All about Google’s Instant / Predictive search feature launched September 8, 2010

Google Analytics Data Skewed Because Of Instant Previews

Nov 22, 2010 at 8:55am ET by Barry Schwartz

There are confirmed reports that Google Instant Previews may be skewing your web analytics data. It appears that in some cases Google will conduct an on-demand fetch of your page to dynamically create an Instant Preview. The on-demand fetch happens when a searcher places his mouse over the search result on Google and the image preview comes up. Some analytics tools, including Google Analytics, may consider that a visit, because Google Instant Preview is actually visiting the page in real-time to get that on-demand Instant Preview. There are several complaints about this issue in the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Google: Instant | Top News

Google Instant, Meet Yahoo Instant – Er, Yahoo Rich Search Assist

Nov 17, 2010 at 1:26pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Yahoo is following Google by rolling out its own version of Google Instant, with a twist. Called "Rich Search Assist," the feature automatically shows results as you type, though only in the top half of the page. Meet Rich Search Assist The screenshot below shows an example of this: As you type, Yahoo suggests search topics using its preexisting Yahoo Search Assist service. But now, next to the suggestions, Yahoo flashes up a closer look at the first result you'd get for each topic. As you move down through the other suggestions, the preview changes to match those. The short vid [...]

Official: Google Instant Now Available On iPhone & Android

Nov 4, 2010 at 3:49pm ET by Barry Schwartz

The blogs are buzzing about Google Instant finally coming to iPhones and Android devices now. If you go to Google.com and conduct a search using one of those mobile devices, you may just see it if you have the latest operating system, Android 2.2 or iOS 4. Google has just confirmed the new features, which many were spotting earlier. I believe I saw it start yesterday, but being that I often use the Google search box in the toolbar of the browser, as opposed typing in a query on Google.com's search box within the browser, it didn't stand out to me. Anyway, here is a picture from my iPhone [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Instant | Google: Maps & Local | Top News

Google Instant’s Impact On Trigger Keywords & Performance In Paid Search

Nov 3, 2010 at 10:29am ET by Benjamin Vigneron

From a paid search standpoint, the effects of Google Instant are intriguing. What is the real impact on trigger keywords and other key performance indicators? Here is an attempt to quantify those effects. Methodology We studied an aggregated data set on Google US from the period prior to the launch of Google Instant and compared it to the week following the launch for a wide range of clients. Our client base is mainly retail, so other sectors may experience different results. Also, this analysis is about triggered keywords, not user queries. To clarify, we are looking at the impact on [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Instant

Google Instant Search Has Already Made Millions: Report

Oct 26, 2010 at 9:15am ET by Matt McGee

A new study suggests that Google Instant Search has already had a positive impact on search advertising, benefiting advertisers through higher impressions and clicks, and adding to Google's bottom line in the process. Marin Software, a company whose search marketing products are used to manage more than $1.3 billion in annual search spending, studied the impact of Google Instant on "a few hundred" of its clients, tracking statistics for the two weeks before and after Instant's September 8th launch. The results? Marin says ad impressions increased more than 9%, clicks increased more than [...]

Google Suggestions Get Localized For Countries Around The World, News Alerts Improved

Oct 25, 2010 at 9:34am ET by Barry Schwartz

The Google Blog announced a few new features for Google search this week. First, they confirmed the realtime counter we reported earlier last week. Second, local search suggestions are now for cities around the world, not just in the US. Finally, Google Alerts for news based alerts is now improved. In April 2010, Google made Google Suggest -- which is now is calling "Autocomplete" -- locally relevant, so that if you are in a specific city or metropolitan area, Google will tailor the autocompletions based on that area. Google said they have extended the "hyper-local predictions" around [...]

At Google Images, “G” Is For “Girls In Bathrooms”

Oct 18, 2010 at 8:18pm ET by Danny Sullivan

The launch of Google Instant last month drew new attention to what Google suggests that people search for -- and what it purposely omits to keep things family friendly. But over on Google Images, some of the suggestions that appear as you type are more of the soft-porn variety. Girls Gone Wild On Google Here's what I currently see when I enter the letter G at Google Images: Fair to say, autocomplete suggestions like: girls without dress girls breast feeding each other girls in bathrooms aren't exactly the type of things that Google generally wants to suggest to most people. [...]

