Oneupweb : Google Instant—Another SERP Revenue Adjustment

There is only one reason for Google to change their search results page—money. On Wednesday, September 8, 2010, Google unveiled their Google Instant “search enhancement”. The search behemoth that owns roughly two thirds search share in the United States has continued to be aggressive in ratcheting up competition for their paid search platform, AdWords. According to Google, however, the reason for the change was to produce faster and more relevant results.

Google’s Stated Reasons…

Benefits

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save two-five 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.

A Different Take (hope you enjoy my sarcasm)…

Revenue Benefits

Faster Spend: By further consolidating search behavior by reducing the diversity of search queries through Google Suggest and now Google Instant, users can access search results with less user input needed. Google’s aim is to extend their control over what keywords users are searching on in an effort to reduce the effectiveness of long-tail keyword bidding. This will increase the competition on category level keywords and please Google’s shareholders.

Dumber Users: Even if you don’t know what you are searching for, Google does. Trust them. They know what you want so just go with it. The highest cost-per-click ad will be displayed to you faster so don’t worry about all that trouble in being specific.

Profitable Results: Start typing and Google will display the ads that provide them the highest revenue. Until now, you had to make conscious decisions—but don’t worry about all that pesky thinking, they’ll take care of it.

Granted, it is yet to be seen whether these updates will consolidate search queries and drive-up click costs like Google Suggest did. There may also be user experience improvements and benefits from using Google Instant, and it can be easily turned off.

What do you think will be the impact on advertising costs with the unrolling of Google Instant? Tell us your thoughts, we would love to hear from you.

Google Instant—yes or no?