A new way to drive business online

So what is search box optimization?

Search Box Optimization (SBO) is a term used when you start typing in something you might be searching online for like “best dentist in Chicago” and Google or Bing auto-suggests your business or practice every time. Sounds too good to be true, right? But this service now exists and the beauty of it is you can own that search term exclusively. So what this mean is Google & Bing will suggest your company to every potential customer searching online every time when someone uses that keyword search term.

Now, let’s take this a step further. When they click on the auto-suggest, it then takes them to a page that highlights your business’s online presence. It’s like a billboard taking over the entire page. Once you purchase a keyword phrase, no other business can purchase the same keyword phrase and location.  The keyword phrase is exclusive. One key thing is, the better your online presence (business citations / listings, Google Business Profile, Bing Place Profile), the better you look. If you have a good Google or Bing business profile with photos, when your profile is shown, people are automatically attracted to your information.  Business Profiles are never included in general online searches.

So when it comes to branding, it looks like Google and Bing are recommending your business. Google says 71% of all search engine users select an auto-complete / autosuggested keyword.    So is SBO the same as the SEO that I have now? No.  SEO is about ranking you on the top of search results and competing with others, while SBO is about giving you more of an exclusive advantage the auto-suggest is selected. Below is an example of what this would look like for a search for an personal injury attorney in Chicago. If you want to learn more or get started click here.