Google Instant - Remember that?

[directmarketingadvice]

A month or so ago, Google brought out Instant Search and various members on here predicted that it had changed things forever.

(Someone even stated that Google had made a huge mistake.)

Well... why is no-one talking about this anymore?

Did it turn out to be not that big a deal after all?

Steve

 

[paretowasright]

Steve,

I have noticed a shift towards short tail keywords both in organic and paid which is no surprise but am I right in thinking its only activated if the searcher is logged into their Google account?

 

[akirk]

indeed - not fully activated yet - they have it out in trial - if you are logged in, and I think that they have also been doing some random switch ons as well...

Alasdair

 

[QVA - Emma]

A month or so ago, Google brought out Instant Search and various members on here predicted that it had changed things forever.

(Someone even stated that Google had made a huge mistake.)

Well... why is no-one talking about this anymore?

Did it turn out to be not that big a deal after all?

Steve

Hi Steve

People are still talking about it - in fact SEO Roundtable published results on a poll they had taken http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/022976.html

It has only been 4 weeks - too soon to tell?

Emma

 

[mobyme]

A month or so ago, Google brought out Instant Search and various members on here predicted that it had changed things forever.

(Someone even stated that Google had made a huge mistake.)

Well... why is no-one talking about this anymore?

Did it turn out to be not that big a deal after all?

Steve

Some did; while others like myself saw it as a golden opportunity to steal a march on their competitors by getting to grips with the changes and explaining to clients how they could benefit from them.

It has made a significant difference and I think the lack of discussion is because the majority of SEO's are weighed down by dogma and are still messing about with meta descriptions rather than researching user behaviour.

For "Instant" search read "Predictive" search. You do not have to be a genius to work out that while there is always a certain percentage of happy users, there is a much larger percentage dissatisfied with the predictive results who then go on to modify their search.

It's this modification that has to to be got to grips with and where a new type of long tail is really going to come into it's own if used properly; used badly it will result in users opting to use one of the paid adverts.

 

[MASSEY]

I think a lot of what people are talking about does not make sense to me.

Why will so many people have to change their strategy? The way the results are displayed is different, the algorithm is still the same?

 

[akirk]

I think a lot of what people are talking about does not make sense to me.

Why will so many people have to change their strategy? The way the results are displayed is different, the algorithm is still the same?

simple:

if you were going to search on:
cheap cars southampton

google instant will start presenting your results as you type, so you will be seeing results to cheap cars, before cheap cars southampton - therefore some searchers will not continue to type the full phrase they would otherwise have typed - they may be distracted by a result...

therefore their searching pattern has just changed

Alasdair

 

[MagnifyB]

indeed - not fully activated yet - they have it out in trial - if you are logged in, and I think that they have also been doing some random switch ons as well...
Alasdair

No it is now fully switched on via Google.com without being logged in -

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Why will so many people have to change their strategy?

Good question.

If this was going to make such a big difference - as so many predicted when it came out - wouldn't that difference be apparent by now?

All I saw on here was a big hullabaloo when it went live... then nothing. Silence.

Very odd.

Steve

 

[Colin Parker]

My PPC ctr's have gone up since Google Instant started ... coincidence or as a cause?

I don't know.

Colin Parker

 

[akirk]

No it is now fully switched on via Google.com without being logged in -

but not on google.co.uk

so not fully live across all of Google yet...

Alasdair

 

[paretowasright]

My PPC ctr's have gone up since Google Instant started ... coincidence or as a cause?

I don't know.

Colin Parker

Colin, me too more clicks, lower quality on page views, bounce rate and conversion. I have had to put {exact} keyword parameters into a number of them to control it but its mainly instant pushing searches into shorter tail anyway so only so much you can do.

 

[Ali-v-8]

sorry steve i still think its a big mistake and if it gets rolled out without logging in i will be really surprised. I find it more annoying then helpful.
i have been really busy with launching a company so i havent really took another look at it but i will say paretowasright is right.
The current trends i am seeing is leaning towards more clicks for generic terms.and click watse is pretty high and even bounce raes have increase.
I would not be surprise that his is what they wanted

 

[mobyme]

My PPC ctr's have gone up since Google Instant started ... coincidence or as a cause?

I don't know.

Colin Parker

The cause. Users are clicking the paid adverts because they feel they are being corralled by google. Make the most of it because the cost of PPC is going to rise and might be a good time to check your not bidding on terms that are being triggered too soon in the process.

 

[premiumwriting]

There were a whole lot of bloggers writing up "the sky is falling" type posts when Instant first appeared, as SEO bloggers do every time Google sneezes. Same as usual, it has turned out not to be the "death of SEO" or anything near it - surprise, surprise. But really, the apparent drop off in talk about it is really just a result of the fact that the initial talk was mostly hysteria, which is starting to give way to reasonable discussion.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

sorry steve i still think its a big mistake and if it gets rolled out without logging in i will be really surprised.

Really? If it was a mistake, don't you think they would have noticed by now and pulled it?

Steve

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Here's something for you guys to try: log into google then do a commercial search. (i.e. Search on something you might want to buy.)

Notice anything interesting about the ad at the top left?

Steve

 

[MASSEY]

Here's something for you guys to try: log into google then do a commercial search. (i.e. Search on something you might want to buy.)

Notice anything interesting about the ad at the top left?

Steve

You mean the little blue arrow diverting peoples attention to the sponsored?

 

[directmarketingadvice]

You mean the little blue arrow diverting peoples attention to the sponsored?

Yep. Just one of a number of things that Google has introduced recently to direct attention towards the paid listings.

Steve

 

[An Oasis]

All I saw on here was a big hullabaloo when it went live... then nothing. Silence.

I didn't realise it at the time but it's been around for years. If you are a Firebox user the built in search does exactly that, occasionally useful...but only occasionally as I said on the other thread probably useful for subject illiterates and I doubt that it will make any real impact. Everyone I've talked to is seeing little if any difference to traffic.

 

[DanHaynes]

Is there any information on what percentage of users have, like myself, simply turned it off?