Google Suggest Beta

[rustybrick]

Google Suggest (http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en) was released last night at Google Labs (http://labs.google.com/). It basically fills in suggestions based on the letters you type. An auto fill, like used in Gmail send to address field. Here is an image from my blog (http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/001251.html).

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/google-suggest.jpg

[iamrussell]

I don't get what the point is. Is it in case you don't know what your searching for? It seems kind of annoying, kinda like MS's clippy. I guess if MS is gonna encroach on Google's territory, Google will do the same.

[strategicrankings]

the suggested kws seems to be the competitive or ran after kws.

[Joseph Morin]

What this does is enable the end user to more accurately target a query, which could have a profound effect on search marketers. For instance on the natural side, if a keyword that you normally optimize for is displayed to the end user as a longer more targetted query, then the chances of optimizing and coming up for the term become easier, as long as your keyword research has been successful and you are targetting ancillary keywords and rank well for them, this puts a lot more importance on effective keyword research though. On the flip side, it could take the end user in a whole different direction than what you might have pulled them in for.

In paid search, an end user might type in a term that you are currently bidding say $4.00 for but with this suggestion tool, they may be enticed to click on a 'suggestion' that might be more targetted and more inexpensive say even $0.05 if the query turns out to be long enough, Google obviously controls this so this will remain to be seen, and gives more reason to building out larger keyword lists, but like I mentioned, this could have a huge effect in the search marketing space.

[rustybrick]

I agree, in fact, I think it might be worth testing on the main Google.com page. I would imagine many would like this option.

I personally would.

I can also see it being a bit annoying...

[St0n3y]

I get the impression that Google is trying to heard cattle from the open range through very narrow gates that leads.... hmmmm hamburgers.

It seems very similar to what Teoma does AFTER the search with their Refine section on the right, but this is refining BEFORE a search is made. I think searchers will *feel* like they are being helped while ultimately they are being pushed through a more one-size-fits-all category.

[mcanerin]

I expect also that it will affect SEO's and SEM's in their KW choices. And not to the better.

If I'm a consumer and am not sure what I'm looking for. I'll type in my best guess. If a choice pops up, and seems to fit, I'm very likely to choose it.

What does that mean?

The end of the niche KW, for one thing. Perhaps that's overstated, but you now effectively have G choosing KW's for you, which would have the effect of eliminating many of the niche phrases and increase the number of searches using the suggested choices.

This would, I imagine, have the following effects, positive and negative:

1. Increase the competition for the suggested keywords dramatically
2. Increase bidding (and prices) for those keywords
3. Decrease searches for whimscal KW's that are now resolving to smaller websites
4. Increase the traffic to well positioned sites who are showing up well for the suggested KW's
5. Decrease traffic on the "mom and pop" and specialty sites
6. Add significantly to G's bottom line due to fierce bidding
7. Help eliminate low level spam while increasing the probablility for high level, professional spam
8. Lower misspelling optimization
9. Screw websites that focus on areas and locales that use a different spelling than the suggested one. (color vs colour, center vs centre, optimize vs optimise)
10. increase user satisfaction for chronic misspellers

I'm sure there are more, but that's off the top of my head. I admit it's a fun toy, but I think some issues need to be addressed, such as localization of terms, and perhaps even context sensitive suggestions.

Ian

[Dave Hawley]

I think it's a great idea. I'm sure their will be an on/off options for those that don't like it.

[St0n3y]

I think that is the problem, people WILL feel like they are being hearded in the best possible direction and never realize that they are being moved away from the good food and into the deep pockets of Google. Certainly this will drive up Google's profits because it will steer more users into the big cost Adwords ads, but ultimately the "targeted" search may be lost.

[bobmutch]

Google Suggest is very nice. This will be helpful in keyword mining. I would like to know more about where the suggest words come from.

[Robert_Charlton]

This will be helpful in keyword mining.

That's what I thought at first, and generally it's good for quick and dirty suggestions on searches you're trying.

Most of the suggestions appear to come from the "More Specific Keywords" in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, but not exactly. The matches appear to be skewed so that the first word or words match... with modifiiers, eg, added on at the end to make the search more specific, though in the Keyword Tool the modifiers might have been at the beginning.

