Google Suggest - Long Tail Killer Or New Opportunity?

[Linda Buquet]

By now I'm sure you've heard 'Google Suggest' is coming out of the lab and into the main Google search page. Some are saying this is going to severely cut into long tail keyword and typo traffic volume. Google is going to make it too easy for Joe Surfer to just pick from one of the suggestions instead of typing in that nice juicy long tail phrase you are so nicely optimized for.

But there's a hidden opportunity here I think, at least in the beginning before everyone starts capitalizing on it. So check this example and then follow along below the image to see how to use Suggest to your advantage.

Google Suggest Results for: Reverse Mortgages



Above is a search I did for "Reverse Mortgages" a very lucrative and very competitive key phrase. There are over 2 million competing pages. Now let's look at an interesting phrase Google 'suggested' when I searched. If I was a consumer interested in reverse mortgages, I think I'd be pretty likely to click the #2 result and would click "Reverse Mortgages pros and cons".

If I were a Reverse Mortgage affiliate or Adsense publisher, what do I see? A hidden gem! "Pros and cons" is at the very top of the list, YET has the lowest # of results. Hmmm, interesting - let's do some more keyword research.

allintitle: "reverse mortgages pros and cons" only has 63 competing pages. Looks like it would be pretty easy to get to the 1st page!

When I checked the term "Reverse Mortgages" with the Adwords keyword tool and Wordtracker the phrase "Reverse Mortgages pros and cons" was so low down the list I may not have optimized for it and evidently not many other people did. Yet if 'Suggest' sends some visitors to the phrase and it's super easy to get ranked for, then it would probably be worth optimizing for.

What about PPC? Let's see if Google gives us an opportunity there too.

Reverse Mortgages has 49 pages of PPC ads. There are OVER 500 Adwords ads to compete with!

Check out the Reverse Mortgages pros and cons page Google Suggest just sent Joe surfer to! How many competing ads? Only 8! I'm dying to know if those 8 advertisers see a boost in traffic for this term. Maybe I got lucky with this example, but I've tried a few others and found some interesting gems too.

Below are some good articles about how Google Suggest could affect SEO.

How Google Suggest Changes SEO

Google Suggest to Go Live

Free SEO Tips for Google Search Suggest

[gbh1935]

I imagine, it will become a staple for long tail keywords research very quickly

[CheapSEO]

First time i got change with Google i surprised. I also got like that you have posted. Today cleared here.

[Niche]

Totally agree. I have been using google suggest as a keyword research tool and it has been pretty useful. Obviously you cannot use it in isolation
Yes as it gets more popular, it will reduce the amount of traffic we get from typos but I really do not think in my case, that it will have a significant impact

[DerkThunder]

Defiantly, this is now a feature many people use for their searches. I think Google will just keep getting better and better. But is their any point in keeping their ads on your site?

[Karl]

I completely agree with DerkThunder.
Google keeps on getting better and better day by day.

[JamesAndrew]

Well this is another great feature of Google and searching makes more easier for people.