Google Suggest, you know the popular terms that appear under the search box as you type, is a nice tool for users but can it be used to help marketers understand customers and gain insight into the fortunes of brands. I thought I’d have a look at England’s top football brands and, for a bit of fun, see if Google Suggest can shed any light on the premiership race.

First, let’s get a clear understanding of what Google Suggest does and how it operates. By suggesting phrases as the user types, it gives a short cut to save typing out the whole phrase. It may even change the user’s mind by showing a more interesting area to search on. It also provides entertaining insight into what the nation currently cares about. Typing the simple word “is”, for example, produces “is Lady Gaga a man”, “is Louis Walsh married” and “is Cheryl Cole pregnant”. This is what the UK cares about in Jan 2010 apparently!

So how does it work? What determines what phrases appear? Google last month clarified for Search Engine Land that:

“Google suggestions are based on aggregate data including popular searches that have been entered on Google over time. In addition, Toolbar shows queries that a user has typed before, which are retained on the user’s machine.”

Not exactly a scientific definition but it confirms that Google Suggest is a barometer on what people are searching on. You do, though, have to bear in mind results are skewed if you’ve searched previously on the term. It’s reasonable to assume that the terms that appear higher up the list are the ones that Google think are the most likely to “fit” your search and by extension are currently the most popular.

Let’s look at the current suggestions on, arguably, the five most talked about football teams in England:  Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool.  I’ve not previously searched on these terms and I have no allegiance so please no allegations of twisting the results.

Starting with the cash rich Manchester City, it’s of little surprise that the suggestions are dominated by questions surrounding who they will buy.  Interestingly, for City there are no suggestions on winning the league just yet.

In fact, the only club where winning the league is the top suggestion is Arsenal.  The Gunners also get the rather desperate “will arsenal sign anyone”.  Both suggestions are a telling reflection on the pent-up frustration for Arsenal fans of trophy-less years and limited big name signings.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have two players firmly in the collective consciousness: Aguero and Ribery.

The Google suggestions for “Will Liverpool…” offers a mixed bag very much representative of the troubles tormenting  the club and its supporters.  They are the only club of the five where the sacking of the manager, Benitez, and selling the star player, Torres, feature.  On the bright side there is considerable interest in them winning the Europa Cup.  Maybe it’s not such a lame duck competition as is commonly thought.  It seems to matter to a large amount of fans.  A little good news then for the club and its marketing dept.

The most interesting results are for Manchester United.  Again it’s a mixed bag.  Who’d have thought a few months ago that “will Manchester United go bust” would feature but this worrying dent to the global brand perception is there for all to see.  They could earn some extra cash, judging by the suggestions, from a tour to the USA so it’s not all bad news.

On the subject of international interest, by using another Google tool, Insights for Search, we can see there is a massive interest in these clubs – but not Manchester City yet – in Africa and Asia.   Arsenal, over the last 90 days, has enjoyed the highest interest levels, particularly in Kenya.    Football’s marketers should explore more with this tool and cross reference with merchandise sales to see any opportunities there.

Search tools are undoubtedly a valuable resource for marketers seeking to gain a better understanding of their customers.  While Google Suggest is not by any means comprehensive or in-depth it does provide quick and powerful illustration of what’s on people’s minds and highlights areas for further research.  No, it can’t tell us who will win the Premiership! But you can argue that winning the Premiership matters most to Arsenal fans – from North London to Nigeria. And they want to sign anyone to help them do that. Well, to be fair, probably not anyone.  I doubt they’d want Lady Gaga even if she might be a man!