the Labs tab.

Recommendation: If you are going to blog seriously, you want to verify your authorship so your webpages stand out more in Google search results. The avatar is your Google+ icon so there is some linking that happens between your posts, your Google+ profile and what appears in Google search results via a snippet of code . Google Support offers some simple steps for verifying authorship here.

Nov 11, 2011: Mobile Advertising, Mobile PPC

Google launches the mobile site development portal mentioned above, HowToGoMo. The push for mobile optimization is not going to go away. Adwords, into January, is still adding new features to improve the granularity and targeting available to mobile search advertisers. And remember Google owns Android. They have a vested interest in mobile usage and sites optimized for mobile experiences. 

Recommendation: If you are running Google Adwords, separate your Mobile campaigns from desktop campaigns as the landing page for mobile ads needs to be optimized for mobile otherwise visitors will have a poor experience and are likely to bounce at a higher rate, which affects your quality score, and ultimately what you have to pay per click in order to have your ads appear.

Those are just 5 recent changes to Google search results in the last 3 months. That’s a lot of change quickly, especially when it comes to mobile optimization and social search, and the pace of change is likely to continue.

Want insights into the grand plan for Google search? Watch this 6-minute video on the evolution of Google.

Search marketing, as part of the online marketing industry, is operating at lightning speed. If you don’t have someone on your team who is staying on top of it, you’re going to fall behind quickly.

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