By Chris Lee

Search engine giant Google has got the search marketing industry talking this month with its launch of Google Instant, a form of predictive search which shows results as users type in search terms. The company says Google Instant will produce faster, smarter and instant responses to search.

In his blog, Google’s Matt Cutts wrote: “Google typically returns search results in milliseconds, but it takes several seconds for you to type a query. In other words, the limiting factor on a typical search is you. With predictive search and instant results, you can often get the answer you want much faster.”

But several SEO experts have argued that the migration to Google Instant could change the way users search and also limit search options, forcing up pay-per-click (PPC) costs for companies listed under the most expensive “short tail” terms in the process.

Big shift for search

While Google regularly changes the way it ranks and presents data, most changes are slight so that only the keenest observer notices them, according to Kelvin Newman of search marketing consultants Site Visibility. But Google Instant is one of the most obvious changes in years, Newman believes.

“What's most intriguing about [Google Instant] is not that it'll change what is required to make a site rank, but the potential it has to influence search behaviour,” he told NMK. “Lots of people have talked about it killing the long tail by making searches shorter, though there's another equally valid opinion: it'll make people get to longer search queries quicker. I think we'll see a bit of both what I like to think of as a 'fatter middle'.”

Game changer

The launch of Google Instant really could be an online advertising game changer, according to Graham Cooke, managing director of search consultancy QuBit Digital, as it will impact both how advertisers choose their top tail terms and the long tail.  Google Instant produces search results and crucially, sponsored links as a user types in a search term, without the user even clicking out of the search box or pressing enter, Cooke warned.

“With higher impression opportunities and more competition on generic terms, and lower impression opportunities and much higher Quality Score opportunities in the long tail, businesses’ most effective keyword research will now need to be based on Google’s Auto-Suggestion, if Google Instant is widely adopted,” he said.

Wagging a longer tail

Dr Horst Joepen, CEO of search analytics company Searchmetrics, agrees that Google Instant will focus attention on short tail terms, making them even more competitive and forcing up PPC prices and driving down long tail searches.

“It’s likely that fewer people will use the long tail – and if Google distracts me before I finish typing, is that really what I want?” Joepen argued. “Will [Google] step on its own toes? It’s difficult to know how users will react.”

Joepen also said that Google Instant’s real-time search requires quite a lot of bandwidth, which could impact search over slower mobile connections.

“We’re not sure it’ll work effectively on smart phones or mobiles – which is going to be a big part of the search pie,” he concluded. “Google might need to find a way around this issue.”

Disclaimer: the author is an associate of the PR company that represents Searchmetrics in the UK