Google Auto-complete And What It Means For Your SEO

Is it love, or is it Google's auto-complete?

There comes a time in everyone's life when they find someone so compatible that each partner begins finishing the sentences of the other. Is it because their minds are so alike, or that they know one another so well?
Sometimes this relationship exists outside of the bond between two people, and instead becomes a connection between a person and their search engine.

Google introduced its auto-complete function in an effort to take away some of the burdens in the lives of web users everywhere. Why should someone have to stumble over completing a search query when based on their past browsing history, recent searches, and data from their local area a suggestion might be offered to them? Why make someone type out a full query when the same information cited in the previous example could be used again to save the user precious seconds of their time?

What does this mean for your SEO?

While the auto-complete function of Google searches has made for some pretty hilarious results, there is more to it than simply a list of suggestions that range from useful to absolutely absurd. At the end of this particular rainbow there is a pot of SEO gold.

 

The first thing a user sees when searching for your brand are the suggestions presented by the auto-complete aspect of a Google search. These simple fill-in-the-blank style suggested queries could mean everything for your business. If the majority of the suggestions mention scams, hoaxes, and other PR nightmares, chances are people aren't going to continue their search, especially if they were going to find more information on your brand with the intent of making a purchase in the near future!
If you're seeing some not-so-amazing things pop up in the auto-complete area when you're searching for your brand, here are a few things that you can do to help increase the odds that good things will start showing up there instead:

• Step up your searches - And if you can, ask your friends, family, and co-workers to search too! What we mean by this is you are going to need to start searching for more positive queries related to your brand. Instead of "Brand X Scam Warning" search for "Brand X Mission Statement" or "New Product Releases by Brand X Get Rave Reviews" and so on.
• Use social media to make a statement - Social signals area hot topic, but they aren't all that's important about the use of social media for SEO. Having an active, positive social presence is always a good thing, and more activity means more potential for positive mentions of your brand.
• Create positive content on the web - While we don't suggest going out and making a bunch of stand-along websites or random pages on your website, we do think that you should be making an effort to put more positive content out there about your business. Tell people about all of the good things you've been doing as a company and let them know that you mean business!
• Visibility Boost - RankPop has developed this to do the two main factors which is creating quality content and using social media to then promote.  The bottom line is SEO is now about creating brand awareness and getting in front of your potential customers.