Blue Arrows Hit Google Instant

Oct 1, 2010 at 11:39am ET by Danny Sullivan

Did you notice the blue arrow that's showing next to the first result in Google's listings? It's part of the new keyboard navigation system that rolled out for Google Instant this week. A reader contacted us about the arrow that he started seeing, and that caused me to see them for the first time myself. Maybe they've been there for me since Google's announcement earlier this week, and I didn't notice. Maybe it's part of a wider rollout (I'm checking). But here's a closer look. Notice how in a search below, there's a blue arrow next to the first listing: The blue arrow, or blue de [...]

Google Instant Expands, Adds Keyboard Navigation

Sep 29, 2010 at 6:53pm ET by Matt McGee

Google Instant is expanding. The company has just announced new features and wider availability of the search-as-you-type feature. Let's start with the latter; Google says Instant is expanding in two ways: Google Instant On Vertical Search Properties: In addition to being available on Google.com searches, Instant Search is now functioning on "many" of the vertical search options in Google's left navigation column, like Videos, News, and Blogs. Google Instant In New Countries: Instant Search is now available to signed-in users in 12 new countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Repub [...]

How To Use Google Instant As A Powerful Link Building X-Ray

Sep 29, 2010 at 4:14pm ET by Eric Ward

Google instant caused a near freak out within the SEO world, but oddly there has not been a peep about Google instant and link building. Have a look at the below Google search results as of 9/28/2010. Exact Match Search TermResults "google instant and seo"36,700 "google instant and ppc"25,800 "google instant kills seo"2,700 "google instant and link building"0 What? Instant has been out for less than a month and there's already nearly 40,000 articles about the impact on SEO, (some of which have been truly excellent), but there hasn't been a single article about the effect instant mig [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Instant | How To: Links

What Do Pamela Anderson, New Pornographers, & Women Rapping Have In Common? Google Blacklist Knows

Sep 29, 2010 at 12:56am ET by Matt McGee

Pamela Anderson is a well-known actress. The New Pornographers are an indie rock band. Women rapping are ... well, presumably just females making music. All three are also part of a growing list of known "naughty" phrases that trip up Google Instant. Danny Sullivan has already written about this topic here on Search Engine Land (see The Five Words You Can Never Suggest On Google Instant), but the folks at 2600 -- a hacker community magazine -- are compiling a Google Blacklist of words that Google Instant filters. The list, which is not safe for work and perhaps not safe for other rea [...]

How Google Saved $100 Million By Launching Google Instant

Sep 20, 2010 at 7:22pm ET by Matt Van Wagner

It seems fitting that from the moment it was announced, Google Instant became an instant headline news story. For the past few week, industry pundits have been talking, tweeting and writing about Google Instant and offering their theories on its implications for SEO and paid search. On one hand, there are Googlers like Marissa Mayer and Matt Cutts and some bloggers who have heralded Google Instant as a game-changing, time-saving search innovation. On the other hand, more than a few writers have greeted the announcement with some wariness, perhaps because it has conjured up dark memori [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: AdWords | Google: Instant | Paid Search

Not Sure What To Do About Google Instant? Stop The Insanity!

Sep 16, 2010 at 12:18pm ET by Damien Bianchi

We’ve all been abuzz over Google Instant. I’ve seen some ridiculous articles written on the subject – some are claiming that it’s the "death of SEO", and have read some very insightful articles on it. There still seems to be a big question that is hanging out there – "Great new feature! So… what are we supposed to do?" Is it over-hyped? In some ways, yes. Marketers seem to be a little paranoid that this changes everything with search. Google has stated that there have not been any changes to the algorithm. You'll get the same results for "shoes" as you would with "sho" and se [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Google: Instant

Assessing Google Instant’s Effect On B2B Marketers

Sep 15, 2010 at 12:23pm ET by Galen DeYoung

As Google moved from Google Suggest to Google Instant last week, I began to wonder what impact it may have on B2B marketers and how to assess that impact. As with any significant change, the results will be positive for some, negative for others. Here are some things B2B marketers should watch to determine the effects on their sites. Monitor keyword diversity One of the things that makes B2B search challenging is the lack of shared lexicons in most industries. As a result, the same product or service may have 6-7 different, yet fairly popular, names for it. And with each of those names c [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: SEO | Google: Instant

Good News, Lesbians — Google Instant May Soon Suggest You!

