5 reasons to develop a Google Suggest strategy

Google Suggest is the autocomplete feature developed by Google. According to Google, it is a feature designed to speed up the searches that users start typing. But it is clear that it is much more than that, and that it can affect user behavior by changing their queries and often diverting them from their initial searches.

Google Suggest was invented by a former Google employee: Kevin Gibbs, nicknamed “Google Suggest” by a former employee (and former Yahoo CEO) Marissa Mayer.

It wasn’t until 2008 that Google set up “auto complete keywords,” its patent dedicated to autocomplete, by default on its search engine. Before that, it was an opt-in feature, meaning that the user’s consent was required for autocomplete to work.

Given the success of Google Suggest, major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and many others have adopted this auto-suggestion model.

Google has integrated this feature everywhere. You find it on the Google app for iOS and Android, the quick search field on Android devices, the address bar of the Chrome browser, and of course on the search engine’s home page.

Google estimates that this saves more than 200 years of typing time per day and reduces typing by about 25%.

And although the main purpose of autocomplete is to reduce the time a user spends typing by offering suggestions about what they were looking for, there are many other reasons to use this feature. For example, you can leverage Google Suggest to get content ideas, hints about which keywords to use, or even to manage your online reputation.

How does Google Suggest make autocomplete possible?

The algorithm is designed to reflect the most searched-for information on the Web. So, just like some results on the Web, the search terms you see appear may seem strange or surprising.

Much of the autocomplete behavior is computer-generated thanks to data collected from millions of other Google searches and their results.

In some cases, Google can potentially steer the user in the wrong direction, even in the absence of any bad publicity against them.

For example, after typing your product/service or brand, Google Suggest might indicate:

• Alternatives to your products
• Your company versus your direct competitor
• A free hack of one or more of your products
• A product you own, distributed for free

Google’s autocomplete is a powerful marketing tool that SEO professionals and other web marketing specialists have been using for years in various ways.

Most digital marketers are well aware of the capabilities of Google’s autocomplete, or at least they think they are. If you’re struggling to grasp the importance of Google Suggest, this article should help you understand the power of this feature.

The 5 reasons to develop a Google Suggest strategy

• Online reputation management

The biggest problem that Google Suggest tends to cause concerns reputation management. This is what usually drives companies to want to manipulate this feature.

If people have negative things to say about you, your autocomplete suggestions will be negative too.

When a user searches for your name or your brand name, the first thing they see, even before the results present on the SERP (search engine results page), are the autocomplete suggestions associated with you.

If these predictions are negative, or even if only one of them is negative, it can have a real impact on your company’s performance.

Need an example?

If you type “ Chaussure.com “ and the related searches suggest “ Chaussure.com scams “, “ Chaussure.com why avoid it? “, would you buy on this site without asking yourself questions? Same thing for a restaurant: if you search for “ The ultimate delight “ and the suggestion ends with “ E. Coli “, what would the chances be that you’d eat there?

You must remain constantly vigilant, as in most online reputation strategies. There are several ways for companies and brands to successfully control these negative autocomplete suggestions:

• Take control of all the topics surrounding your brand to make sure the right searches are performed in Google’s autocomplete.

• Optimize social media to reinforce the positive links that may be overshadowed by negative ones (Content, messaging, brand direction and tone).

• Search with positive keywords about you, your brand or your company, and from different places. Obviously, the more searches, the better.

• Create backlinks with positive anchors including your name and/or brand.

• Keyword research

Keyword research is a long and tedious task, but it’s also the foundation of any SEO strategy, whether organic or paid.

Autocomplete doesn’t do all the work for you in terms of keyword research, but it’s a good starting point for building editorial calendars.

You can use it, alongside other keyword research tools such as Ubersuggest or Semji, to get an idea of the keywords you want to target, taking into account monthly search frequency, competition and even cost per click (CPC).

One of the advantages of Google’s autocomplete is its ability to uncover long-tail queries that are commonly searched on the Web.

Since the main criterion for autocomplete is popularity (based on the actual searches performed by users in real time), the volume of data offered is immense and completely free.

Tip: To research keywords, make sure you’re logged out of Google (or in private browsing) to ensure an unbiased overview of the suggestions, without any personalization following your searches.

• Understanding user intent

Understanding user intent is important because it guides the page’s objective, its layout and even its images. We know that pages perform better when they fully satisfy user intent during a search.

Using the autocomplete feature to better understand user intentions is complex and laborious. Indeed, it’s sometimes difficult to understand the user’s intent when they search for a keyword without having all the context around it. Moreover, analyzing the different searches around a keyword takes an enormous amount of time.

But once these searches are done, you’ll have understood what your users are looking for, and you’ll have at your disposal high-performing long-tail keywords for your SEO. Google Suggest will also help marketers know which content to prioritize and optimize.

Semji guides you step by step in creating content that is relevant to your target audience. What to talk about? What angle to take? What writing outline to follow? What internal linking to put in place… all essential keys to know in order to produce content that converts. Want to know more? Request a personalized demo of Semji right now!

• Finding content ideas

Answering the most common questions in your content is a great way to get better rankings, greater loyalty from your readers and also better visibility on the SERP, notably thanks to position zero. The goal of using Google Suggest isn’t only to collect keywords. It’s to find out what questions users are asking, what they’re looking for, and to provide the best answer. Do a search on the topic of your choice and add “how” at the beginning; you’ll see which most-searched phrase appears when you start typing in the search bar. It’s a quick way to get inspired effectively!

Tip: By adding “_” before your query, you’ll get the most popular suggestions, whether generic or long-tail keywords.

The Semji advantage

To quickly find new content ideas on a given theme, Semji automatically suggests associated keywords and questions, in descending order of search volume. You immediately visualize your audience’s needs on the query.

• Improve your brand awareness

In the same way as for your online reputation, the search suggestions given by Google Suggest can greatly help improve your brand awareness. Checking and controlling autocomplete can be a lever for increasing your traffic. Imagine you’re a company that sells bikes; here’s what one of your users might type:

By seeing your brand and/or your company appear, the user will be more likely to click on this query than to waste time researching several websites. By appearing on positively connoted suggestions, you steer the user, and therefore your potential customer, wherever you want.

The limitations of Google Suggest

Due to criticism of some of its search suggestions, Google strives to prevent inappropriate autocomplete suggestions regarding:

• Sexually explicit suggestions.
• Hateful suggestions against groups and individuals.
• Suggestions that incite hatred.
• Dangerous and harmful activities.

Google can also remove suggestions considered spam, that facilitate or promote piracy, or in the event of a report to Google support.

Google Suggest can be a very powerful tool for a company, a brand or a public figure. While managing your autocomplete suggestions is important, it’s not the only thing to consider for your online reputation. Indeed, related searches are just as important in terms of the impact on your online reputation.

Related searches have been available on desktop since February 2018. These are the searches displayed at the bottom of the SERP, as well as under a result when a user clicks on a link and goes back. These searches offer other queries that might be more interesting for the user.

This feature is very useful for the user, but can be annoying for you if your company or your brand appears in association with negative terms. It is therefore important to control what may appear in these related searches.