Ever since Google introduced Google Instant the question has been how (and if) it will affect SEO. When it comes to search engine optimisation there are two schools of thought regarding this issue. There are those who say (quite correctly) that the introduction of Google Instant did not, in any way, change the Google search algorithm, therefore as far as SEO practices are concerned it should be business as usual and then there are those (who also quite rightly) say that Google Instant affects search end-user behaviour and is therefore significant.
So, who is right? Well, both as it turns out but for different reasons and only one camp is really going to help your website be found faster. While it is true that Google Instant did not change the Google search engine algorithm it introduced a change in the way the search itself can be conducted based upon suggestions made by Google using a variety of metrics. One of those metrics is the popularity of specific search terms. The impact of this is more clearly understood if I use an example.
Suppose, that you have a website which sells black cowboy hats. Before Google Instant was implemented the website’s standard SEO strategy would have been to chase long-tail keywords while constantly optimising for main, heavily contended keywords in a two-pronged ‘attack’ which, in our example, mixed short-term and long-term targets in order to maintain a constant flow of traffic to the website and a constant ascendency in search engine rankings.
Now, let’s look at this same website again with the effects of Google Instant in place. From a search engine algorithm nothing has changed but Google Instant now saves searchers time by suggesting the most popular keywords for their search as they type it. Someone who begins to type ‘black cowboy hats’ will get the most popular keywords presented to him, guiding his clicks. Sites which now use the previous two-pronged strategy will not do as well as sites which attack full on to gain a foothold in the most popular keywords.
SEO has changed because of Google Instant. The ultimate aim of SEO is to increase a website’s money-making capability through relevant visitors, relevant traffic and increased traffic numbers. All of these are subject to searcher behaviour so to ignore the way Google Instant affects it and to fail to take measures to exploit it is to fail the website from an optimisation point of view.
SEO is useless if it does not bring in the kind of traffic which is geared to convert more readily into clients and for that to happen there has to be a delicate balance between the optimiser’s understanding of search engine technology and his grasp of human psychology. It is there that the crucible of success lies for many websites.
Whether you are a fan of the gravelly voiced, enigmatic, self-proclaimed protector of Gotham, or a critic who thinks he is no more than a psychopathic vigilante walking a tightrope just this side of the law, you have to admit...
14-03-2012 Hits:3691 SEO Tips
Charlie Brown said that “There is no greater burden than a great potential” and rarely does this ring truer than when it comes to Facebook and its planned IPO. Now, the buzz surrounding the flotation of the world’s largest social...
06-05-2012 Hits:484 Social Media News
If you were one of those waiting on the sidelines to join Google+ the moment it became live your wait is now over. All you have to do is point your browser at: https://plus.google.com and join the social network.
25-09-2011 Hits:5649 SEO Tips
One of the bedrocks of the sandy edifice which is SEO is the fact that, given sufficient time to optimize a website, an expert SEO can guarantee results. This doesn’t mean that you hire someone and your website goes to...
14-04-2011 Hits:338 WEB View
As I write this the financial world is busy slaughtering chickens and studying the entrails for a chance to glimpse the future of search advertising on the web (and guide shareholders towards the acquisition of shares that will pay off...
14-04-2011 Hits:561 SEO Tips
When it comes to social media marketing SEO is not far behind. You know you need to socialise the content you put in your website and you know that the socialisation of that content has an important impact on your...
29-03-2012 Hits:5977 SEO Tips
Google started 2011 with a bang, applying a content farm filter to search results and upping the game by picking off spam content. In their war against content farms they now are recruiting search users. The move is experimental and available...
14-04-2011 Hits:327 WEB View
The year ahead is going to be a hugely challenging one for small business and entrepreneurs. The global economy will continue to be uncertain, SEO changes will keep being fast and furious (and in the case of SEO furious is...
03-01-2012 Hits:712 WEB View
You have to admit that the possibility that Facebook might buy BING would have seemed a more likely possibility two weeks ago than Instagram going for a cool $1 billion.
26-04-2012 Hits:2197 WEB View
Every week you will get an email newsletter with my personal recommendations on social media marketing tips and crucial SEO advice to help your business succeed faster, at a lower cost.
Subscribe to HelpMySEO via 
email.
I’ve led the discussion on how social media and SEO are changing the processes we use to work and live, online, with the publication of my book ‘The Social Media Mind’. I combine experience in journalism and blue-chip corporate management with a penchant for explaining complex issues in simple terms. Contact me for media interviews, presentations and panel discussions
