You’ve probably noticed that as you type a search into Google, the search results now change in real time as you type new words. This is called “Google Instant Search” and it’s been running for about a month now.
How does it affect your AdWords ads?
How does it affect SEO?
What results are YOU seeing?
Here’s a full explanation, with a space to post your own observations.
Video from Google that describes it:
I’ve been hearing a lot of Eeyore complaints about this – “THIS IS A CONSPIRACY FOR GOOGLE TO KILL THE LONG TAIL AND SOAK US FOR MORE MONEY” “THE SKY IS FALLING” “BLAH BLAH BLAH.” I’ve been quiet. If the jury’s still out, I ain’t gonna get you riled up. Yes, the Internet is constantly changing… but not as much as everybody tells you.
Any change in impressions is going to affect CTR’s for most advertisers more or less equally. And you can bet your britches that Google ain’t going to allow a new feature like this to upset the applecart of their $25 billion business.
I’ve been asking my Mastermind Club members what they’ve been seeing. And I asked my brain trust (most of whom spoke at my Maui seminar). News from the front lines:
Shelley Ellis: “I’m seeing a slight increase in both clicks and average CPC across all accounts since 9/8. I have also seen a few strange things in the search queries that I don’t normally see. But not the huge differences I expected for traffic or search queries though.”
(Shelley will be speaking at my seminar in Austin Texas in November.)
David Rothwell: “Have to say I have not observed any detrimental effects so far …”
Rob Sieracki of Rocket Clicks: “Bigger impact on SEO than PPC. I expected a big change in PPC, but honestly, I’m not seeing one. If an advertiser wasn’t already paying attention to search query data, they’d probably see more shift in what keywords get traffic. But, if you mine your reports often I suspect you’ve already created exact match groups for the words Google knows are prominent.
“Retail clients are seeing more instances of searchers with the word “coupons” and “coupon codes” appended to their main search terms, including product terms and their proper name. My best guess: Searchers not looking for coupons type in a term like “office depot” and unexpectedly see an instant search choice “office depot coupons” and think “Oh, if those are available I should see what the deal is.”
“In SEO, the effect is more drastic. We’re seeing about 15% fewer clicks when ranking on 2nd page. First page was always important. Now it’s even more important.”
(Rob will be speaking at my seminar in Austin Texas in November.)
Marc Phillips of Search Forecast: “Across about 10 accounts, for about 3-4M uniques a month, we’ve seen no real improvement in number of organic keyword referrers.”
Brad Geddes, author of Advanced Google AdWords: “I’ve been talking with & working with some people who managed millions in spends and tracking items across a large number of accounts. Overall – no change – if the person has not tried to manipulate their accounts for instant.”
Dr. Glenn Livingston, founder of Rocket Clicks & Market Researcher Extraordinaire: “Nothing is dramatically different in my campaigns, or my coaching clients.”
Sunny Hills, AdWords Manager & Coach:
No … nothing. Personally, when I search (as an end user) …
OK, so what’s the verdict?
What’s going on here is the 95/5 rule. 95% of your traffic comes from 5% of your keywords. Which means 5% of your traffic comes from the other 95% of your keywords. I’ve taught people to optimize their highest traffic keywords to the hilt (peel and stick to separate ad groups, relentless testing of ads and conversion). Most of what comes up in the auto suggest is in that 5% so it doesn’t really change much.
What does it change?
* It gives people MORE ideas as they search, not less.
And it makes Page 1 more important than ever before. Less need to go to page 2. Which reinforces what Richard Stokes has been saying for years: 3% of the advertisers get 50% of the traffic.
Never before has it been more urgent to become one of the top 10 advertisers in your market. Accomplishing this is not voodoo. This is about Scientific Advertising, doing ALL the steps I teach and committing yourself to testing and Kaizen continuous improvement.
And ultimately it’s about being an alchemist and crafting offers, guarantees and results that have more substance AND entertainment value than everybody else out there. Remember: AdWords Tigers are the last to die in the Jungle.
Are you seeing measurable differences in your campaigns? Post your comments below.
Perry Marshall
P.S.: Rob Sieracki and Shelley Ellis will be speaking at my seminar in Austin Texas in November. Join us in giving Thanks, and celebrating the entrepreneurial life!
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
20 Comments on “Google Instant Search: How does it affect you?”
I don’t see the fuss over it, good on you Perry for calming the storm. The best keywords will always win out.
My “offline” customers are affected if the person doesn’t know to put the city/state in. The maps and local results don’t show up unless you do. However my clients have been positively affected by this brand new maps change. They have apparently combined local maps and organic results, because now my client is #1 period. Before, #4 on maps and #1 on organic. Good change for us. Any other comments on that?
This is hurting my long tail optimized sites as people entering keyword strings often don’t make it all the way through the long tail keyword before seeing a site that interests them pop up.
Hi All,
There are 2 interesting points I can see that come from Instant Search.
1. Results are different for each user.
Instant search is tailored to each Google account holder. Therefore the Instant Search suggestions may only show up for your search and not a potential customers.
Depending on whether the data Google uses is historical or from the point of launch of Instant search this could effect your search results. If the search data is from launch only, instant search is likely to change results over time as results get more specific to the user.
