The new function of Google which was implemented a few days ago (please see my previous post: Google Suggest) raises new questions and issues for companies.

How does Google suggest the relevant keywords and how can we update Google’s suggestions are the two questions most asked.

Google suggests relevant keywords based on the number of searches across an expansive period of time. As, Google Suggest is not updated frequently enough to keep up with the latest trends (e.g. Bing is not part of Google Suggest).

Sometimes the opposite happens, Google will suggest some old trends to the user when actually nobody (based on Google trends) is still looking for these keywords (e.g.: ‘Sarkozy Drunk’ or ‘Obama Special Olympics’).

Google Suggest - Sarkozy

Google Suggest - Obama

This is where a search engine reputation management (SERM) problem arises. Even when the incident is gone from the average searchers memory, Google does not forget, even if it is few months ago.

The only solution to update Google Suggest is to create new trends relevant to the topic and wait few months. Not very efficient, but it is unfortunately the only option.