Are Emoji Searches on the Rise?

You thought emojis were just for Millennials and the younger generations but think again. This isn’t the first time we’ve discussed the usefulness of emojis, and it probably won’t be the last. This is an internet trend that can’t be ignored—but it’s also not an easy thing to incorporate. Not only will emojis have a direct impact on your online reputation, but they may also impact your future SERP rankings.

Think of the way searching has progressed online in the past few years. Once, the folks who grabbed URLs based on common nouns – apple.com, pizza.com, health.org – were able to make a killing selling those URLs back.

We may be facing a time where pre-bought, emoji-focused URLs produce the same outcome.

Okay, that’s a little extreme and hard to imagine. I can’t pretend to know what the digital world will look like in 20 years. But as for emoji URLs—why not? Google re-allowed emoji searches in 2016 and platforms such as Yelp have been utilizing them since 2014.

So, what’s the truth behind the popularity of the emoji search? Should you start punctuating your content with these pictographs?

Everyone’s Using Emojis

It’s no secret that younger generations of consumers utilize more emojis than their predecessors do. According to an AdWeek survey released in 2015, 92 percent of consumers who did their shopping online made use of emojis. It’s a visual world out there, folks.

Nowadays, marketers are taking advantage of this trend. Take, for instance, the advertising that went into the first Deadpool movie. The iconic billboard (one of many) that went up only utilized emojis, and it served to elicit excitement and financial results from future viewers.

This is only one example of the ways emojis have transformed from mocked millennial symbols to lucrative marketing strategies. However, while the psychological benefits may exist, how do emojis translate to SEO benefit?

Are There SEO Benefits of Emojis?

Emojis provide search engines with a unique benefit: a truly independent search. Let’s elaborate. Say you want to look up a doughnut shop in your area. You can do this fairly readily by a) allowing Google to know your location, or b) typing “doughnut shop near me” into the search bar.

Funnily enough, you’ll see different results pop up in this search than if you search for doughnut shops using the doughnut emoji 🍩.

Some of this differentiation can be attributed to location. Google’s localized SEO helps draw business to more frequently visited shops. However, the difference in search results primarily goes to show that Google considers the doughnut emoji and “doughnut,” the word, to represent two different things.

As such, if you want your doughnut-oriented content to rank better on applicable SERPs, you’re going to need to use both the emoji and the term.

How Common Is Emoji Search?

At this point, emojis are still being integrated into some of the more popular SEO tools. Google Search Console will register the use of emojis, but it’ll take time for the lexicon of images to make their way into search crawlers’ circuits.

So, is the future of SEO tied to emojis? Maybe, maybe not. What we can say for certain is that the use of emojis in your content will help you stand out from the crowd. So, why not experiment?

Conclusion

Is your company in need of help? MV3 Marketing Agency has numerous Marketing experts ready to assist you. Contact MV3 Marketing to jump-start your business.

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