Google Instant and Bloggers: Write Your Way to Page One

Thanks for the informative post. I'm just learning about SEO and all the other, distinctly "not why I'm a blogger" stuff I know I need to know. Anything that keeps me up on what I need to focus on and what I need not worry about is helpful :)

Michele Bourdo

FitFoodista.com.....Food, Healh, Wellness, Inspiration.....You're Worth It!

But you quoted someone who said it was dead, without refuting it, so I was refuting what he said. Sorry. Should have been more clear.

As Jaelithe points out in her comments above, Google Instant isn't performing a new search on the fly. As you refine your search, either by typing additional words or selecting an option provided by the search engine, you get the results for that search string, in the rank order Google would have offered them had you simply typed the full search string in the first place. So you can still optimize for certain keywords.

The power and potential of Google Instant, in my opinion, is that it lets folks easily search more *deeply* into the search engine to find exactly what they want, not simply something "good enough"

If you were already a power searcher, it has less impact.

So, a blog post may be on page 15 for a very popular keyword, with lots of websites and more influential blogs coming up first. But if she uses some simple optimization -- good keywords, descriptive headlines, etc. -- she may have a better chance of being found by an average searcher refining the search.

Just some initial thoughts. We'll see how it all shakes out over time.

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

Wow! I think this is the last time I write about search. In 6 years of blogging, I have never gotten such strong reaction from an opinion, and I have some strong ones.

I never said SEO was dead -- I never would. I never claim anything is "dead."

What I do think is that this could be another nail in the coffin for black hat/grey tactics, and obviously, I wasn't clear enough. For that I apologize. I was simply speculating on how Google Instant might affect both SEO and SEM to *the advantage of bloggers.*

I think it's a positive development for people who don't have big SEO and SEM budgets. It seems that keyword and content strategies (such as you and other reputable consultants practice) are even MORE valuable for optimizing content, and perhaps manipulative tactics and paid search less useful.

Of course, the last time I got such a reaction, was the only other time I mentioned Steve Rubel so maybe that's it?

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

Thanks for sharing this interesting and helpful info for bloggers.

Chris

That a few of your statements about how this will affect search are technically incorrect, if we can take Google's word, that is. Google has explicitly said that Google Instant will not affect the ranking of search results. See here:

http://www.google.com/instant/

Google Instant is not generating totally new, original search result rankings on the fly each time people type. Google Instant just shows you search results for suggested searches related to the letters you are typing. Say you were to search for "thermodynamics," for example. When you type those two letters, TH, Google will show results associated with popular searches that begin with those letters. But if the search you settle on is "thermodynamics" (which is what you are really looking for) you will wind up with the SAME search results as you would have gotten if you had just typed in "thermodynamics" and pushed enter without looking at the Instant search results.

It's really just a superfancy autocomplete feature. I would say that should be far less earthshaking to the world of SEO than personalized search was.

Also, contrary to what you say about eliminating the importance of keywords, Google Instant search may actually INCREASE the popularity of (and competition for) certain keywords, because the suggestion system may push more people toward selecting the same set of terms. For example if I were going to type "Cool kids' tees" and but Google suggested "Cool kids' t-shirts" the minute I got to that letter T, because that's a more popular search, I'd probably just click on that synonym instead of searching my own way, right?

That's the one aspect of it I'm actually a little concerned by. But it was already an issue since Google ALREADY offered suggested search terms, even before Google Instant.

Is this like when the devaluing of the keywords tag killed SEO?

When autosuggested search terms killed SEO?

When Twitter killed SEO?

When local search killed SEO? Social circle search?

Oh, right.

With respect, I thought you understood SEO better than this, Susan. For one thing, the effects of this change on Google Adwords are an entirely separate issue than the effects of the change on organic search -- Adwords is SEM not SEO. I worry that the way you conflate the two here may confuse people who do not understand the distinction.

Secondly, writing for robots in the way you describe has ALWAYS been bad SEO. The best SEO consultants have always known that the goal of SEO is to connect real humans looking for information with other real humans who have it; the machines that connect humans to one another are just a medium, not a message.

Surely as a marketing consultant -- surely, even just as a writer -- you are familiar with the concept of trying to think like your audience in order to reach them. And at its core, that's all SEO is.

As an SEO consultant who has always focused on trying to reach the human audience using the Google machine rather than the machine itself, I've had a perfectly pleasant week, actually. I think Google Instant is a pretty little tech trick, and as a searcher, I've had fun playing around with it. But I don't think it will change the fundamentals of what I personally do as an SEO.

I'm having a little chat over on Twitter with a friend who thinks I may have been a bit harsh on the SEO industry in this post.

There are many good SEO firms who recommend solid content-focused strategies to their clients. Many of you already use this approach and plugins (like AllInOne SEO for Wordpress) to optimize your blogs organically.

HOWEVER, There are also tons of less-reputable firms who use black hat techniques like link farms and spam blogs to build ranking and/or earn Google ad revenue.

My point here is that the black and gray tactics may become totally irrelevant in a world of instantly refined search. Finally, thank goodness.

And even the reputable strategies are going to be turned on their head a bit. Something that I welcome, because I have long thought that we --especially businesses -- spend too much time worrying about keywords and not nearly enough time thinking about writing clear compelling content that tells a story. Keywords don't sell products or persuade. Good stories do.

Getting off soapbox now.

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

Absolutely, Kalyn. It's the same advice I give bloggers in my book too. The positive things I see is that Google Instant may reward folks who have taken a more organic approach -- to focus on the content to optimize for SEO. And it seems to level the playing field a little bit for bloggers competing with AdWords advertisers for attention.

What we don't know yet is if it can be gamed. I've seen suggestions that SEO firms will start focusing on letter combos. Others wonder if certain phrases will become valuable, given that *Google* is making the suggestions based on what you type.

New ballgame. On my first glance though I think it is more good news than bad for bloggers with small promotional budgets.

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

What you advise bloggers to do here for SEO is what I have always done, and I just checked the list of keywords from yesterday's stats, and I don't see much change there either. In fact, when I checked keywords I was surprised at how many longer phrases still showed up (which I'm interpreting to mean that people didn't stop typing as soon as something came up that had their first few words in it.)

Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

and the link to my earlier post describing Google Instant. Every time we think we have it all figured out, Google does something to change the game.

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

I always try to stick to using concrete searchable words in my blog title and post. It's just a matter of "if I was looking for x, what would I type into Google?" That dictates my blog title and key words for the post.

It's nice to have the option to get specific in our searches. Sometimes searching a specific topic can be a hassle. Like when I type "Skins" for my favorite TV show and sites displaying the word "skin" show up...I know the search went too far! LOL