The phrase order doesn't always match that of the Keyword Tool list, but they're similar.

I would like to know more about where the suggest words come from.

Here and there, I'm seeing phrases that aren't on the list at all, but are there to suggest generic types of searches, leaving it to the searcher to add a word after a preposition... or to alter a word that's an example.

I'm sure that Google is using such suggestions as a research tool and will be comparing herded with unherded searches. It does suggest possibilities of categories of targeting.

I generally don't like auto-complete tools, though they can be handy. It drives me nuts in Quicken, eg, to see an entire line change with each letter I type, and sometimes I have to fight it, but it probably does save me time.

Joseph Morin's and mcanerin's comments are right on.

[The Broker]

It actually saves time since you see how many millions of search results you are about to click next through.

Hearding is the word already, pushing people through the keyword phrases they tag as being the most important and also don't forget, the most profitable for thier INVESTORS now.

I think google has sold out. I think google is no longer going in the direction of usefull search tools and moving in the direction of search tools for thier profitability.

All of these suggest type tools push people into very popular and probably high bid adwords advertisers. I'm sure the suggested popular query in many cases will not result in listings the person is actually thinking of.

Google might as well have QUICK SEARCH LINKS on their front page (didnt they use to have this?) to heard people into a catalog of results they can control with their "al gore" rythms.

Good has too many pages now, too much information to realistically manage, and now is resorting to hearding people into a more controlled environment while still bragging that they have BILLIONS of pages to search through.

Im curious out of all the PREFERED terms google is SUGGESTING, take the top 20 results of each category, those are the only USEFUL pages indexed in google. All the rest is a little number on their front page, and means nothing to me, and only to shareholders now.

Google sold out!

[Dave Hawley]

I think google has sold out All public companies on the stock market have "sold out", that is the reason for listing.

I doubt they would do anything the would harm there SERP relevancy. Their relevancy and profit go hand-in-hand.

[The Broker]

All public companies on the stock market have "sold out", that is the reason for listing.

I doubt they would do anything the would harm there SERP relevancy. Their relevancy and profit go hand-in-hand.

Yep.. but look at like this.. Relevancy for there spidered results going down may get more advertising revenue on the ads. So harming their FREE results a bit may increase profit on the paid advertising. If the free results were relevant, users would never click on paid ads.

[Dave Hawley]

I don't believe Google are that short-sighted. If relevancy for the organic results drop, their paid advertising will follow. If their relevancy for the organic results incease, their paid advertising will follow.

[mcanerin]

I agree with Dave.

If G was only interested in maximizing short term gains they would not worry that much about the relevancy and CTR of Adwords.

I've had clients come to me frustrated because they have a lousy CTR but wanted the top position anyway, and were more than happy to pay for it regardless of the cost or logic.

If G wanted to scoop some money up, they would be best served by lowering the relevancy algos on Adwords ads (where the public at large would be slower to notice and the monetary gains greater) than knowingly lowering the relevancy of the natural listings, which would certainly qualify as "evil" and would require only one whistleblower in the ranks to cause a PR firestorm.

If lowering the relevancy and selling more ads worked, we'd all be searching on Looksmart and AltaVista right now - and they would have a TON of money....

My opinion,

Ian

[The Broker]

If G wanted to scoop some money up, they would be best served by lowering the relevancy algos on Adwords ads (where the public at large would be slower to notice and the monetary gains greater) than knowingly lowering the relevancy of the natural listings, which would certainly qualify as "evil" and would require only one whistleblower in the ranks to cause a PR firestorm.

Ian

True True.. in fact, they made a change to the way Adwords works with your keywords recently. Which in all my experiments, screwed up my adwords campaign to the point where I cant even get my ads displayed in any top positions no matter how much I bid, or daily allowance I set.

In fact, their relevancy formula includes the CTR for ranking which seems to make a bit of sense (although this is PAID advertising), until my ads no longer show because searches didnt turn into clicks on my ad. Which means JUST to get some impressions, so I have a CHANCE at a paid click, I practically have to click my own damn ads so google deems it worth to display it! I know I know, they say its to keep the ads relevant to the queries being targeted.. RIGHT!!! I was getting clicks before, now Im not even getting impressions. Somethings not right there.

