Search Engine Marketing
Google Looks to Stay Ahead of the Competition by Introducing Google Suggest
February 2005
Google recently launched a new feature to users, Google Suggest. The concept behind it is this: As you type the search word or phrase into the search text box, Google Suggest guesses at what you’re searching for and automatically provides a drop-down menu of similar words or phrases. For example, if you type “kno” into the box, you get suggestions that range from Knott’s Berry Farm to knowledge management. This latest addition takes Google’s “Did you mean?” feature, which offers alternate spellings for search words, to another level by responding in real time with the user.
What are the advantages of using Google Suggest over the regular Google search? Developers believe that Google Suggest will save you time from having to rephrase your search terms for more accurate results by providing more accurate search words or phrases from the start. Users can also see what the most popular searches are since Google Suggest pulls its list of suggestions straight from the overall popularity of various searches. Not only that, but users can have fun with the new tool by seeing what interesting and unusual suggestions may happen to pop up. Click here to read a blog from the creator of Google Suggest.
According to search engine marketing consultants, the introduction of this new feature adds yet another element to search engine marketing. Not only do marketers have to consider which keywords and phrases are most popular, now they must also consider which keywords and phrases users might be drawn to while typing in their initial search terms.
Currently Google Suggest lives in the realm known as Google Labs, a section of Google that houses newborn ideas and applications while they are in the process of being refined and polished by the development team. Google Labs provides a forum for Google developers and millions of Google users to discuss ideas and exchange feedback on what does and doesn’t work from both sides of the search engine fence.
Google Suggest is compatible with Internet Explorer 6.0 (or newer), Netscape 7.1 (or newer), Mozilla 1.4 (or newer), Firefox 0.8 (or newer), Opera 7.54 (or newer), or Safari 1.2.2 (or newer). Both JavaScript and cookies must be enabled on your computer as well.
If Google’s latest feature does take off and become more popular, don’t be surprised to see top competitors such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask Jeeves to soon follow suit with their own versions.
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