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Does Google Instant Mark the End of SEO?

Google Instant Considerations for Search Marketing

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A reporter (I believe she was from AdAge) attending Google’s Q&A about Google Instant pointed out that the new search feature tends to favor big brands. This isn’t really surprising, as it is these brands that are more likely to be searched for most often. After all, they’re big because people know them. 

Do you think Google Instant is a threat to SEO? Share your thoughts.

iCrossing has a list of brands that come up when you enter each letter of the alphabet (not all are brands, but many are). A is for Amazon (not Apple), B is for Bank of America, M is for Mapquest (not Microsoft), N is for Netflix, P is for Pandora, V is for Verizon, and Y is for Yahoo. 

You must keep in mind, however, that the instant results are personalized. Google takes into account things like your location and your surfing habits when providing you results. 

Google Instant doesn’t necessarily make things any easier on small businesses, but it’s showing big brands in cases where Google probably would’ve suggested big brands anyway. If users do a lot of local searches, it’s possible that Google could show more local results (including small businesses) for those users, I’m speculating. 

Steve Rubel says that Google Instant makes SEO irrelevant. "Here’s what this means," he says. "No two people will see the same web. Once a single search would do the trick – and everyone saw the same results. That’s what made search engine optimization work. Now, with this, everyone is going to start tweaking their searches in real-time. The reason this is a game changer is feedback. When you get feedback, you change your behaviors."

He’s not wrong about that, but I’m not sure that makes SEO irrelevant. Google has been showing different results to different users for quite a while now. This is really just an extension of that. 

Businesses might want to try (and have other people try) doing searches for keywords that they would expect people to use to find their site. See what comes up (keep in mind the personalization) and work from there. Easier said than done no doubt, but it’s something to consider. Think about what kinds of people will be interested in your products and what other kind of searches they might be doing. It’s not a science, but again, perhaps something worth considering. It might mean getting to know your customers better, which can’ t be a bad thing anyway. Maybe it means asking them to take surveys. Maybe it doesn’t. 

The whole thing doesn’t help organic SEO’s case in the old SEO vs PPC debate. I’ll give Rubel that. 

Speaking of PPC, Google says Google Instant changes the way it counts impressions. "It’s possible that this feature may increase or decrease your overall impression levels," says Google’s Dan Friedman. "However, Google Instant may ultimately improve the quality of your clicks since it helps users type queries that more directly connect them with the answers they need."

Google Instant with Ads

Trevor Claiborne of the Google Analytics Team says that Analytics users might notice some fluctuations in AdWords impression volume and traffic for organic keywords. "For example, you may find that certain keywords receive significantly more or fewer impressions moving forward," he says. 

You should read this post on the Google Webamster Central blog. It says that impressions are measured in three ways: the traditional way, when a user clicks on a link that appears as they begin to type, and when a user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of 3 seconds.

Sidenote: Google’s Matt Cutts weighed in on the whole will Google Instant kill SEO thing. "Almost every new change at Google generates the question ‘Will X kill SEO?’ Here’s an video I did last year, but it still applies," he says.


He says, however that over time, it could change SEO. "The search results will remain the same for a query, but it’s possible that people will learn to search differently over time," says Cutts. "For example, I was recently researching a congressperson. With Google Instant, it was more visible to me that this congressperson had proposed an energy plan, so I refined my search to learn more, and quickly found myself reading a post on the congressperson’s blog that had been on page 2 of the search results."

Google Instant will likely become increasingly important to search marketing, because not only will it roll out to more countries (it’s starting in the U.S. and a select few others), but it will soon come to mobile and browser search boxes. Each of these factors will greatly increase how often Instant results are displayed. 

The mobile factor actually has implications for Google retaining a substantial amount of mobile searches in general. The better (and quicker) Google can give results on any kind of query, the less reason users have to go to different apps to acquire certain information. 

Google clearly said that ranking stays the same with Google Instant, but it will change the way people search. It will affect their search behavior, and that is what search marketers are going to have to think about more than ever. You should also consider that some people will simply deactivate the feature, leaving them open to Google’s standard results.