So here google has gone in a complete cirlce.

1. So now we have 8 billion free indexed pages all of which are being searched for by two or three keyword phrases by the millions or billions of people using it daily... big monster.

2. PAID advertising which is being converted into ranking advertising (almost like their spidered results).. big monster.

3. and NOW we have a cool tool from google so dummy searchers can be pointed in a 'direction' so the massive index google has created (step 1) is made almost useless.

It's like text based BBS, then mice, then browsers, then video, then wireless, now we are all sending text messages using a numeric keypad to each other all day long. Big circle. Bunch of useless stuff in between.

If you have google stock, Id sell it now.

[The Broker]

Those are some nice keyword tools. But why even use specialty tools to find unique keyword phrases when google is pushing people in the direction they want using google suggest?

Take this for example, if I was looking for a loan officer in las vegas, off the top of my head I typed in:

las vegas loan officer

I'd think at least ONE listing on the top 10 would include some kind of las vegas loan officer.. but no. We got a top 10 list of big job sites. Google has somehow assumed I'm looking for a loan officer JOB even tho there is no reference to it in there.

JOB hunters are big targets, and big advertising money for google i'd bet.

The whole generalized search phrase idea seems mute. We already have directories. This google suggest tool should simply be a google directory addition to help find the right category, or something actually usefull.

Here is a google quote from thier suggest help:

Our algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries users are most likely to want to see. For example, Google Suggest uses data about the overall popularity of various searches to help rank the refinements it offers.

In simple words this says it suggests what people are already typing in, just in a more refined way. Refined meaning more general, heard me in a direction, and make the whole idea of google (searching unique data out of billions of indexed documents) mute.

[bobmutch]

Broker: "Those are some nice keyword tools. But why even use specialty tools to find unique keyword phrases when google is pushing people in the direction they want using google suggest?" Why use specialty tools to find unique keyword phrases? When you want to connect a client with the customers that are looking for their products you want to know what keywords prospective clients are searching for. The is where keyword mining tools come in. You work these tools to make sure you are not missing key phrases or words that are important.

After you get all your words together you check with Overture which ones are being searched the most. You adjust your list to show that and then according to the clients budget you select a ranage and out of the range target the keywords that that will provide you with the highest percent of conversions. And so the story goes.

"Google has somehow assumed I'm looking for a loan officer JOB even tho there is no reference to it in there." I don't think Google has assumed anything. Those sites that you got on the top ten have optimized there sites to come up when the term is searched. You just need to change your search and could start with some thing like "loan officer las vegas -job -jobs".

[The Broker]

Yes I know Bob, I was being sarcastic :)

My point was this. Google suggested I type 'las vegas loan officer' when I started spewing my text in the search form.

Perhaps google suggest should automatically put in all the -jobs when i don't select 'las vegas loan officer jobs' from the list right?

I mean, adding more text would drill DOWN farther and give me a more unique search, so if they have a SET number of phrases that come after the phrase I've already typed in, but didnt pick, why not filter those out from my results.

If they are gonna predict what I want, at least remove the predictions I didnt select from the search results.

My rant.

BTW: see my post on MSN Toolbar Beta suite today.

[Dave Hawley]

The Broker, I feel you are reading waaaaayyyy to much into this. Just perhaps Google is trying to make the SE more user friendly?

[St0n3y]

SEO is all about learning search patterns and optimizing a site for keywords based on 1) relevance and 2) market targeting and 3) search activity. By offering suggestions, Google is essentially herding searchers like cattle to the money, not ours, but theirs.

Think about it, Google can, at their will, use the suggest feature to try to direct people to keyword phrases that produce the highest revenue for them from the sponsored ads. Maybe I’m paranoid, but this certainly seems like a plausible scenario.

Next to each phrase is the number of results available for each query. How is the user helped by knowing this? Heck, nobody clicks past the first few pages, why do I need to know how many results total there are when I only look at the top 30 anyway. Is that an indicator of relevance for me? I think not.

