Once again, Google has made a big change to search, and once again many professional SEOs and Internet marketers are crying that the sky is falling on their industries. While my familiarity with Google Instant is somewhat cursory (I’ve only been able to play with it a little bit), there are a few particulars that stick out to me in regard to its implementation and the impact it will have on SEO.
Firstly, Google Instant is a new incarnation of Google search that gives on-the-fly suggestive search results based on direct user input as they are typing out their search query. Google is promoting the virtues of Instant by touting its timesaving capabilities. While saving time and making searches faster is certainly an improvement worth praising, I believe that Google Instant is really a response to a different problem.
Google has always struggled to deliver ideal results for novel unique keyword searches. By their own estimate, 20% of all keyword searches fall into the unique keyword search category. That is one-fifth of Google’s users that may not get the most relevant result, and therefore, walk away unhappy.
More than any other issue, I think that is the problem Google Instant was developed to help solve. Notice how Google Instant attempts to auto-complete a query for the user while also generating instant results. This activity is essentially funneling Google users into indexed keyword paradigms for which Google is confident they have already established a high standard of relevance. If this methodology can shave that 20% of unhappy searches down to 5-10%, then Google has overcome a major hurdle to user search satisfaction.
Now if we apply the above to the impact on SEO, you can see how professional search engine optimization will still be key to optimum website performance in the Google indexes. Matt Cutts has already made a video addressing the concerns of the website community and giving his take on why SEO will still play an essential role in future Google Search.
However, I think SEO can go even further than Matt’s suggestions for simply establishing and maintaining structural site integrity. Since Google appears to be settling on a more rigid index range, (per the auto-complete results that appear each time you begin typing a Google query), SEO practitioners can be key roleplayers in identifying keyword opportunities and structures. Bringing this knowledge to bear on the architecture of the website and providing the necessary support through a sustained SEO campaign will be more vital than ever in the future of search marketing.
