Google hosted a special event today and announced an innovation to their primary product, web search, by making it instant. The new feature is called unsurprisingly, Google Instant. It takes the place of auto-completing your search query and now instantly gives you instant results predicted based on what you’re typing. Autocomplete is still there to assist but below the suggestions you’ll also see results updating as you continue typing.
Google likes to boast the time saved thanks to Google Instant and also shows a few other benefits:
Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.
Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.
Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.
Although Google Instant won’t be having much effect on those who use the search bars or address bars within their browser, for those who don’t like change Google Instant can be turned off. You can change the setting to the right of the search box or through your account’s preferences page.
The Google Webmaster blog announced that the implementation of Google Instant might cause sites to see a statistically increased number of impressions. Other products and technologies will likely be impacted by Google Instant. Advertisers might be particularly interested how this change will alter Google AdWords behavior. Google has already said that new caching systems, using JavaScript to render pages optimally, and updating browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE will provide the background to utilize Google Instant search. Google Instant will be rolled out to different countries and mobile devices in the near future. For more information, see www.Google.com/Instant.
Personally, I like the change with Google Instant but I don’t see not having to hit the Enter key as a huge benefit. Over time, I guess I’ll see whether or not Google Instant has changed the way I search online.