Google Instant went live this week and already it has Search Marketers thinking about how it will affect them and their clients.
It is expected that Google Instant will save searchers between 2-5 seconds per search and is billed as having Smarter Predictions and providing Instant Results.
What We Think
My personal opinion so far is that Google Instant is very useful and convenient for the searcher but does raise some doubts for myself and many other people in the industry. It can initially be a little annoying but I’m sure we will all get used to it in time.
From what I can see Instant will have a big impact on PPC particularly as people may click on an advert having only typed part of their search query meaning ads that only display when more of the query is typed will potentially be missing clicks.
What the Industry Thinks
There are some concerns within the industry with regards to the impact Google Instant will have on searches:
Malcolm Coles, Digital Sparkle:
“Some people are going to end up paying a lot more for PPC. If you start searching for Premier Inns, then when you get to premier you get lots of natural “premier” results (e.g. premier league) plus one PPC ad for Premier Inns. I guess lots of people will just click that rather than carry on typing. So some brands might want to be careful that they aren’t bidding on terms that get triggered too soon in the process.”
Kevin Gibbons, SEOptimise:
“It’s going to be very interesting to see how searchers react to Google Instant. This a huge change to the overall user experience, so it may take a while for some people to get used to. Personally, I think this could easily split opinions and be a potential risk to losing some their market share – many may see this as a good time to give Bing a try instead.”
(Source: Econsultancy – Google Instant: the search expert’s view by Graham Charlton)
It seems one major area of concern is Pay Per Click and it seems to be two contrasting angles. Firstly there is the concern that adverts will be displayed for part searches meaning that the number of impressions will be considerably higher without necessarily leading to more clicks.
However the flip side of this is that adverts won’t display for part searches meaning that companies will miss out on potential clicks as people are likely to click on the 1st relevant result they see.
Another area that has got Search Marketers concerned is the impact that Google Instant will have on Long Tail Keywords. It is generally felt that Long Tail Keywords are likely to suffer however people looking for very niche information are still likely to require Long Tail searches to find what they are looking for.
Andrew Girdwood, Bigmouthmedia:
“It will change the shape of the tail; some long tail terms will become less frequent as searchers will reach them less often however as Google Instant may make re-crafting search terms more attractive to searchers we may see a greater number of final searches per searcher. The word “may” is important there as we don’t yet know. We’ll also have to consider the difference between a final search, when the user stops at the search they wanted, and an interstitial search, a result the flashes as searcher refines their query.”
(Source: Econsultancy – Google Instant: the search expert’s view by Graham Charlton)
In this ever changing industry Search Marketers will again have to adapt and adapt quickly to changes, but that is what makes this industry as exciting and rewarding as it is.
In conclusion Google Instant is going to provide some challenges for Search Marketers (there’s nothing Google likes more!) but it will be interesting to see how it changes search for the better or worse.
