It’s too early in the implementation of Google Instant to describe the precise effect it will have, or even if it will be retained by Google as a permanent feature. Nevertheless, we anticipate a number of consequences and have developed a responsive strategy for our clients.

Some of the things that we will be looking at:

SEO and Google Instant

• Google has stated that the number of times your site is displayed in a search engine results page (the number of impressions) is likely to increase. Monitoring organic referring keywords will help determine if users are truly adopting Google Instant and whether fewer keywords are sending a higher volume of traffic.
• Monitor for an impact on keyword selection and traffic by competing websites. It is likely to see some sites jump to optimizing for head terms due to the higher number of impressions for these words, leaving more space & opportunity for mid- to long-tail phrases.
• For large sites that are competing for high volume head terms, ensure that title tags and meta descriptions are well optimized to match user intent and entice clicks from users (same as before Instant).

PPC and Google Instant

• If we see increased competition from advertisers for head terms due to the increased exposure, a likewise increase in Cost per Click for these head terms can be expected.
• Auto-suggested torso and long-tail keywords will become more important as people may continue to refine their search until relevant results become visible.
• An increase in impressions without an increase in clicks will mean lower click-through-rates (CTR) on head and torso phrases, which will have an impact on quality score. Google counts an impression when the advertisement has been loaded on the screen for three seconds.

What is the take away?

Successful paid search and SEO strategies are customer-centric and aimed at using the right language to speak to your target market, delivering the right message at the moment of relevance. This marketing mantra still applies. Focus on the best practices, optimize titles (both SEO and PPC) and ensure that the descriptions are increasing the information scent on the page to entice the user to stop typing and look at your listing.

If you have direct questions regarding how Google Instant could be effecting your search marketing efforts, please feel free to contact us.

Call Tanya at 1-800-277-9997 ext. 214


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