Tell us what you think of Google Instant. Do you like it or not? 

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There are 112 Comments. Add Yours.
  1. Google Instant has been a very interesting ride over the last year or so. I think it has helped in a lot of different ways for looking up information about niches you are doing SEO on. But this is a very good article, I just found your site, I have been doing SEO for a while now and always looking for new content and information about SEO. So thanks for writing this article and keep the good content coming, I will be coming back to your site to see what is new.

    Reply
  2. At present internet marketing is the prospective theory of internet marketing policy. In first world countries adopt this policy several years ago. But in present time it is going to be popular in Bangladesh. Which for why “Internet marketing training course” would be effective for all along with jobless people to make a new income source.

    Reply
  3. I think for every online business, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the core mantra of success in the business. It is the process by which a search engine optimizer brings a business website to rank highly among major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. The process of SEO is very beneficial to drive more and more traffic to a website and that turns in to revenue. Unique content, relevant keywords and link popularity are the major factors to provide high rank in any search engine.

    Reply
  4. Yes i think that Google is good but @ the same time it does not let the little man be noticed such as me. At the same time i am trying to get my name out there with the help of Google. And yes ppl just have to change their ways of searching.

    Reply
  5. Google Instants easily will translate into searching what Google wants you to search.
    It might not help to a small business

    Reply
  6. 0 0
    Igor B

    Interesting coincidence, since Google Instant search was implemented we got a moderate increase in certain keywords and drop in others. Over all we are getting up to 20% more visitors.

    Reply
  7. not sure where the SEO is going but I am confident that if the Google SEO is gone then there will be other new Search Engines that will emerge and will be selling stocks at $1000 per share.

    Reply
  8. 0 0
    Guest

    Ever heard of BING :) haha they are great..

    Reply
  9. 0 0
    Mike

    If Google instant search is aimed toward big brands then what does that do to small business? It seems scary to think that a search engine could eliminate the hopes of a small business getting exposure from SEO just to help the bigger brands get bigger?

    Good day!

    Reply
  10. 0 0
    Parvesh Sareen

    I think instead of being envy of google’s new technologies, rather we should be happy that google cares for us and its inventions are aiding us in any of the ways. Other ways SEO is just not about keywords suggestions only, its a whole big concept and google instant will help us to look deeper into google’s mind however.
    For now , SEO is safe somehow until google shots a new ball in future.

    Reply
  11. 0 0
    Guest Googler

    I just wanted to say that after using Google Instant for 10 minutes I turned it off and have no intentions of turning it back on again. I really don’t like the feel of dynamically updating web pages, where any keypress immediately re-renders all or part of the page. I do not want my current view being replaced by something different simply because I have edited a form field and I do not want my every action to trigger data transfer with the web server, since I’m mindful of my bandwidth and I don’t want Google to have oversight of my every keypress in real-time.

    I can only speak for myself but personally I will not be using Google Instant, it has too many drawbacks when compared to the traditional search paradigm.

    Reply
    • 0 0
      seo tampa

      Google instant is annoying and distracts from searching – more over, a couple of times I selected wrong keywords

      Reply
  12. 0 0
    Joe

    SEO/Small Business Dead?
    No way, I have wrote about this before the fact is SEO is more important then ever certainly for small business. Two recent examples for us the first being an order we received for an item that was found to be discontinued from one of our dropship companies. After offering the customer a similar product for less money they doubled there order and paid the difference “Because I like to help small business” The second a large school in california order 50 items for an event, they ordered from us because of price and a policy of helping small business. None of this would have happened for us without working everyday on SEO!

    Reply
  13. Everything these days seems to point to the end of SEO, even saavy internet users still aren’t aware that Google is serving up results based on browsing history. I’ve had conversations will power users that still don’t grasp the concept that Google tracks your IP address and pre-populates your search box with local suggestions. For businesses that rely on “national customers” its becoming more and more difficult to be seen.

    I believe that “search” is going to become less pertinent to a business’s marketing strategies.

