Along with Google’s recent rollout of Google Instant comes the expectation for quicker, more dynamic results on a search page. From the point of view of a user, such demands are obvious. But search marketers — those who want to promote their sites by increasing visibility in search engine results — would do well to consider how Instant could impact or change their strategies. Concerns apply to everything from the effect on the long-tail of keywords in pay per click ads to the prediction of the death of SEO, because no two people will see the web exactly the same. Meanwhile, the constantly rising number of mobile devices on the market presents a whole other set of strategic steps to bear in mind.

Keywords: Heating up Competitive Landscape

Instant plays directly into searcher behavior, attempting to predict and perform the search equivalent of finishing your sentence for you. The worry for search marketers now is that of Google prepackaging suggestions. That is, instead of users making original queries, Google will predict and make suggestions based on only a few letters typed into the search bar.

For instance, typing only the first three letters of the phrase “lamps online” leads to listings for the business Lamps Plus. In this case, the Lamps Plus site takes up the first 10 results on the dynamic page, and unless the user voluntarily chooses to ignore Google’s suggestion and continues to type the entire query, he or she does not come across any other related results (Lampsusa.com, Lampdecor.com, etc.).

Why does this matter? For businesses and those marketing the businesses, visibility becomes even more challenging. The dynamic nature of Instant will force search marketers and vendors to observe their traffic even more closely and evaluate both their SEO and paid search strategies to ensure a certain level of visibility. Marketer discussion around Instant, then, should serve as a good pitstop to evaluate the need and the return on the long-tail of keywords in the search marketer’s portfolio — particularly as the focus shifts to the head of the long-tail and its performance against competitors.

This is especially significant for marketers when examining a results page for so-called “generic queries” — “travel” or “jobs,” for instance. With Instant, a search for either of these terms results in brand-specific suggestions, as opposed to general results on the topic, and Instant, it seems, demonstrates a clear bias towards larger brands.

Take the Travelocity site as an example. A search for the word “travel” yields a result not unlike the Lamps Plus example above, where results for the travel sale business populate the entire first page. This is despite the fact that the keyword “travel” has not only travel sales–related websites competing for it but also non-sale, more information-centric sites like travelchannel.com. While the Travelocity skew may also be a result of popular search trends, a user’s personal history or both, search marketers must now account for the fact that searchers won’t necessarily type their full intended keywords in, and may instead choose listings even before they finish typing.

What’s Important for Search Marketers to Consider?

The actual impact of Google’s Instant Search on the search marketer’s campaigns will continue to reveal itself as keyword performance data rolls in. In the meantime, marketers should consider the following factors as they evaluate their data:

• Single letter impact. Typing just the letter “a” into the search box first renders a suggestion for Amazon, followed by those for AOL and Apple. Marketers competing with these larger brands with similar first letters should consider how their brand and/or campaign would perform against these giants as searchers continue to type their query. SEO tactics, then, should become an even more important conversation point with agencies or in-house teams.

• Competitors’ visibility for broad-match results. A Priceline-type web site would rightly note the prominence of TravelZoo in the organic results for searchers who even halfway type the word “travel” into the search box. The same applies for a Careerbuilder-like site, as Monster is most commonly the top listing as a user types the first three letters of “jobs.” As the weeks roll out, marketers must consider how their site traffic changes based on keywords, and which keywords mean more from an analytics standpoint. For example, “professional job search” is a keyword that renders Careerbuilder as the first SEO result. Would focusing on the traffic from “professionals” be more valuable for Careerbuilder’s acquisition strategy than simply focusing on “jobs?”

• Impressions: Google claims that the implementation of Instant Search will change the way marketers think about ad impressions. The new ad impression metric depends much more on undemonstrated user intent: A user pausing three seconds or more on the page indicates an interest in the results; this counts as an impression. While it does not impact performance or spending, marketers should expect to result in an increase in impressions, especially for the broad-match keywords.

Mobile’s Ties to Instant Search

Searching is no longer an activity restrained to the desktop browser but a seamless experience that spans computers, TV and mobile devices. Speed in today’s search experience indicates an ability to provide results to searchers with little patience who might be on a variety of devices with minimal keystroke capability. With mobile devices, in particular, the ability to provide relevant local, device-friendly results will be crucial.

The effect of Instant will be most prominent in a mobile environment — the slower speed of typing inherent to a mobile device ensures the searcher is able to observe the shifting results of Google Instant more closely. As mobile searchers become accustomed to finding their results without having to type entire keywords, search marketers’ next crucial step would be ensuring mobile-readiness of their websites. Some important things to consider for those considering mobile strategies:

1. Ease-of-use: Pre-empting keywords and less typing involved in mobile search will ensure users get to what they want as quickly as possible. If searchers arrive at your site only to find its navigation painful and the speed sub-par, it will only ensure an unsatisfactory site experience and a disgruntled user. Creating an easy-to-navigate web site for users will be an important first step, and in particular, focusing on lessening the “clicks” involved to get users to relevant information.
2. Localization and Personalization: Retailers and chains especially should contend with the fact that the mobile environment will focus on strong localization of results. For marketers who have a physical presence, care should be taken so as not to expect searchers to type their location after they arrive at your web site, especially when they have already done so in the search query. For example, a search for “Macys 94107″ on the Google application renders Google’s local search results first, then the Macy’s site. Clicking on the Macy’s link takes me to a page that lists events in Macy’s locations alphabetically, not in keeping with my stated zipcode. Marketers will do well to factor in the key indicators such as zipcode while rendering the results.
3. Browser friendliness: In just a few years, the number of mobile browsers has increased, as has the usage of features such as search on the mobile. While search engines work both from browsers and as mobile applications, ensuring that your mobile site renders well on all of the key platforms is crucial.

As Google rolls out its mobile version of Instant Search later this year, the tactics to grapple with will no longer be focused on keywords and competitors, but on how relevant the mobile versions of the web sites are to the user’s intent, and if they deliver a quick, efficient way to access the content.

Among the vendors attempting to refine search, Google certainly isn’t alone. Bing’s market share may be considered negligible against Google’s, but its recent growth has made the industry sit up to take notice. Additionally, Microsoft is working hard at redefining the service as a faster “decision” engine, touting itself as a “search engine that helps you make faster and more informed decisions.” The search marketing community has grappled with changes made by Google before, but the implications of Instant Search on mobile platforms will be the crucial trend to watch for, even as mobile devices such as tablet PCs become more search-friendly.

Link