Sometimes little changes have a bigger story to them. That is the case with a name change which Google announced this weekend. After they changed Google Local to Google Places last year again a product gets a name change: Google Suggest becomes Google Autocomplete.
In a blogpost wrapping up the week Google shortly mentioned the change in names for Google Suggest. The feature, which was first launched in 2004, was according to Google renamed “As part of our launch of Google Instant, we thought “Autocomplete” fit better with the new functionality—automatic queries and automatic results.“
There are two messages in this. First Google is making Google Instant more and more important. It really believes that Instant is the future and that speed is the biggest issue when it comes to searching. Though not everybody might like it, we need to really understand that Google Instant is here to stay.
The second message we can read in this is of a different nature. Google has been in trouble with Google Suggest in Europe the past years. We all know the ‘funny’ Google Suggests we sometimes get. This is not something which Google does itself, its auto-generated. But the fact that its called “Suggest” hints that Google is the one suggesting you the searches. Which means that if a suggestion comes up saying “This company is scam” Google might be liable for damages. With the change of the name from “suggest” to “auto complete” it no longer “suggests” Google is suggesting the search to you.
State of Search now also gives you news which will not appear on the homepage. You can find the news articles in our special news-category.Posted in News | Tags: forward, Google, Google suggest
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