Google Verbatim

November 19th, 2011

There’s a new search results option in Google, though you probably don’t know about it. It’s called Verbatim, and as Search Engine Watch explains, it’s “a tool that explicitly searches for exactly and only your search term. This verbatim search removes personalized, corrected, suggested, related, and non-inclusive results.”

eWeek reported about this, too, as did Wired News and Web Pro News and a ton of others. What’s most interesting about Verbatim, I think, is that if the broad mass of Google users really caught on to it and understood how it worked and affected searches, it could have some pretty significant effects on pay-per-click programs.

As a comment on the Search Engine Watch article notes: “This tool will help advertisers that don’t use specialists techniques on PPC to reduce wasted advertising spend. Websites will rank more effectively through their SEO strategies as well because the specific keywords have been targeted.”

As with so many things in the wonderful world of web marketing, one tiny change can lead to far larger implications. Stay tuned.

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