2. Instant Search is not for everyone.
With 500million Yahoo and Microsoft email users and 170million Gmail users, Google accounts holders are not 100% of the search population. Instant search is being rolled out to non Google account holders in time, but even then some users will turn the features off.
Also many user search from the browser bar not from Google’s home page, therefore not getting instant search results. This may be more true of power users, however these users also represent a key target market for many businesses.
I hope this gives some insights into what may change search results as a result of Google Instant Search in the future.
Kindest Regards
Richard Tank
Dallas Matthews Marketing UK
I’m still not sure if I like it or not. Here’s why: My website has been showing up on Page I in Google search results. Now, when I enter my main keyword into Google’s search box, Google’s Instant Search does not show my website. But, if I hit “Enter”, my website show’s up.
I’m not sure why this happens, but I think it’s reducing my traffic.
I agree with Inge’s comment up above – we’ll have to give it time to see how people adjust.
One of my business associates saw an increase in impressions for a specific keyword go from 800,000 impressions in a month to 1.8 million impressions.
This has hurt conversions dramatically because it cut their CTR in half.
I’m still looking at my own data, but I’m not sure I like the idea of Google charging an advertiser with an ad impression if a searcher stops for three seconds to sip their coffee or sneeze.
I think this also opens the door for impression fraud. You know it’s gonna happen.
I’m also expecting a bigger change for SEO then PPC. But Google instant is just made available a couple of weeks ago in the Netherlands. To really understand the impact of Google instant I think we need at least a couple of months to see how searchers will adjust to this new way Google is presenting search results.
Personally I just think it’s just another hurdle we can to jump over, after a while we will adjust and make use of it…what is are you gong to do..but use it?
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
With the old Google search if I was #1 it often came with an indented #2 result with a plus sign to expand my list of results which kinda blew away the competition – if and when they clicked the + sign.
With Instant Search I’m now getting 2, or 3 pages at the top of a results listing. This, with the help of ads pushes all competitors below the fold. And yes, traffic is increasing.
I’ve always thought SEO a waste of time and effort unless you’re #1. Now with Instant Search you’re either an outright winner or loser. Soul destroying stuff. Professional PPC management looks like the answer.
Why, because my new Google Webmaster Tool tells me over 70% of clicks go to results above the fold on page#1 of search results.
Regards
Ralph
Even the programmers don’t know exactly how it works… apparently.
My latest adwords bill was higher than usual. Click graphs show no significant change but orders may have changed a bit. In Denmark the instant search appear to have been implemented only 50% — suggestions keep changing as you type but SEO results and ads are shown only when you hit enter. So we don’t have the flickering screens yet.
I am not sure what to make of Google Instant yet. Definetly will eliminate the long tail search and put more emphasis on being on page 1 via SEO though…
I agree, I’m noticing an increase in my rankings that I have on the top three listings of Google.
Even though there might be no impact on the organic results, there will be a big change in user behavior.
There is no need to hit “Enter” to get the results from your search, therefore, the user will be willing to see and read fewer search results, between 3 or 4 at the most. Anything below the fold page, will be ignored by more than 70% of the users. This will be confirmed by the growing trend of mobile searches, on a mobile device we rely on the top 3 results.
Before this change, any SEO efforts were focused on making the first page on Google. Now the goal will be to place on the first three positions. Optimizing your website will be more challenging, Pay Per Click (PPC) will be more competitive, and as a result, expect that the traditional bids for prime ranking will go up. Of course it is a clever move on behalf of Google, this strategy will increase their revenue per click considerably.
I will address the new PPC changes on my next posting, which will also have an important transformation.
Lorenzo Elizondo
I have found in my clients’ campaigns a slight increase in impressions and clicks. Most of my clients are local businesses advertising only locally however.
Perry,
I have a campaign running centered on the keyword “energy boosters”. My main ad for this keyword normally ranks in the top 4.
After Google Instant was announced, I typed this phrase in the search box, WITHOUT pressing enter, and something truly amazing occurred: My ad appeared at the top ABOVE THE SEARCH RESULTS. The God spot, where usually only the big guys appear. I was so amazed I just sat there and stared at it for awhile before loading a new page.
Next, I tried typing the same keyword and pressing enter, and my ad appeared in its normal position with other results on the right side of the page.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I like it.
Glenn Crumpley
I hate it! For two main reasons. (i) Google forces its own opinion on the user, for example if I type ‘Philadelphia Divorce Lawyer’ it will give results for ‘Philadelphia Divorce LawyerS’ UNLESS I hit enter. (ii) I have ADD and the screen bopping around hurts my head!…PLEASE PLEASE GOOGLE GO BACK!!! I don’t want to use Bing anymore!!!
To Rob at #3: go to the top-right corner’s Settings | Search Settings link, switch radio button to “Do not use Google Instant” and click the “Save preferences” button. This should help, I switched it off this way. Best regards!
I’ve been using the search recommendations as a quick way to dig for keywords to target. You get 4-5 “instant” ideas every time you type a letter.
We’ve seen traffic exploding with almost a factor of 3x since the instant search. It especially makes a difference if you’re on position 1-2 vs 4-5. Traffic for lower positions stayed either the same or decreased slightly vs traffic for 1-2 increased with a factor of 3 as your ad keeps being displayed. Search results are refreshed, your ad will stay the same at the same place (if correctly optimized).