Google Instant is now available in Australia and small businesses need to start thinking seriously about how they can optimise their sites for the new feature, SEO experts have warned.
The new feature, which displays constantly changing search results as users type, has also been a hit according to Google. The company wrote on its Google Australia blog post yesterday the company has seen an increase in the number of searches being performed on the Google home page.
“People are learning to use Instant. In just two weeks, we saw an increase in the fraction of searches performed without hitting enter or clicking search. People are used to searching on Google by hitting enter or clicking “search,” but we’ve been happy to see that people are quickly adjusting to the new experience.”
The post also said the company has measured a 7% increase in “on-the-fly” editing of search queries, meaning users are constantly changing and refining their search terms. It also said the company has seen, “an increase in the relative number of search sessions starting on the Google homepage”.
“Google Instant currently only works on the Google homepage and results page, not in other places such as browser search boxes, the Google Toolbar, and the Chrome Omnibox. As people have learned about Google Instant, many seem to be searching more on the homepage in order to use the feature.”
The new feature works by changing search results as users type. For instance, if a user types in “smart”, the Google home page will deliver different results for each letter in that word as they are being typed. And if that user goes on to type, “SmartCompany”, even more results will be given.
Phillip Ohren, SEO strategist at Switched On Media, says small businesses should “definitely” be involved in experimenting with Google Instant, even if they aren’t using it themselves yet.
“Google Instant will show users information quicker than it has ever done before. But where it will become an issue is where people can’t touch type. If users can’t touch type, they probably won’t notice a difference because they’ll be looking at the keyboard and not the screen.”
“However, if they are touch typing, they’ll be finding information quicker. If you are a massage parlour in Sydney, they might just type “massage” and Google may have already found their location, and is giving them very specific results.”
In that respect, he says, more businesses need to start optimising for “broader” search terms and should look at all the words associated with their company name or keyword phrases. However, he also warns that businesses should stay away from optimising just a few letters at a time, as Google frowns on optimising jumbled letters.
“Although I can see the rationale about that, Google has essentially outlawed optimising misspellings and it’s not a good user experience. You shouldn’t be tricking Google into optimising stuff anyway. But if you’re a new business, you should be thinking very hard about the keywords and letters in your domain name as well.”
“Everyone should be thinking about it. If users haven’t got it now, they will have it in the next week or so as data centres start rolling out.”
Reseo chief executive Chris Thomas says his company is already experimenting with Google Instant and recommends businesses do the same.
“There are a couple of things we’re going to try. We’re seeing that if you type in a certain term, along the search you’ll see that it will trigger some ads. But it really goes back to the same old – have great content and be relevant.”
“You also want to make sure that you avoid what some agencies are doing, in terms of being under pressure to optimise for very short search terms. They often don’t convert very well, but there is a lot of pressure there.”
Thomas says optimising for Google Instant isn’t necessarily an option now the company seems to be marketing the new feature fairly heavily.
“I think the fact they’ve gone really big with this in the US, and in Germany and other places as well, and are now rolling it out to countries like ours, indicates they’re going to keep it. It’s going to be a big part of Google.”
Stewart Media chief executive Jim Stewart says businesses need to start thinking about speed.
“It’s all about speed. As you type, the results change, and if there is a particular phrase you’re targeting, make sure you go through the process of typing them into Google Instant and see what changes. Chances are, they might not be relevant, but if you’re ranking for a five-word phrase it’s more likely people aren’t going to get to that fifth word.”
“Use shorter phrases, they are going to be more of the order of the day.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
