Google Instant, friend or foe?

Google Instant was launched by Google early this month; it is a newly developed search engine tool that enables users to obtain their search results faster. Since its implementation, Google Instant has received a controversial reaction by those within search marketing and SEO industry.
Google Instant’s new functions include; Predictions, Instant Results and Scroll to Search. The search tool suggests (Prediction) results to a user while they are still typing (Instant Result). It also allows the user to select their keyword on the tab using the arrow keys and the results changes (Scroll To Search) instantly as a selection is made without the users clicking ‘Enter’.

Google implemented this tool to allow users to save time searching and obtaining their results. At the Google Instant launch event, Google stated that the search tool effectively saves a user 2-5 seconds per search and that it saved 36, 542 hours within an hour of its implementation.

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google, describes Google Instant as a search tool that doesn’t “search as you type, it searches before you type”, she went further in using a car analogy, comparing Google Instant to ‘Power Steering’.

The Google Instant controversy is mostly elevated by those within the SEO and Internet Marketing Industry, who believes that the Google Instant is a dark cloud hovering over SEO analysts. Their concerns centres on the speed and manner users are presented with their search results, and fearing that users won’t feel the need to scroll further down to see other website ranking below on the organic results over a period of time.

At Pipon, we believe that Google Instant is a welcome tool that ultimately will live or die dependent on how useful it is to users. The fact is, some users may think it is a much faster way to get their results, while others may find it irritating that the results constantly flicker and change.
Even within our own search team there have been mixed opinions on this. However from an SEO perspective I believe little has really changed for now. Users are still typing in search queries and getting the same results they did previously as soon as they press enter. For now it seems that the only way to ensure that a website appears at the top of the organic listings while a user is still typing would be to optimise for partial words or phrases. The latter of these options is not difficult to do, however the former does present some challenges.
For those advertisers using Google AdWords what it does mean is greater exposure of their ads. This may increase the number of impressions somewhat but Google have stated that they wont count an impression unless the ad has been static for viewing for more than 3 seconds, so the impact here should be minimal.

Google Instant is available to users on various browsers such as: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8 and on Google domain in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia. Although not available on mobile, plans are underway.