The good folks over at Direct Online Marketing posted a list of the A-Z results from Google Instant when you type in a single letter. Well that’s fun, I’ll try too. Survey says… half of my results are different.
Location-based Suggestions
It is quickly apparent that Instant’s query suggestions are based on your location. Here are the differences in Ohio versus California. (I consider it a separate issue that Google thinks I am in San Diego even though I am 1764 miles away, and receive irrelevant results constantly because of the issue).
Language or Thought
When Google began delivering results based on location, LocalSEOguide asked Is every search local now. Now the line between a query and a result has been blurred.
Since results are delivered after a single letter, a query may be affected by the results that are delivered mid-word. Location-based results raise political debates, such as “this candidate is great” showing up as the result in one location while “this candidate is evil” in another. Location-based queries may increase this debate. I need only type in a candidate’s name and Instant will tell me what is the prevailing opinion in my area. I may not know if that area is the size of a city block or the entire world, but if I am easily influenced then the effect of the popular opinion has taken one step closer (from search result to search query) to the root of thought. The philosphers among you can debate whether or not the words change the very nature of ideas.
The Local Bank
Trying to find some practical lesson from this data, let’s compare the differences in the results for the two states.
- AOL over Amazon? I’m guessing people in Ohio stuck with their aol email addresses.
- BofA & PNC. The top bank in an area rises over even universally-popular shops and services such as Best Buy and Pandora.
- DMV in CA. Do Californians have particularly major issues with driving? Perhaps, but the cause of this one is more likely that Ohio has the BMV (bureaus instead of departments)
- Ikea over imdb in CA – Has Hollywood taken a back seat to the Poang?
- The name of an area rises to the top of its letter. (Ohio Lottery, San Diego Gas & Electric)
- Californians are still buying homes, while Ohioans have moved onto Shoes. (a Zillow y Zappos battle)
How specific of a location would be ideal? As recently as 2008, paging through results did not seem too much of a burden. Gradual improvements and Bing’s commercials made us demand that the first result match exactly the little notion in our head, and Location is clearly major factor in relevance. Would it be best for query suggestions to be based on our part of the country, state, town, or neighborhood? MobileMe is GInstant’s query suggestion once I type in “mobile” – but believe me, mobile home parts is what someone would be looking for in the part of town I’m actually in. Specific geolocations could give everyone in the local mobile home parks one result while the country clubbers get another, but drilling query suggestions down that far creates additonal obstacles to the existing barriers between such community groups.
Did we learn anything? I dunno. I’ve seen in Comments how key it is to be extremely relevant on YOUmoz, or else the backlash cometh. Perhaps the location-based nature of Instant was obvious to everyone, and I was loading bathtubs or pickup up drywall while the pro SEOs were relecting upon it. I’ll type “loc” into Google; if Instant suggests “location based queries analyzed” then I’m on right track, but if it suggests “local man shredded by Mozzers” then it’s back to the drawing board.
