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Google recommended dropdown in search bar
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When Google drops down and tries to predict what you're searching for, are the terms in order of popularity from the top down?
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Thanks Michael!
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It is not directly sorted by popularity, no. I have run several cases in recent history against their associated search volumes and they really vary. I believe a keyword does have to have at least a credible amount of monthly search volume to be listed there at all, but Google appears to be truly predictive, perhaps based on recent search history, Google+ data, trending topics, etc.
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Are you referring to the order or just the presence of the terms in general?
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Based on the research I have done, the predictive search is based on:
1. Popularity
2. "other factors" - and that's all that Google has seemed to ever say about it.
Not much help, but besides popularity, other factors could include: your past searches, related sites, etc...
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Right. But, how about the order? If you have a dropdown of several suggestions, are they sorted in order of search volume?
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The algorithm tries to predict what the rest of your query might be based on popular queries typed by other users. (credit to: Google Support)
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