We often counsel with clients regarding ways to search optimize their online content.

There’s an excellent example of the impact search optimization can have on an organization in today’s Deseret News. The article, Primary Children’s Medical Center to change name, talks about the online search data that was used to help hospital administrators agree to change the official name of the facility to Primary Children’s Hospital.

The article states:

The term “children’s hospital” is searched online more than 18 million times each year. In comparison, “children’s medical center” is searched just 1.3 million times each year.

Locating actual search data isn’t rocket science. All you need is a Google AdWords account and Google’s Keyword Planner tool (which has replaced Google’s Keyword Tool). There you can input a few search terms you think are most important for your brand or product, then see what similar and related terms Internet users are actually searching for.

This is the type of exercise that influenced the decision to change Primary Children’s Medical Center, as of Oct. 1, 2013, to be Primary Children’s Hospital.

Beyond search optimization, the Internet has had such a powerful effect on companies and brands that the practice nowadays is to see what dot-com domain you can register before taking care of the legal registration and set-up of your company and/or brand.