Before these tools came along, people searched the web using their own vernacular. Differences in language made it possible for thousands of websites in a given industry to coexist, and even thrive together, by carefully choosing niche phrases. Start making suggestions to users and you change their search habits. Over time this has the potential to reduce the selection of search phrases for a given industry, making it more difficult to rank well for your given field.

Its tough to say how organic search will be affected, but it will be affected. Niche keywords will be more difficult to find, but will probably still be available. The long tail of SEO will likely be clipped, since users wil be more likely to follow along with Google’s suggestions, which presumably will be changing based on the most popular searches. Paid search prices will probably go through the roof because every Tom Dick and Harry will want to own the words that Google is suggesting.

This tool definitely shakes things up. Ultimately I think it probably is good for the end user. Search engines always have, and probably always will struggle with determining user intent, precisely because there are six billion ways of asking a question. Any steps to improve that process will be good. It will also keep my job interesting.