By offering suggestions, Google is potentially making search results less, not more, relevant. The suggestion trys to narrow a query into a pre-set mold, thus eliminating many, many relevant search queries that don’t necessarily fit that mold–or produce ad clicks. It takes the thinking out of searching. Many will like that, for sure, however less thought will NOT help fine-tune your search. Certainly the searcher is free to type their phrase as they wish, but by offering suggestions it is implied that you’ll get better results by choosing from the list.

I don’t like it, but I don’t see how Google loses. They can deliver more searchers to their higher paying ads while making the searcher feel as if they are being directed to the best set of results. Searchers get “helped” into pre-set categories while businesses targeting less competitive phrases lose out, essentially narrowing the pool.

Google may index over 8 billion pages, but by directing searchers with the suggest feature effectively relegates billions of relevant pages into search obscurity, never to be seen by the light of day.

[Dave Hawley]

I really don't believe Google are so short-sighted. If they are no longer the #1 SE (which will happen if what you say is true) their AdWords revenue would be wiped dramatically. I believe Google has very much got its eye on the ball (as it always has) while AdWords revenue is likely in the mix to some degree, I highly doubt it's a driving factor.

[St0n3y]

That's the thing, I don't think Google loses by this at all. From a searcher standpoint, they will feel as if Google is offering up more relevant results. Now Google may not blatanlty use this to drive searchers to their higher producing ads, but the net effect is essentially the same.

[Jorge]

I also do not see the need to display the number of search results for keywords in Google suggest. I would like to know what they use to determine the order in which they are displayed, is it alphabetical, number of searches, related content in web sites resulting from these searches (clustering keywords by content in SERPs)?

Also I have noticed that the number of search results that it shows is not the same as the number of results shown when you perform the search. For example if I type steak house Gsuggest says it has 1,990,000 results, but when I do the search I get 1,670,000 results. ¿?

Basically the question would be to know what determines the suggested keywords and why they tell you the number of search results.

In any case I doubt Google would push expensive adword terms. They would be busted in no time and lose all credibility. An example of this happens if you begin typing travel. As soon as you type the first two letters the first suggestion is travelocity (strange) that is a search term with no advertising. By the way the word travel is the 5th suggestion.

[mcanerin]

Here is an FYI link on the subject by the creator of the idea:

http://www.google.com/googleblog/2004/12/ive-got-suggestion.html

Ian

[St0n3y]

Well, I think all are correct about Google not deliberatly using the suggest to push visitors to hi cost/click adsense results, however I think that it inevitably will do just that. You can file it under the law of unintended consequences, but I would lean toward thinking its an intended consequence of an alternately useful function.

[Dave Hawley]

If I ever have to work for another company again, I hope it's Google! Wonder if they have any call for Spreadsheet developers :) Google Excels has a nice ring to it.

[Dave Hawley]

however I think that it inevitably will do just that I have been thinking and I now somewhat agree. However, it will most likely be a case of Adwords users bidding against each other on the "Google Suggests" terms.

[St0n3y]

I very much see them feeding each other. The phrase won't be suggested unless its got some popularity to it (how else will it get there?) causing those phrases to become more popular, causing advertisers to be willing to bid even higher for the higher volume of traffic availalbe.

[Jorge]

I think you are completely right. It will create competitive terms

[Scoreboard]

Is Google Suggests geotargeted? For example, when I search "Mesothelioma Attorney", it's backfilled with predominantly Texas-oriented suggestions. Seems weird to me as I don't think Texas Mesothelioma Attorneys are all that more relevant to that query than any other states leading that sort of litigation.

[Dave Hawley]

If it is, it's only US orientated. Sitting here in Oz I get the same as you.

[pootle]

are the suggested results listed in order of the amount of times they are searched for, with most common searches coming first in the list?

they certainly aren't listed in order of the amounts of results.

[rcjordan]

>US

I've run quite a few tests on it and it does appear to be US-centric and skewed towards a relatively recent sampling of the index. For instance, on broad tests you'll find a lot of suggestions for Kerry, voting locations, and poll outcomes.

