Google recently confirmed that they had brought emojis back to the search results listing page.
Back in 2015, the search engine giant promised to drop emojis from the search engine results pages (SERPs), after promising to disable them over webmaster abuse.
Now Google finally had a change of heart, with emojis showing up again in snippets in both desktop and mobile results. They added further context, saying that emojis will appear more useful, relevant, and fun and that we can expect to see more of them in the future. And it’s shaping up the SEO world, with SEO experts and providers of reseller programs across the world considering this in their marketing strategies.
Why did Google make this decision and should marketers and businesses use this latest development?
Importance of Emojis in Digital Marketing
No doubt, the smileys have taken over a major part of online communication, with users using them to express a feeling, interest, or taste, without typing a long text. Emojis are truly universal language as well – they’re understood across nationalities, ages, and cognitive ability.
In fact, 92% of the online population use them. In this emoji tracker, you can see how and when emojis are used on Twitter every millisecond.
Marketing with Emojis
Audiences want quality products and services they can trust – and emojis may give them just that.
Written words are a lot of work as well, and simply can’t express everything with contextual, social, and psychological cues missing. Emojis help re-establish those missing cues, making the text feel friendlier and informal.
Use emojis by inserting them into results snippets, and matching them with user intent. Google would likely show these results, and users would equally have good reason to click on them.
Make sure, however, to find the right balance as it’s easy to become too crazy about emojis. Those smileys should enhance the positive image towards your brand, rather than desensitize the audience.
With Google bringing emojis back, it’s time to take advantage. As with any new development, the early adopters often reap the rewards, so this is worth a try.