SEO | Potential Google SEO Tool Meets An Early End

Google has introduced the world to a number of innovative services over the years. Some, such as Gmail and Android, have been instant hits. Others, like Google+, are developing and have strong potential. And then there are those that never seem to make it off the ground, only seeing the light of day for a brief moment before getting the axe.

Google Sets falls into the latter category, as Google recently announced it is pulling the plug on its prediction service. This may be disappointing to marketers who were hoping to use Sets to enhance their SEO efforts.

The service, part of Google's testing platform Google Labs (which is also facing extinction ), had the potential to be an interesting search engine marketing tool. Relatively straightforward, Google Sets had the ability to generate predictive query lists based on search terms. For example, if the users typed in "red" and "green," Google Sets would pull up a list of other colors and related SERPs.

For businesses, this could have been a tool to increase exposure to consumers. If users entered the names of companies or products, Google Sets would be able to pull up several similar items based on those searches that might direct searchers to related SERPs. It might have also served as a keyword finder that could have helped marketers with their SEO efforts..

Google has not stated whether its Sets tool will be incorporated into other areas of its business. But, as part of the Google Labs phasing out process, Google Sets will be shut down on September 5.

Despite its potential, the end of Google Sets is not likely to have an impact on Google dominance in the search engine market. As Brafton recently reported, Google sites were the top web properties this June, beating out Yahoo and Microsoft with 182.5 million unique visitors, according to research firm comScore.