    Reply
  14. 0 0
    Guest

    As a user, I don’t like it at all. I find it awkward to use. From the perspective of SEO, I don’t think it will ever become obsolete. I find increasingly more people are using other search engines anyway. This may contribute to that, m20aking google less relevant to those doing SEO.

    Reply
  15. 0 0
    SEO Share

    Google instant will not kill SEO, but effect SEO surely. We should think about how to face google instant.

    Reply
  16. 0 0
    Dele

    Quite contrary to Google’s thinking of enhanced speed resulting from the introduction of this feature, i will not be surprised if for a large number of people, speed is even reduced as they pause to consider the various suggestions offered by this enhanced feature.

    Reply
  17. 0 0
    Guest

    Can wait for the government to can G’s ass. Right now G. is so bad, breaking so many laws, killing business and abusing their power left and right that I would prefer the government to run them. Even Pelossi in charge. Google is gone webmasters. It’s time to start shifting your love unless you are a cuckold. :-)

    I’m all for the government to raid G’s HQ ASAP. G. is a cesspool. The Wi-Fi deal is just icing on the cake. G boys have been living ghetto fabulous for years now. Can their asses gov!

    Reply
    • I absolutely know what you mean about Google killing businesses. I mean, if there really is any way to market our businesses except for Google then it’s something we really don’t want to know about.

      I think it’s a perfectly sound plan to give full control of our marketing to Google’s algorithms then blame Google when we fail. It just makes me want to say “grrr”, you know? GRRRR!

      Reply
    • 0 0
      Joe

      Don’t know about the Gov steppng in, on reason there is a lot of money involved here & as we all know money does talk. This instant search is being used by Bing already, I changed search defaults on my browser to Bing 3 months ago and every computer I work gets changed to Bing. My customers all are very happy with this change and I tell you it looks a lot like Google instant when you type a search term.

      Reply
  18. 0 0
    Guest

    Google will drive the searcher to directions selected by their complicated hidden formulas, No more seo results.

    Reply
  19. 0 0
    seo tampa

    Google is a very innovative company and if they work on improving SEO UI then it’s for the good only

    Reply
  20. Okay I have seen the instant search and think it is really cool, but I still don’t completely understand how it may change the results when the formula is still the same. This brings me to the thought of long tail searches. It seems more and more weight is being placed on long tail searching than ever before because a generic keyword is almost no longer good enough to find what the searcher wants. They always end up typing more keywords/which turn into phrases. So no matte what I type with the instant search I will always be able to type and search for what I want no matter what is being suggested.

    The instant search only makes suggestions, not what you may actually want. How would the formula change when using the instant search vs. a regular no instant search? If you use instant search and find what you want before you finish typing it, you type less; that’s all. SEO will not go away just because there is instant search because what is suggested may not always be what you want, especially if you want something specific that you know about already. Plus, what about the other search engines out there in the world. Does Google have the patent or will other engines follow along with the same instant search?

    Reply
    • 0 0
      Abhoy Pado Banerjee

      This is true. I don’t think that the buzz about the instant search is going to affect the present SEO domain. If it is happening then there are options available. I mean other search engines and my feeling is that Google wont allow its competitors to have a share of its user community. Lets wait and watch the interesting changes.

      Reply
  21. I am very excited about the anti-Google sentiments from so many SEOs. Google keeps doing things for the sake of everyone except SEOs, and it makes it harder for us to game their search results.

    What we can not game, we must destroy.

    For that reason, I have spent the better part of the last day creating an organized methodology designed to move as many people over to Bing as possible. This is a three-phase plan with a start to organize the process, a middle to see the plan through, and even a plan of action for when all the fifth-rate SEOs start flooding Bing just like we have all flooded Google.

    Reply
    • 0 0
      Guest

      I like that idea. I’ve heard others are leaving google anyway. The reason I use google extensively, is because SEO is focused around their algorithm, rules, etc.

      Reply
  22. I don’t think that there are many internet users who will use Google Instant. I think of the aging adults around the world who are, in general, not as computer savy as younger generations. It will take a long time for groups like that to adopt Instant. Don’t forget that even though Google is the most dominant engine, there are many others in the ball game.

