Although it goes without saying that the Olympic Games are typically more closely associated with terms like unity and goodwill than they are with search engine optimization, this year’s Winter Games have allowed us a unique look into the way current events effect search results on Google. Breaking events, more often than not, occur unpredictably, making the process of tracking the changes resulting from them rather difficult. Because we don’t expect things like Evan Bayh’s resignation from the Senate or the Haitian earthquake to occur, we don’t have any reason to track the positions of things related to them on search engine results pages (SERPs) beforehand.
The Olympics, on the other hand, is an event with a set start date, giving us ample time to compare results for terms relating to it before the Games started, with the results from now, as they’re going on. Below, you’ll see how the SERPs changed over time, as the Winter Olympics approach, as it arrived, and in the midst of it actually occurring.
Prior to the Games:
As shown in the above screenshot, Google’s search algorithm was treating the term, “Olympics” in pretty much the same fashion as it would any other a week before the Olympics. News entries are further down the page, as at the time they weren’t as relevant, and expected results such as the IOC, NBC Olympics, and the Team USA pages appear first. Also of note is the lack of real time search results.
As the Games started:
Although the Opening Ceremonies were marred by the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, an athlete from the country of Georgia, the results still show significant changes that they likely would have regardless of whether or not his tragic death happened. News results are now shown at the very top of the SERP as people conducting searches are now more likely to be interested in the term, “Olympics”, given the fact that the Games were starting, and NBC’s site has passed up the IOC’s on the rankings as a result of NBC’s broadcast of the event. Additionally, real time search results from Twitter and news feeds have made their way onto the results page.
While the Games are in progress:
Because the Olympics are now a popular topic, Google is trying to provide as much information as possible by offering tools such as a table with the medal count, helping users stay abreast of the event, at the very top of the SERP. News follows the medal count and precedes the regular results as it had previously, and real time results remain on the page as people continue to discuss the Winter Games.
The changes to Google’s results page as a result of the Winter Olympics shows that Google actively tries to respond to news and events, and as it figures out what’s important, it actively changes what it displays to users searching for specific keywords in order to provide both the most relevant and up to date information.
Written by Kenny K.