Google Suggest: optimizing autocompletion suggestions

Google’s autocompletion solution, available since 2004 , is now essential when searching on the engine. Suggested queries to users are a strong visibility lever for brands, which can then be presented by Google in the navigation of Internet users. It remains to be seen how your company can be a part of those suggestions.

What is Google Suggest ?

It is an autocomplete feature that suggests refining terms as a user writes a search engine query. Google Suggest automatically offers additional requests to those initiated by users, with the aim of simplifying their process and accessing the information sought faster.

How does Google Suggest works ?

Google’s suggestions are based on a predictive analysis performed on the approximately 6.9 billion searches performed on the engine every day. When users initiate their request, the terms offered by Google are influenced by:

• the most frequent requests made by users
• current research trends (Google Trends)
• the geographic position and language of the user
• personal browsing and search history

Visibility issues linked to Google Suggest

For a brand, the idea of being suggested during Internet user searches is undoubtedly attractive. Indeed, Google Suggest presents two major issues of visibility and online acquisition.

Mastering e-reputation via Google Suggest

Given that Google Suggest autocompletion is based in particular on the most frequent searches and current events, it can associate the name of a brand with more or less valuable terms. It can thus threaten the reputation of a brand if the latter has bad press: poor communication, a crisis situation, scandal, etc.

Intervening directly on search suggestions made by Google allows brands to maintain an association of their name with positive terms. By prioritizing the display of positive terms, Google Suggest’s optimization offers better control of a brand’s e-reputation.

Increasing sales via Google Suggest

Beyond the obvious logic of reputation, it is possible to optimize suggestions to add transactional terms to brand queries. By directly suggesting flagship products or sales arguments, brands can boost their sales/leads thanks to a better conversion rate when Internet users search for them.

Along the same lines, it is possible to highlight the brand when Internet users perform generic transactional searches. Thus, Google Suggest’s optimization strengthens the link between a product/service and the brand, and once again allows the generation of more transactions by capturing a portion of searches previously unrelated to the brand.