Every now and then Google tests new features across a random selection of guinea pigs. Last week, a video was released by SEO consultant, Rob Ousbey who noticed that as he typed in every letter, the search results changed instantly to reflect what he was searching for.
The positives are that it ought to save time as you won’t have to keep clicking to load up each and every different search term. Also, it should make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for as you’ll be able to see any relevant pages in the SERPs as you keep typing. On the other hand though, there are plenty of negatives. A computer that’s already slow could struggle while Google loads page after page of results as well as being irritating and distracting having information flashing and changing.
The impact on SEO?
This could be a SEO’s dream or our worst nightmare! Either way, it’s sure to have an effect on the way that people search. I anticipate that few people will bother to go beyond the first page or perhaps even look below the fold as they can simply type in longer, more relevant search terms. As a result, it’s vital to be on the first page of results for long tail keywords.
Other things to consider are Google Maps, Videos, Shopping, etc. When these sections appear in the standard results, they often take up a fair amount of space above the fold, so it’s imperative that companies get themselves listed in Google Places, get products in the Product Search database, tag up videos and images accordingly and so on.
I guess it’s just a matter of time before we find out whether or not this is deemed worthy enough to be rolled out to us regular searchers. In the meantime, get ready for part two – the PPC perspective, coming soon.
