On September 8, 2010 – Google Instant was released to the public and SEO gurus around the world were up-in-arms with Google’s innovative way to browse search results.
If you travel around the circle of internet marketing blogs, you most likely have come across Google Instant blog posts that claim “SEO is dead”. Humans are uncomfortable with change and Google Instant changes the way SEO & PPC specialists need to work for their clients. Of course, we are going to see a demographic that chooses to shun the change opposed to embrace it. As Matt Cutts says in his latest blog post about Google Instant, “The best SEOs recognize, adapt, and even flourish when changes happen.”
Keith Stojka our Senior Internet Marketing specialist has a knack for saying, “In PPC and SEO, the hardest route usually reap the best rewards and that is why we cannot shy away from the hardest routes.” The hardest route here is trying to devise a SEO and PPC strategy that leverages Google’s newest product to hit the shelves.
Google Instant is good for the business and internet marketing professionals alike…
–More search results per search
Google Instant turns one search query into multiple search queries by giving you a preview of predicted search results as you type. Therefore, instead of seeing X amount of search results per search you are going to see (X * amount of predicted search previews) search results. The only thing is, you will be seeing those additional search previews for a lot shorter periods of time but more of them. Sound familiar?
In the 1950s and 1960s, the average TV advertisement was one minute. As time progressed, the average length of these advertisements shrank to 30 seconds. Today, the majority of the advertisements run in 15-second increments which we call “hooks”. So, instead of 1-2 advertisements during a commercial break in the 1950s and 1960s we have to sit through 4-8 advertisements during any given commercial break. How did these marketing agencies adapt?
- Concise messaging
- BRANDING….. BRANDING… AND MORE BRANDING.
- Purchase more advertising slots
So, it is our job as internet marketing professionals to adapt like the agencies who had to make “hooks” instead of lengthy 1 minute advertisements.
- We need to make an impact quickly and efficiently.
- We need to consider Google Instant’s search prediction functionality with every keyword we bid on or optimize for.
–The more results an individual is exposed to, the more qualified that individual is when they finally visit your website.
From a pay-per-click standpoint, qualified visits is a good thing. Not only are our ads going to receive more impressions with the latest implementation of Google Instant but the influx of search results will hopefully increase the conversion rate of individuals who actually click (which is what we pay for in Google Adwords) on the ad. As advertisers, we want our prospective customers to have a better idea of what they want before we pay to have them on our website.
It’s too soon to say Google Instant is bad or even good….
Why start on the footing that this new product release is bad for internet marketing? As an internet marketing specialist you are immersed in an industry that constantly changes, it is up to you to evolve and devise new strategies to utilize changes that are inevitably out of your control. Set your mindset to why this product can be good – and I can guarantee that it will be easier for you to adapt to the change. Whether or not this product stays on is up to the searcher or the guru’s at Google.
