Google releases list of top searches, SMEs urged to stay on top of current events

Internet giant Google has released some of the most popular search terms of 2011, and Australian businesses are being warned to pay attention – they could hold the secret to gaining your website a little more traffic.

Commonwealth Bank, eBay, Harvey Norman and Woolworths have been named among the most popular searches for Australian brands, while Facebook, the iPhone 5 and YouTube still top the charts for most popular searches out of any category.

Searches for most popular ads show Strongbow at the top of the list, while Bonds, Telstra and AAMI have also rounded out the most searched for titles.

But while the lists of results show Australians are still keen on beer and social media, experts say there’s another opportunity here. If businesses start paying attention to current news and events, there is an opportunity to tap into a spike in traffic.

Jim Stewart, chief of Stewart Media, says if it makes sense for a business to comment on current events, then they should take note of popular topics of the time and then offer some insight on a blog or website.

“Only if it makes sense. We’ve done it a few times this year, and we’ve had some traffic which has meant we’ve introduced our brand to people who would never have seen it before.”

Stewart says it’s important for businesses to stay afresh of whatever’s happening. If a CEO has a blog, and a popular event is highlighted in the news that may be the subject of a good blog post, Stewart suggests they try it out.

“Two examples we’ve used this year were the Gasp Jeans thing, we wrote a series of posts on that and it got some more traffic. The other was iOS 5.”

“If you start getting traffic, it shows Google that people like it and it’s relevant.”

The other key aspect to remember here, Stewart says, is that changes to Google’s algorithm over the past year reward fresh, relevant content.

“Google favours these sorts of things. The relevant post we had for iOS 5 didn’t have any backlinks, but went to number one for ‘iOS 5 download’ for about 72 hours.”

“You just need to be aware of whatever’s happening in the news, and be sure people need a good source of what’s happening. You also need to be relevant.”