When we thought that Search couldn’t be changed… Google launches Instant. The same method to search with faster, relevant and more interactive results.
A new enhancement that shows you results as you type. Literally as you type. Consequences??? Many.
User behavior
If we see as we type, will we type the same? Are the queries going to change over time? For example, let’s say that I’m thinking about buying an iPad. I live in Toronto ok?
Query 1: iPad
Query 2: iPad reviews
Query 3: iPad deals
Query 4: iPad deals in Toronto
As I type I will also be able to see the suggestions and the different results for them so I may skip some of the intermediate steps if I see relevant results on the fly while I type.
AdWords campaigns
And I work with AdWords everyday…
How’s an impression being counted now?
- The user begins to type a query on Google and clicks anywhere on the page (a search result, an ad, a spell correction, a related search).
- The user chooses a particular query by clicking the Search button, pressing Enter, or selecting one of the predicted queries.
- The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds.
But that’s an impression for us, in Google. What’s an impression for your tracking system? How are the 3rd parties registering impressions now?
Are your impressions increasing but the clicks are still the same? Are the global CTR’s going down? Is that going to affect our Quality Score?
SEO
If being in the first page was important… now it’s even more important!! What does it mean? We are gonna be fighting for the first positions aggressively. I think that we’ll start seeing more and more generic queries and the narrower queries will be used only for some specific services and products. Implications:
- For big sites: constant SEO analysis and improvements.
- For small sites (like this blog): try to rank in niche keywords and try to do our best!
Why is this good? Our websites will have more compelling, relevant content. Higher quality = Happy users!
Future of Search
What is coming now?
