Google has released a new search feature — the "Wonder Wheel" that shows related search terms to the current searched query, with the aim to enable the user to explore relevant search terms.
It shows what it thinks are related search terms in a visual way, allowing you to navigate to them and update the search results accordingly. So, it acts a bit like a mind map.
Need to understand a bit more about the mechanism but one theory is that it first checks to see if the search volumes of the related terms meet a minimum threshold; if not it then looks for more general terms related to the top pages found for that search.
This may mean it exposes keywords that may help with SEO: i.e. a better definition of what your site should be about to help you rank better in Google by increasing your niche relevancy score.
To try it: in the results banner there is a link for "Show options…" that opens a panel in the left. Click "wonder wheel" to try it.
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