You might not know it, but you’ve been accidentally overlooking a useful tool every time you’ve typed a query into your favourite search engine. That’s because Google’s autosuggest tool is going out of its way to tell you what other people are searching for by making suggestions to complete your query.
So for example, when I enter the word “American”, the suggestions I receive include “American Express Gold Card”, “American Bar Association”, “American Pancakes” and “American Airlines”. And while different people will receive different suggestions because Google tweaks its results based on a variety of factors, it’s a great way to get a quick overview of the terms that people are searching for which relate to your industry.
This, of course, means that it can be super useful for keyword research, even if it’s just to pick up ideas that you can plug into a more powerful tool. It can also be a great way to come up with blog ideas, especially if you pick a term that’s related to your industry and try variants of “how do I?” and “why does?” questions.
Autosuggest for B2Bs
The great thing about using autosuggest is that it can be just as useful for B2Bs as it can be for B2Cs. Sure, Google needs data around a search to be able to provide its suggestions and so it can be difficult to search for more obscure terms, but it’s great for getting a snapshot of your industry as a whole.
The key is to see which terms are suggested and to take a look at what the results look like. If you know your industry as well as you should do, you’ll be able to spot some gaps in the results where the quality of those articles isn’t quite up to scratch and where you think you can do better. You already know that the volume is there because the term is being suggested by Google. Now all you need to do is to create a piece of content that can beat out the competition.
Autosuggest can also be useful for finding ideas of what to post about on social networking sites. After all, if people are searching for it then it’s a good sign that they’re ready to talk about it. This can be difficult with more abstract suggestions, but it’s perfect for “what is?” and “why does?” questions because you can usually answer them with a single update.
Conclusion
The key to using Autosuggest for B2B marketing is to remember that it’s a way to keep your pulse on the finger of conversations. Be creative, and remember that these suggestions aren’t set in stone. Rather, they’re an indicator of what could potentially be successful, and you’ll need to use your discretion when it comes to the ideas that you receive.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.