Sep 15, 2010 at 9:31am ET by Barry Schwartz

As you know, Google won't show certain search results in Google Instant for search results that seem pornographic, violent or hateful. The includes the word "lesbian," even though few would consider it to be pornographic on its own. I reported this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable that Google said they will try to fix lesbian so that search results show up in Google Instant as you type that into the search box: Kelly from Google said this in a thread, lesbian not showing search results as you type in Google Instant "is a bug and we are working to see if we can fix it," Google [...]

The Five Words You Can Never Suggest On Google Instant

Sep 13, 2010 at 8:30am ET by Danny Sullivan

Like it or not, lots of people search for nude celebrities on Google. But with Google’s new Google Instant Search, those inclined to seek celebs in the buff have to figure out their queries without any help from Google. The same is true for those interested in nude beaches, famous nude artwork or "innocent" topics such as the Naked Brothers Band and nude lipstick. Below, a closer look at pros and cons to Google Instant's filtering, including a nod's to George Carlin's famous "Seven Words You Can Never Say In Television" bit. A Good Reason To Filter Adult Terms As we've covered, Goo [...]

Google Instant And The Power Of Suggestion

Sep 10, 2010 at 1:16pm ET by Craig Danuloff

It's going to be a long time (weeks or months) until anyone has a complete understanding of how Google Instant will change search and search marketing. The change Google has made isn't just to the user interface. They've changed how search works by dramatically increasing the power of Google Suggestions. And most importantly they've changed the search experience which will undoubtedly change the way people behave and react to the results they get from Google. Search marketers—of both the paid and organic varieties—are going to feel the impact of all these changes. Instant [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Instant

How The “Focus On First” Helps Hide Google’s Relevancy Problems

Sep 10, 2010 at 12:42pm ET by Danny Sullivan

In January, I was invited to speak to Google's search quality team about issues I had with Google's search results. My topic? For queries where I know a subject really well, I often found Google provided some pretty poor results in the top listings along with the good ones. I wanted more perfection! With the focus this week on Google Instant Search providing fast answers, I figured it was worth revisiting the quality of results. This post is largely built off the things I presented back in January, issues that are still continuing with Google. It explains how a "focus on first" can help cov [...]

Yahoo Had Instant Search In 2005 & Dropped It; Bing Kind Of Has It Now

Sep 9, 2010 at 7:06am ET by Matt McGee

Google's Instant Search might be a "fundamental shift in search," as described yesterday by Marissa Mayer, but it's certainly not new. Yahoo Instant Search On September 15, 2005, Yahoo launched an innovative search tool called Yahoo Instant Search. It was available at instant.search.yahoo.com, but that URL leads to a 404 page now. Danny Sullivan wrote about Yahoo Instant Search the day it launched: Yahoo's given the heads-up that a new Instant Search feature is to be offered by the time this story goes live. Type in a word, and Instant Search will show you an answer for popular queries [...]

Google Instant Search: The Complete User’s Guide

Sep 8, 2010 at 3:43pm ET by Matt McGee

Google Instant promises to change the way people search. Speaking at today's announcement, Google's Marissa Mayer called it a "fundamental shift in search." As with any big Google announcement, there are questions: Who can use Google Instant? Can I opt out or turn off Google Instant? Why am I not seeing it when I do a Google search? Answers to those questions and more are below, in our Google Instant User's Guide. What Is Google Instant? Google Instant is a feature that predicts what you're searching for and shows results as you type. It uses Google's autocomplete technology to show predi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | Google: Instant | Top News

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