“Google Suggest” – The End of Long Tail Search?

Friday, September 12th, 2008 | Lawyer Marketing

Let me first answer my own question:  No. 

But, I do think that Google Suggest will change the way people search.   If you use an iPhone you’ve most certainly experienced Google Suggest, but you’ve also probably encountered it if you’ve downloaded the Google Toolbar for Firefox or the new Google Browser, Chrome.

For those of you who do not know, Google Suggest has been a Google Labs project for a while now and what it basically does is predict what search you are going to do by what you have already typed.   This is based off data on Google’s servers, not previous searches that YOU conducted on your computer.

So basically, if I type “Divorce At…” it will offer up “Divorce Attorneys”.    But more interestingly, it also suggests several more searches, including some that are city specific, and one that is “Divorce Attorney for Men”.

 

 

 

Imagine you are a man doing this search.  Might you be inclined to take this suggestion instead of typing in whatever search you were planning on doing.   Even if you were about to type in “Divorce Attorneys for Dads,” it is not unreasonable to think that you might switch.  Just like we users end up trusting Google’s results, we might decide to trust their search suggestions too.  

That being said, I think Google Suggest actually has a much bigger impact on Vanity Searches than on Long Tail search.  There are only so many suggestions that Google can make (7-10 usually), so they tend to concentrate on the obvious searches.  And Google also seems to not be targeting everything yet.  ”Divorce Attorney Pa…” gets the suggestion “Divorce Attorney Pasadena” but “Divorce Attorney Glen” does not get the suggestion “Divorce Attorney Glendale”.  

However, I do see a use for Google Suggest when it comes to SEO strategy.  Typing in “Pasadena Divo..” offers up “Pasadena Divorce Lawyers” & “Pasadena Divorce Lawyer.”  That’s it.  No “Pasadena Divorce Attorney” or “Pasadena Divorce Law Firm”.  If I’m strategizing on what comes first in my SEO plan, I use what Google is going to suggest.  

 

 

 

As of today, I DO NOT believe that this is something that everyone needs to worry about.  No one should rush out and change their tags or keywords just yet.  But it is certainly worth monitoring.

If you need help with Law Firm Website Optimization, please visit my website at www.losangeles-lawyer-marketing.com

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