Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way - Franklin P. Adam

The most popular search term on Google last year was ‘Janet Jackson’. Ed Byrne and I had an interesting discussion about it. Ed’s initial reaction was that it was proof that more normal people are using the Internet. The reason for this is that ‘Janet Jackson’ ranked higher than sex, xxx or porn. However I pointed out that the same people are using the Internet, the only difference is that they know how to use Google better though. People are realising that they if they use specific terms when using Google, they are more likely to get the content they desire.

This highlights the impact search engines have on the perception of a company. The average consumer has learnt how to find information more efficiently. Companies have to realise sooner rather than later that their customers aren’t going to search for ‘Company X’, they’ll be searching for ‘Product Y’ and matching it under categories like price, quality or availability. If these companies don’t optimise their website for these terms or employ a suitable adwords strategy, then they risk being eclipsed by their competitors.

More importantly, consumers are talking about organisations and products online. When we use search for something online we are using more terms to help us find what we are looking for. Different terms result in different, and sometimes unexpected, results. At the end of the day companies want consumers to stumble onto a page that might lead to a sale rather than criticising the company. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the easiest and most cost effective way to achieve this is to have a blog on the company site.

Here’s a link to tips on using Google that I posted last year.