Google Instant: The Scoop & SEO, PPC, Search Behavior Impacts

09 Sep 2010 2 Comments

by fortuneweb in Google, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Marketing Strategies Tags: google instant, ppc, seo

They’ve done it again….Google has released yet another breakthrough as to how results are displayed on the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages). This time it comes in the form of instant, predictive search results. Meaning, as you type a search query the search results below will change automatically.

Some find this a major annoyance, others love it. There is also a lot of buzz about how this will affect SEO, PPC and search behavior in general. Either way, this is just more proof of how rapidly the art of SEM changes and how we constantly have to relearn our techniques and adjust.

How it works:

Pretty simple. Start typing, you will see the search results below change as you type. The predictive search feature is still there. As you type Google still shows predictive results and works to expand, or show suggestions, for the search query you are currently typing. The SERPs change rapidly so it is an adjustment. Keep in mind that organic results AND paid ads will change as you type.

Why they did it:

You can get to search results much faster, without even having to finish typing your search query or clicking ”search”. Apparently, this is a huge time saver. According to Google, Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search and if Google Instant is used globally, this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day, or 11 hours saved every second. In a nutshell, they want to return results faster than we can type. But since we read faster than we type, the changing display of search results will help us get to our queried result much faster!

Impact on SEO & search behavior:

Google is still personalizing results, and Instant only enhances the personalization of the SERP. Personalization of results changes SEO. So, keep in mind, what you see and what I see as we type a search term are probably going to be different. That said….

The general consensus, especially from Google, is that search results will remain the same for a query and will not impact the ranking of organic results. Some may disagree, but we firmly believe, along with many others out there, that white hat SEO strategies will always be needed. If not there is no way for engines to crawl, index and display results for your website. So, all the same principles still apply. So…no, Google Instant will not kill SEO.

However, we do believe Instant will impact the way people search causing them to refine search queries more, on the fly. Instant is geared to allowing searchers to refine their search term as they type, especially if they see non-relevant results being displayed. Better yet, they may want to dig deeper into their initial search query by selecting a predicted search query string displayed in the search box. So, something that may have been on page 2 for your orignal search term will show on page 1 because you refined your search query based on the results instantly displayed. To us, this means that sites optimized for longtail search terms (i.e more specific, detailed search queries) have an even better chance of showing up in search results and thus driving organic traffic to their site. Not to mention, that if you have a top 3 organic ranking for more broad terms, you could have a better chance of your results being clicked on. If a broad term generates a result the user is looking for, top of page placement is key.

Here’s another optimization thought…Google begins returning results after a searcher has typed one letter. We may begin to see pages being optimized for letters & syllables in the future. Simply put, there will be an effect to SEO over time, as users adapt to this new way of searching, we just have to wait and see.

Impacts on PPC:

Again, there is much to be known, but one glaring impact is the number of impressions for paid results. Apparently if a searcher pauses for 3 seconds, and your ad appears, this will count as an impression for your ad, although it might not be enough time for a searcher to contemplate a click, thus skewing the CTR (click-through-rate) ratio. Also your ad could show up as part of the predictive text in a search even though it is not relevant. Think of it as Google displaying an ad for a “best guess”. For example if you search for “flow” google could start showing ads for “flowers”, if you follow that with “flowc” it could show results for “flowchart”. So, this could have a negative or positive effect on impressions. There is also some speculation that this could mean a higher CPC (cost-per-click) for advertisers.

We’ll be monitoring this closely for our clients as we go, and if we find out anything, we’ll be sure to let you know. One thing we can say for sure, is that we will be including more longtail terms in the PPC campaigns. If users will be more specific with their search over time, we don’t want campaigns to suffer because the keywords we are bidding on are more general.

Love it or leave it:

Some folks really, really do not like this and we have read many comments of users flocking to Bing or Yahoo. Some, love it. We are undecided. Yes, sometimes it is annoying, but like we said before, searchers are going to learn to adapt. You can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page, if you really, really hate it.

Resources:

Fortune Web Marketing Blog