[Dave Hawley]

Hi pootle

This is what Google have on thier site (http://labs.google.com/suggest/faq.html#q2)That's pretty cool. How does it do that?
Our algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries users are most likely to want to see. For example, Google Suggest uses data about the overall popularity of various searches to help rank the refinements it offers. An example of this type of popularity information can be found in the Google Zeitgeist. Google Suggest does not base its suggestions on your personal search historyI have seen interpreted as they use a "a wide range of information" to their watching you through your PC and everything in-between :)

[Mel]

Scoreboard:I don't seem to see much in the way of geotargeting in Google suggest, but it does seem to me that they may be using a different index (perhaps the api index?) to source the popularity.

Pootle as far as I can see they appear to be listed in order of decreasing popularity of the search word or phrase, and I imagine that data would be coming directly from their analysis of their stats. We do know that they track the popularity of search terms as evidenced by Google Zeitgeist, and of course they wouldn't be much of a search engine if they did not track useage

[The Broker]

SEO is all about learning search patterns and optimizing a site for keywords based on 1) relevance and 2) market targeting and 3) search activity. By offering suggestions, Google is essentially herding searchers like cattle to the money, not ours, but theirs.

Think about it, Google can, at their will, use the suggest feature to try to direct people to keyword phrases that produce the highest revenue for them from the sponsored ads. Maybe I’m paranoid, but this certainly seems like a plausible scenario.


I said it before. You are right on here. Google boasts about 8 billion pages yet they have effectively reduced the usable index to a few thousand groups of website results.

This equals a directory. Categorizing content to a small relevant subset of the whole.

So google has gone in a full circle. Started with nothing, indexed everything, now is reducing results to a small subset of their hard work.

I like to compare it to text communications, email, then realtime chat, then video conferencing, instant messaging, and now we are typing short abbreviated text messages to eachother wirelessly through devices with numeric keypads.

Sell your google stock while it's still worth something. IMO :D

[Mel]

I said it before. You are right on here. Google boasts about 8 billion pages yet they have effectively reduced the usable index to a few thousand groups of website results.

This equals a directory. Categorizing content to a small relevant subset of the whole.

So google has gone in a full circle. Started with nothing, indexed everything, now is reducing results to a small subset of their hard work.

I like to compare it to text communications, email, then realtime chat, then video conferencing, instant messaging, and now we are typing short abbreviated text messages to eachother wirelessly through devices with numeric keypads.

Sell your google stock while it's still worth something. IMO :D


What do you expect to happen when 17 million pages target the same search phrase? Of course the search phrase they are targeting is going to represent those 17 million pages. Its what I believe is called a search engine and its job is to rank and condense those billions of pages into rankings with the most relevant pages at the top.

The doubters before Googles IPO said that the stock would be worth $15 a few months after the IPO and here it is hovering below $200 and has a realisable 120% profit four months later.

If you have Google stock you want to sell below market by all means let me know.

[Dave Hawley]

Sell when everyone is buying and buy when everyone is selling.

[The Broker]

What do you expect to happen when 17 million pages target the same search phrase? Of course the search phrase they are targeting is going to represent those 17 million pages. Its what I believe is called a search engine and its job is to rank and condense those billions of pages into rankings with the most relevant pages at the top.


Well, keep in mind 17 million pages are not ALL targeting that search phrase. They simply CONTAIN that search phrase. The pages created by people on sites like these are actually targeting search phrases.

So what it comes down to is this. Your average surfer doesnt know jack on how to do a free text search effectively. So google is making it easier for the dummy surfer to find what google thinks is relevant information. But where is google getting this info?... From their own stats on free text searches done by the same dumb surfers.

If thats not a complete useless circle, I don't know what is.

[Mel]

If I am not wrong the advancement of the human race has largely consisted of learning from our predecessors and then trying to improve upon that and passing that knowledge on, which seems to me to be a pretty fair summary of what Google suggest does in the search term universe.

Sorry but i cannot agree with your implication that every searcher on the web is dumb as a sack of rocks. It may be that there are one or more clever searchers on the web and the inclusion of thier searches into the average may improve the search experience of those less skilled.

[The Broker]

Sorry but i cannot agree with your implication that every searcher on the web is dumb as a sack of rocks. It may be that there are one or more clever searchers on the web and the inclusion of thier searches into the average may improve the search experience of those less skilled.

