Image via Wikipedia
It is no big surprise to web users that minor changes cause big impacts on the web.
One item that is commonly overlooked for how it affects audience perception can be found right on the home page of Google.
What am I talking about?
The Google Auto-Suggest function, now with an updated title of “Google Instant”
When you type in almost any search term, Google attempts to auto-complete your search query based on popular search phrases.
This is a new obstacle for online reputation management, as now individuals and corporations are fighting for every single letter someone uses in a search engine.
Google Instant creates two different problems on ends of the spectrum:
Common Names such as David or Michael, business executives will find search phrases pre-populating the Google window. For businesses with regional or shared words (for instance Seattle’s Best Coffee), dozens of non-related brands and search phrases will populate around the most common and popular keywords.
Unique Names with rare spelling or limited usage have a different problem: Google Instant attempts to provide any relevant search strings that have a critical mass of users. If someone searches for your company or brand name, you could end up with a Google instant result that looks like
- Company ABC
- Company ABC fires CEO
- Company ABC customer service
- Company ABC court hearing
While this basic change seems simple enough, the fact that it occurs at the very beginning of the search process means that it controls a significant amount of brand and reputation traffic. Having a strategy in place for managing this component of your business is critical piece of a healthy future.
BIG PICTURE, BIG IMPACT
Understanding the trickle-down effect of Google Instant (and other real time search) creates significant changes to product launches, sales, PR, internal communications and investor relations. It also creates the opportunity for “snowball” situations that reach a hidden critical mass that can contaminate an entire silo of business.
EXAMPLE: Company ABC is doing great. They release a new product and within a few days a faulty wiring issue causes consumers to contact customer service. The first few days go by unnoticed, but eventually enough searches for the company name and the problem occur that the company name search begins showing the core product issues. In an instant, 500 people a day who were searching for “Company ABC” begin seeing the Google Instant result for “Company ABC product recall”
When the critical mass of the above example happens- those 500 daily searches for the company name become 500 additional eyes that fuel a communication nightmare. Examples of how it interacts with web searching behavior can be seen in articles like Google Instant, managing your brand and reputation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- Barry Hurd has a decade of experience understanding complex online reputation management issues and the business ramifications that new communication tools and trends create.
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