SEO wonks are well aware that Google recently began showing “suggested” search queries on its home page. For example, if I type in: “bank of america”, Google will offer to complete the phrase, as can be seen in this screenshot:
Google suggested searches: Bank of America
Notice that the top suggestion here is “bank of america online banking?” Now, look at the Google Hot Trends list today:
Google Hot Trends for Search 9/22; 6:17 PST
(Stay with me and ignore the urge to click on #4). I’m thinking that Google’s search suggestions had something to do with that #1 phrase being “bank of america online banking”. This piqued my curiousity: What is Google suggesting when it comes to political searches?
Here are Google’s suggestions for Obama and McCain:
Google Search Suggestions for "obama" 9/22/08
Google Search Suggestions for "mccain" 9/22/08
Based on the content of this list, it appears to me that Google is choosing these suggested queries from approximately late July/early August. That’s when the Berlin Speech and the Paris Hilton video were hot items. The list for “palin” is positively silly:
Google Search suggestions for "palin", 9/22/08
Ah, for those halcyon days in late July, when “palindrome” was a more significant search query than “palin for vp.”
But seriously: Google, get with the program. Political search moves a lot more quickly than this.
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