Don’t count on our help: What Google’s suggestions can do to your message

Here is an interesting example of how Google’s search suggestions can wreak havoc on your brand message – without you having any control over it, really. The examples in the case are in Finnish, but they are translated.
Nordea is the largest bank in the Nordics, and in Finland their catchphrase for many products such as loans is “Teemme sen mahdolliseksi” (“We make it possible” – the most boring and innocuous slogan a bank can have, to be sure).

Googling that with an English-language setting (used by many even in Finland) gets you the below suggestion: “Teemme se mahdollisesti” (“We might do it, possibly”), which you’ll know to be a fair statement if you have ever negotiated loans, cards or accounts with them for that matter (especially if you are a small business).

And what can you do if you are the company in question? Do your research – in this case searches in relevant and related languages, misspellings and misunderstandings, and take findings into account in your PR, which you can use to organically steer the results in the right direction (I like calling in steering instead of optimization: there is so much snake oil sold in search engine optimization). Of course, in some cases a suggestion like this may only be triggered after you have composed your messaging, so review rounds are important as well.

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