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Julia Wilkinson

AuctionBytes Blog
Covering auctions, collectibles and marketplace selling.

Julia Wilkinson is Editor of the AuctionBytes Blog and is author of the "eBay Price Guide," "eBay Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks," "My Life at AOL" and numerous ebooks about selling online. You can also find her writing on Yard Salers.

Wed Sept 8 2010 14:29:46

Google's Big News - Faster Search

By: Ina Steiner

Sponsored Link

Google launched Instant search at a big media event today. The feature provides updated search results as you type a query into the Google search engine - you don't have to click enter or the search button.

Google Instant is search-before-you-type - it takes what you have typed already, predicts the most likely completion and streams results in real-time for those predictions.

Google Instant is not available on Google Shopping (I tried it out here), but imagine this technology applied to shopping results - it could be very compelling, especially on marketplaces.

Google, which serves a billion searches a day, said testing shows Google Instant saves the average searcher two to five seconds per search. Learn more about Google Instant here.

UPDATE: Advertisers are concerned about the effect Google Instant may have on search engine optimization. SEO firm Greenlight says "longtail" (long multi-word keyword variants), which are less expensive than shorter terms, may see a drop in traffic as a result of streaming search because users may now find something to click on before completely typing their originally intended search term. The company gives an example: "scary books suitable for children" - the user may stop typing after "scary book" when they see the real time results. That would mean webmasters could see a drop in traffic and could have ramifications for advertisers as well - good to keep an eye on if you are optimizing your site for Google.

Comments (11) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Patricia This user has validated their user name.

This user has validated their user name.

Wed Sep 8 14:41:54 2010

Delightful - I ran into it just this morning and I really like it :-)

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Luxferro This user has validated their user name.

This user has validated their user name.

Wed Sep 8 16:36:37 2010

As a seller, this isn't so delightful. It shuffles the deck again on SEO, and now we have to figure out how the algorithm works to show up early in the typing sequence.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Digby
Web Site

Wed Sep 8 18:53:11 2010

Just another step on the way to Google being more shopping related.

They have that blue button with a Google ranking.

And they seem to give priority to shopping sites.

They may end up losing their reputation for generic search.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Troglodyte

Wed Sep 8 20:22:08 2010

The law of diminishing returns ultimately plays a role in e commerce.

We all understand that the one constant in e commerce and in life is change. When that change comes at a rapid fire pace, small and medium internet sellers may find that unrelenting adaptation requires a disproportional amount time and effort that produces no additional profits and may, in fact, decrease profitability.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Joey

Wed Sep 8 20:30:43 2010

Can anyone explain to me why this is a useful feature? I tried it and got dizzy with the screen constantly changing. Reminded me of a flickering strobe light. I just don't get it.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

This user has validated their user name.

by: Nan
Web Site

Wed Sep 8 21:57:00 2010

It will be useful for sellers looking for keywords. Type in your product, and it gives you the most widely searched options. Using the example in Inas screencap: People who are searching for jadeite are most commonly looking for dishes and charms rather than fire king.

Interestingly, when I did the same search just now, I did not receive an option for charms. It went from dishes to fire king, then shard, then cake stand. I wonder what skewed it between then and now?

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Bernie

Wed Sep 8 22:18:57 2010

@Nan

Possibly because you are logged into your Google account.. then Google search follows your previous search pattern.

Try the search again after you log out from Google..

Google's Big News - Faster Search

This user has validated their user name.

by: Nan
Web Site

Wed Sep 8 22:50:20 2010

@Bernie
Yep. I logged out, and it went back to: dishes, charm, fire king, glass.

So to use it for discovering keywords, it would be best to be logged out of google.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: whatever.

Wed Sep 8 23:03:43 2010

I HATE IT!

It claims to ''spell check'' my search query and the ''correct'' to what it thinks I meant.

Then it searches for what it thinks I meant. After it gives me the results it thinks I want, THEN it says something like: original search: xxxxxxx......search for that.

It used to say: showing results for ''xxxxx'' DID YOU MEAN xxxxxxx? and then give you the option to do the modified search. That makes sense: if I truly did type something wrong. But no, it changes my search, does that search, gives me those results, and then graciously offers me the option to actually do MY search.

I can handle the stupid ''sidebar'' guess let me f***** search using my own search terms.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: Joyful

Thu Sep 9 02:26:14 2010

Ick! This is something I'll be turning off. When I type in "B," I am not searching for "Best Buy," and I'm usually not searching for any other store name starting with a B either.

I expected it to be like the search box in the corner of Firefox, which also makes suggestions as I type but is actually helpful.

Instant search also provokes cynicism: How much did Best Buy pay to rank ahead of Bing? How much did Bing pay to rank ahead of Bank of America? and on down the list.

Google's Big News - Faster Search

by: JanH

Wed Sep 15 10:33:18 2010

I HATE it. Fortunately there's a button to turn it off. It's not like search engines are confusing enough - suggesting things not even within the realm of possibility of what I'm looking for is really irritating.

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