The Power of Google

Still unknown in the Netherlands, but already very popular in the United States. As the planning looks now, Google for Jobs will make its way to the Netherlands this summer, tests would even be done to go live before this summer. The idea is that when you search for a job, you will immediately see open vacancies in your Google results. When you are well prepared as a company, this means that your vacancies will still appear before the Google results of other job boards. That's a big one of course win for you as a company.

What does this mean for the job board giant Indeed, for example? Probably exit. All vacancies will be shown in Google Jobs first, which means that other job boards will become redundant. So now is the time to prepare well. The responsibility therefore lies with you as a company. Google Jobs works with structured data (a way to mark information on your web page to improve your findability) and if you do not have this data in order, it is impossible to be visible in Google for Jobs.

To click, or not to click

Google gives us the information for free and for free. This ability to access information quickly has literally saved lives, made life better, and provided access to an infinite amount of information that might never have been available without Google. Or well, that's the picture. The Google ads are less and less 'visible'. What this means is that it is increasingly difficult to tell if something is an advertisement. This is therefore mainly at the expense of organic search results: more and more Europeans are clicking on paid advertisements. The paid version is especially popular on mobile devices. This is probably because the 'scrolling behaviour' on the mobile is less and visitors click more quickly. In addition, the number of non-clickers is increasing. How come?

Actually, this is quite easy to explain, Google is smart and responds to our 'instant gratification' generation. We want to see results immediately, which is why Google now has the answer immediately when you search for 'the weather today'. We don't have to click through anymore, and give up as soon as we have found what we were looking for. With the services of Google, the company tries to predict what people find interesting, in order to then advertise specifically.

progressive web apps

You may have come across the abbreviation PWA before. This abbreviation stands for 'progressive web apps'. These are advanced web pages that can function as applications: they are progressive, responsive, can be used offline and online and are always up-to-date, safe and can be found in the search engines just like regular websites. Google in particular is responding very smartly to this. What is possible with PWAs – such as sending push notifications about discounts – is not yet possible with regular websites and is not supported by every browser, but everything is possible in Google.

It remains impressive how Google continues to broaden and improve its position. Google deserves a critical approach, that way it will benefit us as a user in the long term. Because more and more the question arises, to what extent is Google independent? By typing commands into Google, clicking on results and using other services, we are constantly making the advertising machine stronger and its owner richer. The upward spiral is made possible by the searchers, who find a result in no time – and pay nothing for it. In our view, it is therefore necessary to start seeing Google as a partner and dancing to its dolls, to avoid being left behind.

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