    Reply
  23. 0 0
    Byron

    I am new to SEO and have learned a lot over the last year to move up in my chosen key words on Google, but I am at the point that I am tired of everyone placing Google as the almighty search engine of the internet and every time they sneeze or think of something new to control the internet people jump and try to figure out what next to do.

    I have a small business and I will do my best to keep up, but Google will not have me scrambling to figure out there every move.

    Google can kiss my little small business you know what. I am going to start optimizing really hard on Bing, Yahoo and others.

    Reply
  24. 0 0
    Tamsin

    Google instant doesn’t mean the end of SEO, if anything it creates more scope for seo to be utlilised. I for one can seen endless opportunities to incorporate this into on page optimisation but obviously I am not going to expand upon that too much ;-) .

    Seo will always be needed and Big Brand websites will always get a greater share of visitors but Big Brand sites don’t need to rely on seo as visitors already know that brand is there to provide them with whatever it is they require.

    Reply
  25. 0 0
    Craig

    Anyone who thinks that Google Instant signals the end of SEO is either delusional or does not understand search engines. While it does affect the use of long tail searches, it has no effect on the search results shown for a given search phrase.

    Instant influences the search, not the search results.

    Reply
  26. 0 0
    zaq

    For instance if my site ranks for a long tail keyword like “Google Instant Tips and Tricks”, then i will end up losing a percentage of my traffic to people who stopped typing at “Google Instant Tips” because they will still see relevant results.

    Reply
    • 0 0
      Raymond

      Many sites depend on traffic from long tail key phrases. A user who planned to type in “best dog soap for pitbulls” might very well stop typing at “best dog soap” because something caught their eye, so the user ends up at a different site than they would have with the old system. Just one more way Google has once again thrown a wrench into S.E.O.

      Reply
  27. I think that Google is getting with big companies to route the customer to brand products and services. This makes local listing in Google more important to local small businesses. Small Business engage in national and global markets will need to ramp up their marketing somewhere else or other means before loosing their wallet in Google. I guess it is time to migrate to Yahoo or Bing.

    It may not be a picture in the background, but this is a distraction that in the long wrong will send people else where. Google is on top because it’s search is simple(for right now). If people wanted distraction, they would make Yahoo and Bing their number one search engine.

    Like a lot of product roll outs, this I think will tank.

    Reply
  28. 0 0
    Bogo

    Every change in search engine’s behavior is a threat to SEO.
    Google does not provide relevant search results no more.
    Their algorithms got so complicated that no one really knows what to do anymore.
    And they change as we speak. There’s no SEO. Just pure luck and guesswork.
    Now is a good time time to charge for SEO services and rip off naive customers.
    If you fail to deliver, you can always blame it on Google.
    Yes, I’m sarcastic. So what? Swing to Bing (should I copyright this slogan?)

    Reply
    • 0 0
      Tamsin

      It doesn’t matter how complicated the algorithms get. The key to effective seo is always derived from simplicity and a focus on the visitors core requirements. Seo is not just about keywords on a page it is about delivering content that is relevant to the visitor. If this is always the focus then it is impossible to fail in my experience.

      Reply
      • 0 0
        Bogo

        Well, you have a point there and I totally agree.
        My concern (and not only mine – see Monopoli below) is that search results keep moving away from content and get more influenced by various “money games”.
        I was a huge Google fan and to a point I still am, but in my opinion there is something fishy going on.
        I can’t pinpoint what it is, but as years go by Google seems to be less and less “fair” and more manipulative.
        Call me a dinosaur but I still believe in enthusiasm and good will from the old days of internet.
        These “Google wars” (Google vs. Bing, Google vs. Facebook etc.) make me sad.
        Once a symbol of free thought and cooperation, internet became a pool of sharks fighting for one of top ten positions on some search engine.

        Again, you are right. It’s doesn’t matter how complicated the algorithms get.
        As long as they are fair.

        Reply
  29. 0 0
    hotels uk

    The only thing that can kill SEO is crafting SERP by hands of Google workers – ask yourselves if this is possible. Until there won’t be an real AI which could do this work there is no real threat to SEO.

