On Friday we held the Transformation of Search Summit[1] 2019 here in New York City. Huge thank you to all of our speakers, attendees, and sponsors who made the day a success!
In this article we’ve compiled some key quotes, stats, and otherwise tweetable highlights from the event.
Keynote: The transformation of search
First we heard from Carolyn Shelby, SEO Manager, Audience Development at the Walt Disney Company / ESPN.
One of the key quotes from her session was “The trick is to understand the psychology of people. Get in front of the consumer. That’s where search engines are going. What is the least amount of thinking that I can make a consumer do? How can I get them what they want the fastest?”
She also walked us through a brief SERP evolution, from collecting and organizing, to scoring / ranking relevancy, to now delivering immediate gratification.
The future of search is visual
Next up we heard from Michael Akkerman of Pinterest on the growth of visual search and its role in the future.
He talked about the evolution of consumer expectations, from physical stores, to digital convenience, to omnichannel promise, to the inspired shopping of today.
Where it once may have seemed that consumers were only focused on convenience, we’re now seeing the re-emergence of shopping and discovery in the consumer experience.
He also talked about the role of Pinterest in consumer discovery. On Pinterest[2], he says, they have billions of text-based searches every month. Of those, 90% are non-brand searches. “People don’t know what they want,” he says. For brands looking to focus on the discovery portion of the consumer journey, Pinterest could be a great option.
Michael was joined on stage by Dave Fall, CEO of BrandNetworks. They did a Q&A about