So the Google Instant service was launched yesterday and you can now see the live changes if you do a search on Google.com. Now you will no longer have to wait to press Enter while searching, the search results will start to begin updating Instantly as you type. Neat trick huh? Google describes it as a fundamental shift in seach and will apparently allow you to shave 2-5 seconds off of every search. My productivity is already soaring.
The benefits as listed by Google are as follows:
Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.
Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.
Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.
Google Instant
The question is will this have any affect on any website’s SEO and internet marketing as a whole? And the answer is arguably, yes. While SERP listings may not be affected, the search results are now being updated on the fly, so if you can target a phrase like “buy viag” specifically, would your results appear before the full term and gain traction from users who dont bother to finish typing viagra?
I guess only time will tell, but it will be interesting to see how this gets played out and what type of advantages/disadvantages this will have for marketers and you can view publisher site to know more about their scope of survival. While this service hasnt rolled out for mobile search quite yet, Google states that it will be available on smart phones this coming fall.
I’d have preferred it if Google had actually spent time improving the search functionality instead because I dont see this change as something that will totally revamp how we search. Despite this change they’re still lagging behind the competition in many areas and this is something that bing has done already since their inception, they just werent using ajax to make it look snazzy. If you havent seen it yet, check it out, you might save 2-5 seconds of your life.
Despite this change they’re still lagging behind the competition in many areas and this is something that bing has done already since their inception, they just werent using ajax to make it look snazzy.
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