Google Suggest - Universal Search

This Google update is pretty simple. When you are on the home page, Google will suggest some ideas for keywords and shows some universal results even before you have pressed enter.

This new update is only available for the .com and doesn’t work with Google UK. It is also very limited; just useful for the weather and some basic functions (conversion rate…). It is far from what I would call a ‘universal’ search… if you are looking for ‘Nike logo’ nothing shows up (same for ‘London map’ or ‘tiger wood news)’.

Google Suggest - Universal Search

Anyway this function has the possibility of expanding, and consequently being more useful, with more media integrated into it (map, news, football result, image, video…)

Right now this update is too limited and very few people will even see it. However, at least Google is trying to do something a little bit different from Bing or Yahoo

Google Suggest, a new form of search engine reputation management (SERM) issue has created a new form of entertainment….in which the creator is the victim!!!

Please find below the TOP 10 funniest Google suggestions about itself:

Google won't Search for Chuck Norris

1. Google won’t search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don’t find Chuck Norris he finds you
2. Google hates Bambi
3. Google is not God
4. Google is rubbish
5. Google is running everything
6. Google is lame
7. Google killed Bambi
8. Google doesn’t remember me
9. Google says sorry
10. Google has gone too far

Let me know if you find some more

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.

Yesterday, Google updated the Google Suggest search box. Google Suggest proposes or completes a keyword when someone is searching on Google. The two most interesting development are the ‘Navigational suggestions’ and ‘Sponsored links in suggestions’

Navigational suggestion not only proposes a keyword to you but also provides a direct link to a website. For example, if you enter ‘cra’ in Google search box, Google will put forward a link to Craigslist.

Navigational suggestions - Google

The second unusual update, is the sponsored link suggestion. Very similar to the ‘Navigational suggestion’, Google proposes a commercial link to your search inside the search box. This PPC ad on the Google search box is a little bit too much. Google is clearly trying to make easy money but I think that Google’s success is based on the fact that the user is not bombarded with advertising (and never on the first page)! With this update it is not really the case anymore.

Sponsored link in Google suggest

I think that Google should focus more on the user experience, to retain traffic to make profit with the regular PPC, instead of focusing on where they can place some ads