Well, sack of rocks is giving too much credit :)

However, after playing with G Suggest and finding that my domain name shows up in the pulldown while typing the first 4 letters, Id have to say that Im liking it better!

[St0n3y]

For example, Google Suggest uses data about the overall popularity of various searches to help rank the refinements it offers

If this isn't directing people to the higher paying adsense ads, I don't know what its. This maynot be the purpose behind Google Suggests, but it certainly is the benefit (from Googl'es standpoint).

[Mel]

Do you really thing that that when someone searches for something in the organic results of Google, that they are going to scamper off to the Adwords ads just as soon as they get some results?

I can offer myself as an example, I do hundreds of searches daily and have never purchased from an Adwords ad or found better results in Adwords compared to organic search.

I do not see that average searcher ever using Google suggest, it is a tool of interest to webmasters and SEOs who are interested in researching search terms.

[St0n3y]

Do you really thing that that when someone searches for something in the organic results of Google, that they are going to scamper off to the Adwords ads just as soon as they get some results?

Um, I think that is the whole point of adwords. If NOBODY who searched clicked on the ads then it would not be quite the producer of revenue that it is.

I don't click ads either, unless the search results just don't give me what I need, but there are a good percentage of users who do. If the ads were not effective, we would not even see them on the results page to begin with.

[Mel]

I fail to see how Google suggest is driving people to higher prices Adwords Ads any more than its helping the average searcher improve his search.

But again this is not a tool on the main Google search page and I doubt if many average searchers will ever use it.

I find it useful, YMMV.

[cspence]

:mad: This is terrible for the small guy trying to compete with the big guys. Capitalism at its best.

Example, type in apartments and guess who comes up in the suggestion. Apartments.com! I bet apartments.com loves this and for web sites like mine http://www.rentersinc.com, it only makes our lives more difficult.

Chris

[The Broker]

:mad: This is terrible for the small guy trying to compete with the big guys. Capitalism at its best.

Example, type in apartments and guess who comes up in the suggestion. Apartments.com! I bet apartments.com loves this and for web sites like mine http://www.rentersinc.com, it only makes our lives more difficult.

Chris
http://www.rentersinc.com

LMFAO! Amazing isnt it Chris? I'll bet TONS of surfers are typing in apartments.com into a search engine so they can find the domain name and go there!

lol

Google, what a sham.

[The Broker]

But hey Chris, the really sad thing is, your adwords ad isnt on that page :) Better get on it!!

[cspence]

But hey Chris, the really sad thing is, your adwords ad isnt on that page :) Better get on it!!
Small budget, not much I can do to compete on a $ for $ level with apartments.com

[St0n3y]

I fail to see how Google suggest is driving people to higher prices Adwords Ads

I think the assumption here is that Google Suggests will go live on the main google search. If/when that happens, how can you NOT see how this will drive people to higher adewords ads? Even if it does not initially drive visitors to higher paying ads, the simple presence of the suggestions will drive people adsense buyers to up their ad per-click amounts due to the higher traffic volumes that will be received for certain keywords.

re: apartments.com: if you simply type in 'apar' you'll see 'apartments.com' as a suggestion. If you type 'apartments' then 'apartments.com' goes up to suggetion #3.

[cspence]

LMFAO! Amazing isnt it Chris? I'll bet TONS of surfers are typing in apartments.com into a search engine so they can find the domain name and go there!

lol

Google, what a sham.

You'd be suprised how few search the apartments.com. The problem is that eventually we may get in the top five for the word apartments and of course apartments.com will still be number on but in this suggesstion tool, if the user doesn't go ahead and search the term apartments, and just choose apartments.com from the list that screws the rest of us.

[Mel]

:mad: This is terrible for the small guy trying to compete with the big guys. Capitalism at its best.

Example, type in apartments and guess who comes up in the suggestion. Apartments.com!...

Come again Chris? When I type in apartments the drop down list has nothing about apartments.com but lists apartments then apartments for rent...

Where are you finding this?

[cspence]

Come again Chris? When I type in apartments the drop down list has nothing about apartments.com but lists apartments then apartments for rent...

Where are you finding this?

It is the third on down.

[Mel]

My mistake Chris, sorry. I totally agree that if this is to remain a viable service then URLs should not be mixed into the results especially when there are several more popular search terms which start with the apartments term.

