Quick, there is a huge change at Google today! Sound the sirens, the SEO sky is falling! Er…wait, how exactly does this new Google Instant functionality change SEO? That’s what I was asking myself today as this big to do from Google was announced. Other than potentially decreasing the number of long tail searches as users may find something interesting as they type and don’t finish their initial thought before they click a result (and a potentially inflated number of PPC impressions), I don’t believe that Google’s new instant search changes much in the way of SEO best practices. The recent increased effect of localization has a much stronger implication. This is really a usability play by Google and probably after testing, resulted in a better user experience (and / or more ad revenue).
This article today from PC World seems to imply that somehow Google has changed the SEO landscape, and done so in dramatic fashion: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/205055/google_instant_will_save_you_seconds_but_not_for_seo.html?tk=hp_new#addyours . But how do quicker search results change the need for authoritative content and links? They don’t. It’s like my friend Benj Arriola said yesterday, “it’s like auto suggest on steroids.” It may cause users to see more information before they click, which may mean that text snippets become that much more important in driving clicks, but this just reinforces current behavior.
The one thing I will say about the article in question is that no one does see the same results anymore. But this is already been the case for a while now because of personalization and localization having such a strong influence on search results. But the public is just now starting to understand this. It doesn’t really affect how we optimize with the exception of paying a lot more attention to localization and localized content and link strategies for key markets. However, that doesn’t have much to do with Google instant.
I think it’s exciting that Google keeps pushing the envelope for search. And certainly the “May Day” update had an impact on what the SEO process looks like. Not so much for Google Instant. Google Instant isn’t an algorithm change, it just helps you find things faster (in theory). And of course, that in itself is cool. It just doesn’t have that much affect on what we do as SEO practitioners.
