Google Is Getting A ‘Buy Button’- Will You Click It?
Did you know that nine out of ten purchases are made online? We’re willing to bet that Google did, and that’s why they’re making the move to make online shopping even easier.
The second annual Code Conference took place May 26-28 in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA where industry leaders swapped exciting tech announcements. One such announcement was made by Google’s Chief Business Officer, Omid Kordestani, when he foretold the “imminence” of a Google “buy button” which was later confirmed by Google.
A buy button will allow consumers to make purchases directly from the search page by skipping the third party site. It will be an exclusive feature to mobile devices and tablets, pushing retailers one more step towards mobile optimized sites. Google’s latest algorithm change – dubbed “mobilegeddon” – pre-empted this new feature; Google believe that smartphones and tablets are the internet device of the future.
As the middleman between retailers and consumers, Google has grown to become the lynchpin of the internet. Businesses around the world are forever chasing the Google algorithm to achieve search engine optimization (SEO). With the addition of the buy button Google will create an easier shopping experience for e-shoppers, while giving retailers another reason to look for ways to boost their search engine rankings.
Google is joining other major sites in the easy-buying trend. Facebook and Twitter recently revealed similar features integrating e-commerce into their sites. Google will also now be in direct competition with Amazon, which currently holds a major portion of online retail and product searches.
So what does this mean for retailers?
By eliminating the need for shoppers to enter specific websites, Google’s buy button will allow customers to purchase products without registering or logging into retailers’ sites. While this is sure to please customers, it might hit a bum note with retailers as many use the information provided during transactions for marketing purposes.
The Wall Street Journal reports that we will begin seeing buy buttons on our personal devices as early as mid-June. Until then we should all be asking ourselves if our e-commerce pages are mobile friendly. If you’re not sure head over to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Page for verification. Green means your site is good to go but red means that you have a little work to do.
Mobile-friendly problem areas include font size, images and resizing issues. For a list of frequently asked questions concerning Google’s push towards mobile-friendly pages visit this blog post or contact our 24×7 support team at Midphase.com/support.
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