Google Gets Suggestive

Suggest is the latest tool from Google, taking the effort out of thinking up keywords when searching. Google Suggest is going to change the way people search, by suggesting options as people type. Instead of keying in several words, after typing one letter Google will suggest a number of different options based on the first word entered.

Suggest is the latest tool from Google, taking the effort out of thinking up keywords when searching. Google Suggest is going to change the way people search, by suggesting options as people type. Instead of keying in several words, after typing one letter Google will suggest a number of different options based on the first word entered.

Most businesses tend to focus on the top 10 most popular keywords for their site. The keywords that bring the most visitors however aren’t always the same terms that result in the most sales. Investigation conducted by Wired.com shows that Amazon.com for example makes 57% of its sales from terms off the beaten keyword track.

When assessing the sales generated by particular search terms, the survey conducted by Wired also revealed that only 18.6 of the sales were from searches of the top ten keywords. 81.2% of conversions to sale were from other search terms not considered vital keywords by the businesses concerned.

Google Suggest means that instead of having the chance to perform a long tail search by typing in four or five words the internet user considers relevant, searches will be suggested by a drop down box. Most people using Google already have their previous searches appear in the drop down box, and it is estimated that 95% of internet users won’t notice the difference between results from their previous searches and Google-generated suggestions.

If you type ‘th’ into the Google Suggest search field, “The Dark Knight” comes up followed closely by “Thesaurus”, “The Sun” and “Thomas Cook”. Searching for ‘a’ pulls up “Amazon” and “Apple”. ‘I’, not surprisingly, brings up “iTunes” and “ikea”. There is a threat of distracting people from their intended search by suggesting popular sites and products.

The short tail queries that Google produces as suggestions will be full of AdWords and most-searched for terms, amassing more wealth for the internet company. Stopping people in their tracks from performing long tail keyword searches, most people will select an item suggested by Google. This potentially cuts out the opportunity for long tail searches to be conducted. It remains to be seen whether this will affect the business that people convert on their sites, and their ranking in the search results if Google suggestions are clicked on more often.

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Tags: Google, search, suggest