Google Instant… Instantly changes search

It’s been 5 months since Google launched Instant and I have to say I love how it works.

From a consumer experience standpoint, being able to extended my search phrase while I’m typing AND see results as I type is really great! It sure makes being on page one critically more important. I was speaking with a client last week & explaining Google Instant and his response was, “Wow, I knew something changed but didn’t know what it was. How does this impact my website & it’s ranking organically?”

Good question isn’t it?

I think we’re still waiting for official news from Google on the impact of consumers moving to page 2, 3, 4 etc of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) but anecdotaly I believe Google Instant is having an incredible impact on how consumers search. I also believe that Google Instant makes Search Engine Optimization that much MORE important. As my client mentioned, he simply adds to the long tail phrase until he sees results he’s looking for. Which means quite obviously, consumers will look at fewer and fewer pages on the SERP. If they look at fewer pages in the SERP then being on page one is significantly more important. Identify your primary keywords & put even more emphasis on optimizing for them.

For smaller website that compete with the big players (in most case the big box competitors) they are at a further disadvantage because the head of the tail searches gives the bigger companies the advantage because they are at the top of the rankings for the head of the tail.

I guess we’ll have to wait & see how this all plays out.