[St0n3y]

I completely agree, but why is it NOT acceptable to put URLs in the list of suggestions but it IS acceptable to have adwords ads shown on the results pages for any of the phrases suggested?

Certainly, having URLs in the list of suggestions is a BIG problem, but the reason that is a problem simply underscores, in my mind, the problem with the whole program... that the net result of such implementation will be to drive more visitors through a narrower doorway, causing bidding for those adwords ads to skyrocket (and therefore more $$$ in Google's pocket.)

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse or even subscribe to conspiracy theories, I'm just looking at the consequences (intended or not) that full implementation of this feature will have. If searchers are being directed, no matter how good the intentions, its going to be bad for just about everybody BUT Google.

[Mel]

I completely agree, but why is it NOT acceptable to put URLs in the list of suggestions but it IS acceptable to have adwords ads shown on the results pages for any of the phrases suggested?...

I should think that is fairly obvious, in the case of Google suggest they are suggesting that to improve the relevance of your searches you should go to such and such URL, which is much different than presenting you with two lists of URLs which are relevant to your search, one which is organic and one which is paid for and allowing you to choose.

[cspence]

st0n3y, I agree with your point and if implemented on the regular search will only be for reasons of economic gain on Google's part but I also think that it may backfire on them. If the user decides that when they see "Apartments.com" in the list it not only bypasses all other vialble results but the adwords as well thereby eliminating potential revenue for Google.

I think most arguments given in this forum have merrit. I suggest that everyone that has an opinion on this email Google Labs.

labs+suggest@google.com

[Dave Hawley]

Here is what I'm not getting. The Thread has been stating throughout that the results are driven by (no order)

1) Search Popularity

2) AdWords revenue

Now we hear that by typing in Apart.. we get suggested Apartments.com as one possible alternative.

1) Surely "Apartments.com" is not a popular search word?

2) They have the top spot for "Apartments" and so are unlikely to be paying for AdWords. They don't even seem to use AdSense. In fact, if one chooses "apartments.com" no AdWords show.

[St0n3y]

Good points Dave,

Let's inject some facts into this conversation. Type in "apar" and you get the following suggestions:

apartments
apartments for rent
apartment
apartment search
apartment finder
apartment guide
apartments.com
apartment rental
apartment ratings

Run those through wordtracker and you get the following 24 hour predictions:

5735 apartments
2046 apartments for rent
1207 apartment
1120 apartment search
930 apartment finder
575 apartment guide
492 apartments.com
275 apartment rental
189 apartment ratings

Interestingly, they are all in order of search activity! Even more interesting, people DO search for 'apartments.com'. Who would have thunk it? Well, me. It happens all the time, people searching for domain names, and in this case almost 500 people a day do, according to WT.

So, if these are the suggestions that Google is going to offer, does it not make sense, if you were in this industry, to get your ads placed for these phrases, even if it means bumping up your per-click price? Seems like a logical course of action to me.

Conclusion: even if there are no adwords ads for a suggested phrase, if Google pushed searchers in that direction you can expect ads to appear and costs of those ads (and profits for Google) to skyrocket as well.

[Dave Hawley]

Yes, this is what I see happening. That is, the AdWords users themselves will chase these suggested phrases and naturally in turn start/raise the bidding on them.

Soooooo, while the "Suggested Phrases" currently do not seem based on AdWords revenue, the AdWords users themselves will see to it that they are.

Another smart move by Google IMO.

[The Broker]

Yes, this is what I see happening. That is, the AdWords users themselves will chase these suggested phrases and naturally in turn start/raise the bidding on them.

Soooooo, while the "Suggested Phrases" currently do not seem based on AdWords revenue, the AdWords users themselves will see to it that they are.

Another smart move by Google IMO.

Not only adwords webmasters, but all the webmasters who target those phrases will injected a whole slew of extra junk into google which in turn generates more matches and less relevant information for the end user.

Bahumbug!

[St0n3y]

The law of unintended (or perhaps in this case; intended) consequences!

[shrung]

You can see suggested searches that are related to yours on ImQ.free.fr, it doesn't suggest as you type but it makes search process much easier.