It seems Google has got so good at predicting our searches, they can tell us what we\u2019re searching for without even being told \u2013 cue Google Instant! In fact they\u2019re so good at predicting our search terms you now only need to type one letter in to see search results! <\/p>\n
Google describe Google Instant as \u201can innovative new….interface that creates an interactive search experience for users by predicting their query as they type and instantly showing updated results\u201d. They estimate it will shave 2-5 seconds off each search. But do we really want (or need!) Google Instant? Frankly the jury\u2019s out on whether we love or hate it, but one thing\u2019s for sure, we can\u2019t ignore it!<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re wondering just how Google Instant is going to affect how we search, well it\u2019s impossible to predict exactly what differences it\u2019s going to make to individual sites. At the moment, we\u2019re not seeing a huge difference in search results, but that could change. It\u2019s likely that it will take users 3-4 months to really get used to using it, and that means we could be seeing very different results down the line. We shouldn\u2019t ignore the fact that many searchers look down at the keyboard as they type, so that may minimise the effect of Google Instant. But again, this is behaviour that may change over time! So it\u2019ll be interesting to see if the predictive nature of Google Instant eventually alters the way we search for good, for instance searchers may start to accept its suggestions as the final word without searching further. If that does happen, we\u2019ll definitely be seeing a negative impact on the longtail. <\/p>\n
Google Instant isn\u2019t the first predictive search model we\u2019ve seen, similar models have been introduced in the past from Yahoo and Altavista. But of course this is Google we\u2019re talking about! If you\u2019re worrying about the effect of Google Instant on your web traffic, just remember \u2018Instant\u2019 searches only work through Google, whilst a significant percentage of searches are still occurring within browser specific toolbars where Google Instant isn\u2019t yet available. Plus of course not everyone can see Google Instant – in some countries you need to be logged into your Google account to view it. Eventually though, Google intends to make Google Instant the default feature for everyone (apart from those with slow ISPs or older web browsers). <\/p>\n
The question on everyone\u2019s lips; is how will Google Instant affect me? Affiliates and merchants alike rely on the traffic they\u2019ve built to their sites, so they\u2019ve got good reason to worry about any prospective changes Google Instant may bring. You\u2019ve probably seen some of the scare-mongering stories about SEO and the longtail becoming irrelevant, because of the shifting results of Google Instant. But frankly it\u2019s not that simple. Google Instant has made it much easier to switch between queries since it\u2019s easier to just type another letter rather than scroll down the page (so eventually it\u2019s likely we’ll all use this feature, no matter how much we moan about it now!). Google Instant will likely whittle down available keywords into a much smaller core group, which may make the longtail less relevant. For advertisers who\u2019ve been targeting the longtail successfully, this could have implications. Google Instant will also make localization even more important – if you don\u2019t enter a geo specific query, Google Instant will automatically serve you results based on your location (and that\u2019s including ads). So to sum up, SEO will quite likely become more not less important – as long as you get it right of course!<\/p>\n
Google Instant is using previous search volume to predict the most likely search term(s) that we\u2019re looking for. But the likelihood is that by using search volume as their predictive indicator, Google will probably show the biggest budget advertising first. The way that Google Instant displays search results will likely favour well known brands and authoritative sites, so it\u2019s clear Google is carrying on its trend towards favoring brands over small businesses. We\u2019ve also noticed an element of censorship going on \u2013 adult terms are returning no suggestions whatsoever (adult sector merchants and affiliates take note!). As Google Instant speeds up our searches it’s even less likely that searchers will want to click through to the 2nd page of results and the top 3 spots are going to become even more important. This extends to PPC as well – potentially pushing up the price of CPC, but we\u2019re thinking that as Google makes its money from Adwords, it\u2019s quite likely they\u2019ve already thought of that! <\/p>\n
We\u2019re also likely to see an increase in impressions. Google Instant counts impressions when you begin typing a search query and click anywhere on the page (such as search results, sponsored listings, spelling corrections or related search). Plus according to Google, an impression will be counted if a user stops typing for 3 seconds during a search. In terms of PPC, Google Instant may well skew impression results. As you type your keyword and Google Instant makes suggestions, we could see PPC ads unrelated to the search query appear. A likely result will be a hike in impressions which could result in a lower CTR. As a poor CTR can be detrimental to the Google Adwords quality score, this could force advertisers to increase their maximum CPC in order to get those (now even more important!) higher listings. <\/p>\n
Finally, whenever Google changes anything there\u2019s always a mad panic with lots of frenzied speculation. But let\u2019s not forget that Google\u2019s made changes in the past that we\u2019ve coped with. So the best thing we can do is to just wait and see what effect Google Instant actually has \u2013 and then deal with it. But don\u2019t forget, if you really don\u2019t like Google Instant, you can always switch it off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It seems Google has got so good at predicting our searches, they can tell us what we\u2019re searching for without even being told \u2013 cue Google Instant! In fact they\u2019re so good at predicting our search terms you now only need to type one letter in to see search results! Google describe Google Instant as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[948,946,623,947],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4500"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.affiliateprogramadvice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}