In late 2010, Google launched the latest development in the evolution of its flagship search engine: Google Instant Search. If you haven’t had a chance to try it, you will find it to be quite an impressive technological feat.
Basically, the way Google Instant Search works is that it displays the search results in your browser instantly, in real-time, as you type, without you having to press ENTER or click on the Google Search submit button. The more text you type, the search results change, literally with each keystroke, based on what you’ve typed so far.
The idea is to help accelerate the delivery of search results. You don’t even have to bother with clicking the mouse or pressing ENTER to submit the search. The search results show up right away.
In reality, Google Instant Search is an extension of the Google Suggest feature, which had already been available for some time prior. Google Suggest would offer “suggestions” on what to search for, in real-time, as you type in your search query. The main difference is that Google Suggest only suggests the search queries, whereas Google Instant Search actually shows you the search results for what you’ve typed in so far.
What Does This Mean To Website Owners?
If you have spent any length of time trying to get your free website indexed into Google and ranked highly for specific keywords, then Google Instant Search might be a cause for concern. This is especially true if you are trying to rank for “long tail keywords”, or phrases that contain several words.
For example, let’s suppose that your site is ranked #1 for “how to cook spaghetti with meatballs”. You’ve built all of your back links and have implemented your on page and your off page SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. So every time someone searches for this phrase, you are getting a healthy stream of traffic, and this traffic is generating a lot of revenue for you.
But now that Google Instant Search is available, you may notice traffic to your website decrease. Why? As you type the phrase, search results are being displayed on the page in real time, and are constantly refreshed as you type more words. But by the time you have typed in “how to cook spaghetti”, and you have not yet typed in “with meatballs”, let’s suppose your eyes glance down at the search results, and you find a website that interests you. You don’t bother typing in “with meatballs”, and you just click on that first link, and it has the information you were looking for.
In the above example, Google Instant Search has cut off a significant chunk of traffic to your site, which also means lost revenue. But, all is not lost. You can learn how to leverage Google Instant Search to your advantage. You already know that the instant search results are going to be there, whether you like it or not. You also know that there is a strong likelihood that the reader will stop typing and click on one of the links that show up, before they have finished typing out the entire phrase.
How to Leverage Google Instant To Your Advantage
Perform a Google search for the long tail keywords that your free website ranks for. Make a note of all of the keyword suggestions and the competitive websites that come up as a result, and where your website shows up in relation to them. This is your new competition research model. In doing so, you will be able to pick up on some new keywords that you might want to optimize your site for. And you will have an idea of how much additional back linking will be required.
The bottom line is, Google search is constantly evolving, and your SEO strategy will constantly need to evolve with it. If done properly, you can leverage this to your advantage, and make a website that is even more relevant to the consumer, and drive even more traffic to your Flash website. And that means more revenue for you.
