Suggest is a function that predicts and displays keywords when you enter characters in a search engine such as Google or Yahoo!. For example, if you enter “summer”, possible keywords will be displayed based on the characters you entered, such as “summer vacation” and “Natsume Soseki”. Suggestions are a convenient feature from a user’s perspective, but if incorporated properly, they can also be effective in
SEO
measures. In this article, we will introduce how suggestions are displayed, their importance in SEO, and how to efficiently search for suggestions for each keyword.
What is a suggestion? What features?
The name of the suggestion function comes from the English word “suggest”. Suggest, as the word suggests, is a function that “suggests” keywords from input information. The suggestion function has been introduced in various search engines including Google. As will be explained in detail later, suggestions are displayed according to the user’s needs at the time, and are extremely useful in understanding the user’s search intent.
How suggestions are displayed
So far, I have explained the overview of suggestions. From here, we will introduce the criteria used to display suggestions.
Google’s definition for suggestions
According to Google, the criteria for autocomplete (Google’s suggestions) can be broadly divided into the following four points.
Based on the above information, keywords that are presumed to be sought by the user are displayed as suggestions. We will explain each item in detail.
Location information
Many of you may have experienced that when you try to type “lunch” into the search window, “lunch place name (current location)” appears in the suggestions before you finish typing. Google obtains the user’s location information and optimizes suggestions based on the obtained location information. In particular, when searching for keywords such as restaurants or accommodations where location information is important, the algorithm is designed to return suggestions that reflect the user’s location.
User attributes (past search history, etc.)
Keywords you have searched in the past may also appear in the suggestions. Google’s search engine is designed to remember keywords that users have searched in the past. Keywords that have been searched in the past are considered more interesting to users and are more likely to appear in result suggestions. These algorithms allow users to quickly obtain information that is of interest to them.
Monthly search volume
Search volume is the number of times a keyword is searched by all users. Keywords with high search volume are judged to be of interest to many users, and are therefore more likely to appear in suggestions. Google updates daily to improve user convenience, so suggestions based on monthly search volume change daily.
Highly trending keywords
Trends are things that are being talked about in real time, such as news or events. Suggestions are basically determined by the three items above. However, keywords that are being searched rapidly, even temporarily, will be recognized as having high user needs and will be displayed in the suggestions. Suggestions based on trends only temporarily respond to user needs, so in most cases they are not maintained over a long period of time.
Difference between suggestions and other keywords
So far, we have explained how suggested keywords are displayed. In fact, there are other keywords that are very similar to suggestions and are often confused. Here, we will explain the difference between two keywords that are often confused with suggestions.
Differences with related keywords
“Related keywords” are often confused with suggestions. Suggestions are words that Google predicts and displays based on the keyword you entered and the four viewpoints mentioned above. On the other hand, related keywords are words that are related to the keyword that was actually searched. Suggestions are displayed based not only on the keyword’s monthly search volume and trends, but also on the user’s past search information, while related keywords exclude the user’s personal search information and are influenced only by search volume.
In the case of Google, related keywords are displayed as follows.
On the other hand, suggestions are things that are displayed while you are typing in the search window, as shown in the image below.
Differences from co-occurring words
There are “co-occurring words” that are similar to suggestions. Co-occurring words are words that frequently appear together with a keyword in a sentence. For example, using “ramen” as an example, when you enter “ramen” into the search window, the search engine will suggest words such as “place name” and “recommended” that appear together. On the other hand, words such as “rich” and “delicious” that frequently appear together with “ramen” on the page are co-occurring words.
Google’s search engine is said to judge content based on information on co-occurring words, so this is one of the most important elements for aiming for high ranking in SEO.
How to use suggestions for SEO
We hope you understand that suggestions reflect user needs. By looking at the suggestions, you can predict the user’s search intent, which can be used effectively to create high-quality content and select keywords. From here, we will introduce two ways to actually use suggestions for SEO.
①: Useful for keyword selection
As mentioned above, suggestions reflect user needs. In other words, the keywords being suggested have been searched by many users, and many users are flowing into those keywords. By understanding the search intent from the suggestions, you can create content that is more sought after by users.
Additionally, content that solves multiple needs on a single page is often ranked higher. Suggested keywords allow you to research needs derived from specific keywords, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of suggestions to create content that matches the search intent of many users.
②: Understand needs when rewriting
User needs are changing every day. Check to see if the content you created in the past is meeting current user needs. Suggestions are updated with frequent updates, so by checking the suggestions, you can understand the needs of users.
If the user’s intent, which can be understood from the suggestion results, and the current content’s intent do not match, rewriting is necessary. By rewriting past articles based on the suggestion results, you can optimize the content to match the user’s search intent, which ultimately has a positive impact on SEO.
5 suggestion extraction tools
Up to this point, we have explained the overview of suggestions, but many people may find it tedious to type keywords into the search window each time they search. Here, we will introduce five tools that can extract suggestions using specified keywords. Use the tools below to suit your site’s needs and preferences.
Sea otter keyword
Otter Keyword
(formerly: Related Keyword Acquisition Tool (kana/beta version)) is a tool that allows you to extract keyword suggestions for free. It is unique in that it can extract not only Google’s suggestions but also related keywords from “Yahoo! Chiebukuro” and “goo! Chiebukuro.” Since related keywords from question sites can be extracted at the same time, users’ concerns can be further clarified, and this will help create content that is in line with users’ search intentions.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest
can extract suggestions not only in Japan but also in languages around the world. Ubersuggest is a tool that allows you to check not only the suggestions but also the CPC, monthly search volume, and SEO difficulty of each query. This tool is paid, but you can use it for free for 7 days as a trial period. If you are interested, why not give it a try?
SE Ranking
SE Ranking
is a paid tool that not only extracts suggestions, but also the search volume of each keyword, similar keywords, related keywords, etc. SE Ranking is also excellent from a competitive research perspective, allowing you to check the inflow keywords of competing sites and the highly ranked content. It can be said to be a tool that enables both keyword selection and competitive analysis.
KOUHO.jp
KOUHO.jp
is a free tool that is simple and very easy to use. You can extract not only Google suggestions but also Amazon and Rakuten suggestions. The results of Google Suggest and those of Amazon and Rakuten are slightly different, so it’s a good idea to decide which search engine’s suggestions to use as a reference depending on the purpose of your site and content.
Keyword Tool
Keyword Tool
is a tool that allows you to investigate suggestions not only from Google but also from various search engines such as YouTubge, eBay, Amazon, Instagram, and Twitter. There is a free version and a paid version, and even the free version can extract up to 750 keyword data. The paid version allows you to investigate keyword details such as competition and search volume for each keyword, making it an ideal tool for finding keywords with low competition. Why not try the free version first, and if you like it, consider the paid version.
Summary: Use suggestions for SEO measures
In this article, we introduced how suggestions are displayed, how to use them for SEO, and tools to efficiently investigate suggestions. Suggestions are updated daily by Google to suit user needs. Therefore, by creating content with suggestions in mind, you can create content that matches the user’s search intent. Content that aligns with users’ search intent has a positive impact on SEO, so use the methods and tools we’ve introduced to make suggestions useful for SEO.