This past Wednesday Google introduced Google Instant which promises to deliver better search results faster. Google lists the following three primary benefits to users on their site (http://www.google.com/instant/):
1. Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.
2. Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.
3. Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.
While many users are excited about this new change it is raising questions for those that work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. On Google's anaytics blog they state "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." It appears that even the folks at Google are unsure of how this technology will impact the AdWords business.
For example, if a user types 'a' into Google Instant Amazon, AOL, AT&T and Apple might be returned in that order. Will the business now shift to paying for who gets ranked at the top based on the first letter typed into Google? Google has stated that there are no changes to the AdWords at this point but is easy to see how this could change in the near future. It is important to note that Google Instant only works for those users that are logged into the site as it uses previous search history to prioritize and present the instant search words. This too will add further levels of complexity to SEOs jobs in determining which percentage of their target audience actually uses Google Instant and how it impacts their search results.
I found a couple of articles and blogs listed below that explore this topic further if you are interested.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/sep/09/google-instant-effect-on-seo
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20015902-265.html
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