7 essential hacks to optimize your eCommerce search box

Search Box Optimization (SBO) is a nasty term to many in business world.   Based on history of the term, it’s easy to see why.  SBO has been synonymous with search box optimization black hat manipulation of the auto-complete box results, by use of proxies, excessive typing of search terms, back link farms and other black hat techniques.  These techniques worked – up to a point.  The main point is that Google is way too smart to allow that to happen.  Their algorithms and scanning methods do not suffer fools gladly.   Those companies, or individuals that use these methods of SBO were quickly out of business – some even prosecuted.  Stories about past SBO nightmares have left a bad taste in the mouths of marketers and business owners alike.  Whenever they hear that term SBO, they immediately discount its validity  or effectiveness.

 Search engine optimization (SEO) has been around in some form since search engines came on the scene. It‘s easy to understand the concepts, even if the results are most times less than robust.  SEO, and its monetized partner, Pay-per-click (PPC), have been the only frame of reference for digital marketing for all of that time.  SBO has been the black sheep and not spoken of in polite company, due to the small amount of legitimate information about SBO, and, of course, the history.

 Fortunately for business owners, that has changed. Search Box Optimization (SBO)can now be accomplished using white hat techniques. A business can appear in the auto-complete, either alone or with a given keyword phrase.  There is a digital marketing company that has cracked that code, to use an overworked cliché.  How, you ask? They reveal some of their methods, although others age proprietary.  Once keyword phrases are selected with a client, focused SEO techniques are employed when creating content. The entire keyword phrase, including the business name or tag, is placed in all content created, from blogs and press releases, to videos and directory listings. A must for Google, relevant and authoritative back links are an essential ingredient.  Additional methods, as mentioned earlier, are proprietary and will not be revealed here.

 So, how do we know that these proprietary methods are not black hat and will not incur the wrath of Google?   The answer is simple – Google itself.  As mentioned, Google’s algorithms and monitoring tools are extremely vigilant. Any digital marketer that violates their strict rules will not be in business long. There are a number of sources on the web, should one care to search, that describe the results of trying to trick Google.

Everything You Should Know About Search Box Optimization

Search Box Optimization (SBO) is the process of tricking Google to put your brand or blog name in Google suggest. It’s a spurious technique.

It is estimated about 75% of the users’ search queries are influenced by Google Autosuggestions. So many internet marketers are making use of Search Box Optimization to make the users opt for their brand before hitting the search button.

If I were one among…