Not Your Mother’s Search Queries

Google’s VP of Engineering, Udi Manber, made waves last week when he presented the following statistic during a presentation: At this point in time, 20 to 25 percent of the queries entered into Google are completely new. That is, Google has never seen them before!

This surprising reality poses a huge dilemma for search marketers. Arguably the most important part of crafting a successful search marketing campaign is keyword research — the process of identifying what a client’s customers are searching so we can craft site content around those targeted keywords. But if 20 – 25 percent of search queries have never been seen before, how can search marketers target those keywords? Short of developing ESP, search marketers have a major challenge on their hands if they want to reach searchers when they enter completely unique queries.