update: these are searches that trigger search for logged out users that show the SPYW highlight box on the right hand side. Google+ users logged in will see shared content from their circles on Google+ in the SERPs for longtail terms but not the highlight box.
It’s been a little over a month since Google launched their hybrid “Search Plus Your World” (SPYW) search and social feature. So far, aside from the one or two mentioned in news articles about the feature, no one really knows what searches are causing SPYW to show up for logged out users. So I set out and started typing to find as many search queries as I could that would show me the SPYW box on the right hand side (since as of this posting I am still holding out joining Google+).
As you’ll see in the list below the queries are all head terms. I wasn’t able to get anything longtail to pull up the SPYW just yet. Several brand names pulled up the feature including Google itself, YouTube, Android, Blogger, Huffington Post, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Apple, and Microsoft. Facebook and Twitter searches did not.
Another interesting note. I had expressed my concerns about advertisers losing money in positions #4+ in AdWords PPC as those ads were appearing below the SPYW highlight box. My concern was that this would fuel a bidding war on the high traffic terms causing a spike in PPC costs, however, while searching for queries to write this blog post I noticed that every time SPYW appeared there were no ads below it. If that sticks then kudos to Google for being a little less evil.
The list of searches that trigger search:
- actor
- actors
- actress
- actresses
- adobe
- analytics
- android
- androids
- apple
- apples
- art
- artist
- artists
- astronomy
- author
- authors
- baseball
- basketball
- blog
- blogger
- breaking news
- business
- car
- cars
- cartoonist
- cartoonists
- celebrity
- ceo
- cnbc
- cnn
- comedian
- comedians
- comedy
- comic
- comic artist
- comics
- cooking
- cricket
- earth
- education
- educator
- entertainment
- football
- games
- gaming
- huffington post
- internet
- marketing
- media
- microsoft
- msnbc
- movie
- movies
- music
- musician
- musicians
- nascar
- nba
- network
- new
- news
- nfl
- php
- planets
- politican
- politicians
- politics
- programmers
- programming
- rap
- real estate
- science
- scientist
- scientists
- scifi
- seo
- singers
- social media
- software
- space
- sports
- star
- stars
- technology
- venture capital
- video games
- web
- world news
- writer
- writers
- youtube
