Customers Now Search for Brands to Avoid

Customers are no longer just searching for the things they want, they’re also searching for things they don’t want. Phrases such as ‘worst’ and ‘to avoid’ have grown in prominence as consumers increasingly seek out the brands they don’t want to interactive with.

As an example, the number of searches that include the words ‘to avoid’ have gone up 150% in the last two years while searches including the word ‘worst’ have gone up by 30%. Pieces of content displaying in search were usually the eventual culprit for these kinds of ‘to avoid’ searches.

If someone’s on the go and they’re looking for Mexican food, and then they type in ‘Mexican restaurants to avoid’, and Guzman y Gomez happens to come up first with an article there, that’s going to directly impact your bottom line. That’s why marketers need to come up with strategies to combat these negative search terms in order to stay ahead of the competition.

If you don’t have strategies to target customers both in the consideration phase and right when they’re ready to buy something, you’re going to end up losing out to customers who are focusing on those kinds of experiences.