What do we suggest about Google Suggest?
You can’t take much time off in this business. Just as I was about to settle in for a nice long weekend, I noticed that Google took their Google Suggest feature out of the closet. While it had been available to search engine gurus and the like, it’s now there for all to see.
Just start typing in a word or phrase into the Google search field, and you’ll see a drop down of a bunch of related suggestions. Very handy for consumers, I think, but what does it mean for you?
First, if you are doing any SEO or SEM work, you need to enter your high priority keywords and phrases and see what else comes up. There’s a good list of suggestions for “breast cancer” but none at all for “Milwaukee doctors.” I suspect the latter will be true for a lot of local searches, but not all. “Hospitals in Milwaukee” pulls up several longer alternatives.
The big challenge, though, will be for broader terms. You need to know what else Google is associating with those, and make sure your pages are optimized for the ones that are relevant to you. Follow those search trails and see how you rank. If you are doing SEM, and you weren’t already bidding for relevant terms in the drop-down, consider adding them.
If you are doing any user testing (and you should definitely be doing some user testing), include some Google searches in your tests to see how your key audiences are reacting to and using the new feature.
The jury is going to be out for a while on what this really means. But while it makes the world easier to navigate for consumers, it’s more work for you and me. Stay tuned, and we’ll try to help keep you current!