If you are in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain or Russia Google has rolled out Google instant a big new feature in their search engine this week. As you type the search results change on the fly, saving several seconds in search time. Suggested search terms AKA Google Suggest has been available for many years in beta and was implemented into their main search box about two years ago. Now Instant and Suggest go hand in hand with the suggested terms dropping below the typed search phrase and the instantly page updating as they are selected.
Will it change the way people search? Too early to tell. Unless you are a touch typist, there are still a lot of people (me included) who type the search term looking at their keyboard so the instant updates are unseen and they rely on the suggested terms.
How do you see this in action?
You should be able to turn it on. Or using the Google Global Firefox plug-in as I have in the video, which will allow you to see results from several other countries. Will this effect the search results? Looking a the results page in Google Browser Size reveals that 90% of users will only see one result in natural search while the instant search is running, I have seen reports of higher click troughs in pay per click, but it’s too early to tell the big picture effect.