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If you've been searching on google over the last few days, you may have noticed that, as you type your search phrase into the box, Google starts to predict what you're going to type next and also shows you a list of possible phrases which you might thinking of typing! The keyword suggestions bit has been in place for a while, but what's changed now is that Google is applying your own data in deciding what suggestions to make to you.
These suggestions could be influenced by where you are and what you've searched for before. It's too early to determine all of the impacts of this, but some likely implications (as I see it) are:
No two users will see exactly the same results, so it will no longer be possible to say definitively what your organic search position is for any given keyword phrases.
Some commentators are suggesting that Google's approach may favour bigger brands, by offering those as options - on the other hand local businesses could benefit in some situations.
As we understand it, what Google are aiming to do is to help users to refine their search before the results appear, so that users can get to precisely what they're looking for more quickly. A by-product of that should be that when users visit your site, there is a higher chance that you have what they are looking for?
So will overall site visitor numbers go down? I think they might, but if they do, the conversion rate should increase due to the improved targeting of website visitors.
And what about you - do you like the Google Instant feature or not? If you don't, you can turn it off in your Google preferences.
This will also impact Google Adwords advertisers. If you search for something, you may notice that the PPC adverts also change as you type. This means that a variety of ads are displayed as the user is typing, only to disappear again as they vare replaced by ads which better fit the search term. So for those of you who use Google Adwords PPC, your impressions may increase and your click through rate may decrease, although in theory the total clicks through to your site shouldn't be affected.
For more information, you can read the Google Instant announcement here:
http://www.google.com/instant
More information will no doubt emerge in the coming weeks.
