EvolutionMC, LLC

by Brad Redfearn

The new generation of browsers with integrated Google Search have a new feature called Google Suggest. Actually, it’s been around for some time, but hasn’t “graduated” from Google Labs. As far as I can tell this puts it somewhere between beta software and full-fledged service. Anywho…

When a user begins typing a search phrase into the text box, Google Suggest begins to analyze the characters the user is typing and attempts to predict what they want based on Google’s search popularity index. The predictions spring into existence beneath the search field and the user can select an auto-completed search phrase rather than go through the laborious process of typing it themselves. (Shame on you 10 words-per-minute hunt-and-peckers out there).

At the surface this is a useful feature, and indeed may allow users to search faster and even improve their search results by finding better word combinations. But this sweet medicine may leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of everyone involved: search engine users, businesses concerned with search engine optimization and search marketing, and even perhaps Google themselves.

Interested as we always are at EvolutionMC about the evolution of technology and information systems, we suspect that Google Suggest (and similar technologies) could have the unintended consequence of reducing the variety of search terms that people use. Let me give you an example.

There are many phrases one could type if interested in getting a website for their business. Some examples:

• website design
• website development
• websites for restaurants
• website consulting services
• etc.

The number of possibilities is enormous–pretty much anything people can think of. However, if more people start choosing to type in “website” and then select from the top one or two choices from Google Suggest, then the number of search phrases in play could be reduced dramatically.

This would be bad for everyone. Search marketing/search engine optimization is a very competitive industry because the number of businesses seeking top results for a given phrase far exceed the number of top slots available. Many businesses find a comfortable niche by targeting slightly less popular yet easier to master keywords. This market would somewhat shrivel up if search phrases drift toward homogenization. Google is itself dependent on revenue derived from search, and it is not clear whether the cost of pay-per-click keyword placement would simply increase to make things revenue-neutral for the search giant. The end result for users could be less variety of information at their fingertips.

There are ways around this, I’m sure. For example, the phrases Google suggests could be based on some kind of rotation algorithm rather than some unassailable list of “the” top search phrases. This is probably yet another one of those formulas that only Google will know for sure. They do have a lot of brains at that place, you know.

But for now, I’m using Google Suggest with one eyebrow raised in suspicion.