Google Search Is Now Instant. Will It Really Make SEO Irrelevant?

Now there's a word I could get behind.

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

I don't like the instant search feature. I just find it kind of pointless. Most times I do not even find what I am searching on the first few letters.

However, Google has cleared up the rumors that this would make SEO useless. So people should stick to their current SEO tricks.

Being a technista has never been more fun!

One would think the slow typists would like it better than the fast ones. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

I'm not a fast typist. I'm just now getting to the point of not looking at the keys as I type. I find the bouncing annoying as it returns a different search with each letter.

I think it may be like what Microsoft often does. They try to make things 'friendly' and 'helpful' and end up annoying advanced users who know what they want to do and shortcuts to how to do it.

Although, I'm a slow typist, so the results are there before I finish the first work, I'd rather Google please wait until I complete my thought before giving me results. It's like having someone try to finish your sentence for you!

Natalie   www.thoughtful-self-improvement.com ( http://www.thoughtful-self-improvement.com )

That's interesting.

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

I usually search right from the search bar on my browser also. I use firefox and it has been giving me a drop down menu of suggestions as I type for a while. I love it for keyword research. That is the benefit I see in Google Instant.

but not there yet. Opera, too.

Love the analogy to instant coffee.

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

Like TW, I use the toolbar search rather than navigate to google.com. I had the same thought.

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

Largely irrelevant in my life.

Seriously, it doesn't seem to work on the Google Chrome browser. Or at least my installation. I get the suggestions, but I have to select one. To see the changing results I have to use piggy Firefox.

And since I usually type my search right in the menu bar too, it's pretty much irrelevant to me.

Susan Getgood blogs at Marketing Roadmaps ( http://getgood.com/roadmaps ), Snapshot Chronicles ( http://snapshotchronicles.com ) and Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip ( http://snapshotchronicles.com/roadtrip ).

I'm with Jenna... I don't know who those people are who were in the Google research and typed their search queries really slowly. That person is not me. I've already typed my query before Google Instant has begun to give me the first nudge.

Which makes it really not helpful.

And, as TW mentioned when I first told her about Google Instant... Do people really go to Google.com to search? I search Google from my toolbar so using Google Instant is something I have to actively choose to do. And I'm not going to do that, it's just too slow and unnecessary.

I'm pretty darn good with a search engine, I don't need Google's suggestions.

On the other hand, it was kind of fun to play with it the first day. Just an amusing way to kill five minutes of my morning. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of mornings with five minutes to kill - and when I do, there are better ways to spend that time.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager
Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

and for sharing your opinion.

On the mussing up issue, I discovered it finds things in spite of my typos. Is that way you mean?

Virginia DeBolt
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) | First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com )

I was impressed before my coffee, when my typing speed is a bit slower. Once I was fully caffeinated, Google "Instant" couldn't keep up with me. I find it to be slow, lacking in the user friendly arena and generally a waste of time as I had to keep going back and fixing what it was mussing up. I actually considered using a different search engine all together today.

Contributing Editor Jenna Hatfield (@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom )) blogs at Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com ). She is a freelance writer and newspaper photographer.