Google Instant

Email from Maddy at Big Mouth about the impact of Google Instant launching - seems like the most relevant thing for us is that we may start to see part-words (eg 'can' or 'fundr') coming through as keywords generating traffic...

As you are probably aware, Google Instant was announced yesterday, which means search results will now update as users type their queries. 


The key features of Google Instant are summarised below:


Official Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/search-now-faster-than-speed-of-type.html

• Dynamic Results - Google dynamically displays relevant search results as you type so you can quickly interact and click through to the web content you need.
• Predictions - One of the key technologies in Google Instant is that we predict the rest of your query (in light gray text) before you finish typing. See what you need? Stop typing, look down and find what you’re looking for.
• Scroll to search - Scroll through predictions and see results instantly for each as you arrow down.
• Google Instant is starting to roll-out to users on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the latest browsers (Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8). Please note, users on domains other than Google.com can only access Google Instant if they are signed in to a Google Account. We will continue to add new domains and languages over the next several months.

Google AdWords / PPC
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-more-innovative-approach.html

With Google Instant, an impression is counted if a user takes an action to choose a query (for example, presses the Enter key or clicks the Search button), clicks a link on the results page, or stops typing for three or more seconds.

Google Webmaster Tools / SEO
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-impact-on-search-queries.html

With Google Instant, you may notice an increase in impressions because your site will appear in search results as users type.

Matt Cutts / SEO
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/thoughts-on-google-instant/
Q: Does Google Instant kill search engine optimization (SEO)?
A: No! Almost every new change at Google generates the question “Will X kill SEO?” Here’s an video I did last year, but it still applies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQArUFRb4Is&feature=player_embedded

Q: Will Google Instant change search engine optimization?
A: I think over time it might. The search results will remain the same for a query, but it’s possible that people will learn to search differently over time. For example, I was recently researching a congressperson. With Google Instant, it was more visible to me that this congressperson had proposed an energy plan, so I refined my search to learn more, and quickly found myself reading a post on the congressperson’s blog that had been on page 2 of the search results.

Google Analytics
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-instant-and-google-analytics.html

With this change, you might notice some fluctuations in AdWords impression volume and in the distribution of organic keywords. For example, you may find that certain keywords receive significantly more or fewer impressions moving forward.