• Google Instant advantage or pain in the…?

    Date: 2010.12.14 | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Tags:

    What is Google Instant?

    Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

    The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.

    How has it effected SEO?

    Google instant has been around for a few months now and I see that there has really been no huge impact on my clients ranking or hits to their websites, in fact I work with some small industries that it feels like it has actually improved the rankings on a couple of my clients SEO campaigns.  I have adjusted of course to the change in order to keep up with the Jones’ as search engine optimizers often find themselves doing during any major change to the search engines.  We adjust.

    You can love it or hate it, but if you are a small local business trying to compete in a market with huge corporate giants any advantage to compete is an advantage you have to invest in.  Although I have turned my instant off on my computer simply because I don’t want the constant guessing as I am searching online everyday for at least 8 hours.  I can see the benefits of the novice search engine user having the instant Google work in your favor, if you can see that smaller is BIGGER.  Keeping your clients sites competitive may be as simple as keeping the key phrases short and concise and leaving it up to the search engine to the work for you rather than against you.

    Keep it coming Google we are always waiting for the next challenge you send our way!

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