    Reply
  30. SEO becomes more important, but not just the mechanics of getting top, but the first part of SEO, in understanding consumer behaviour and how they search.

    I think you have to be logged in to Google to make this new system work. Is this right? what proportion of users actually log in to google?

    Reply
  31. 0 0
    STM

    I will always like the “old way” (and it is just silly to think that “new” is always better) where SERPs are the same for all, unless “I” intentionally decide for something different and only for the time “I” want it.

    It looks to me that Google is abusing of its predominant position on search engines market and deciding for me, for you and for other people about what you can do, and how to do it.

    Now, it is also trying to impose “results” to me, you, etc..

    Google is a business and lots of money is involved. For what I know this is more likely just a way become more cryptic and then get more money from advertisers and so on, rather than really “help” people.

    I never trusted and never relied on “Google-branded” tools (i.e. Google Analytics) as I wanted to find out myself if these statistics were true or not, if my ad was showing, etc..
    I will trust them even less from now on.

    It looks like it’s becoming a matter of “trust” or “faith” and I am struggling to see how I will be able to verify if what Google AdWord tools tell me it’s true…

    I would like to have a positive, very good and irrefutable answer to these concerns.
    So maybe I can become a “believer” too.

    Reply
  32. Google obviously now has the power to direct search queries. I’ve done some test searches in categories I manage and the suggestions are quite surprising. More often than not the suggestions appear to be for higher value rather than higher volume terms. Given that the Adwords Ads also change in line with the suggestion tool this appears to be as much about making more money than anything else.

    Reply
  33. 0 0
    bob

    it’s not the end but more dimensions to it and more users-experience will affect the result. This is not the end of SEO or MEO.

    Reply
  34. Well, Google Instant might be an excellent feature, but i am worried about the distraction it can make on searchers, especially for a naive searcher. I am worried about the Local brands, yes it will help in getting higher click rates for universal brands, but what about local brands. I am from India, and if in any case I am searching for Apple fruits, it will distract a user from typing complete Apple Fruits, and will through up Apple.com, which I am not looking for, and in any case, if one doesn’t know Apple.com, then he might be landed to a wrong website.This can increase bounce rates on the website.
    Well, that my personal thought on this, but its still new, may be whatever we are predicting will not be true, and may be it will prove to be an excellent feature.

    Good Luck Google.

    Reply
  35. I had a rowl in my family yesterday when my younger son accused his older brother of messing around with browser settings “AGAIN”. I explained to him about google changing algorithms from time to time and this must be one of those things.

    He typed in his children cartoon favorite and was met with listed sites that made him angry. The bigger names showed up.

    Surely this will affect SEO although Mat Cutts said it would not. As with earlier changes, let’t keep our fingers crossed and wait and see.

    Reply
  36. 0 0
    pookie

    If you are not in the top results, forget it. People will do everything they can to rank at the top of the page. Page 2 ranking – forget it. It definitely favors large sites with lots of backlinks.

    Not sure how this will skew the impressions for Adwords. If it drives up impressions, it will drive down click thru, drive down QS and drive up CPC. Also, your ads now have to be at or near the top of the page to get any clicks.

    Reply
  37. For me, SEO will continue to exist provided that some persons that are into SEO will used it not for spamming but for promotion only. SEO has so many varieties and everyday we encounter new SEO methods. So in the long run, SO will still be alive. But then again, we all know that google has make some changes on the how they evaluate the sites. Thanks for this interesting post!

    Reply
  38. 0 0
    Peter IMC

    Another “is this the end of SEO” article. Can’t you guys be more creative?

    And that Steven Rubel guy you quote,… Do you mean to say that he thinks that “instant” means instant indexing? It sure looks like it as he talks about tweaking search results real time. Either you didn’t understand what he said and made up that quote or this guy doesn’t understand what “instant” means in this case.

    And considering you quoted him, you don’t seen to get it either.

    Do some research before you write an article.

    Reply
  39. It is nothing to do with search machines, but rules for SEO, and following it.
    Content is made for client, and code for machine. SEO is simple, mixing content and code.

    Reply

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