Google Instant by Martin Vinter

INSTANT RESULTS WITH EVERY KEY STROKE

After running "instant" in beta for almost 6 months, Google officially launched their latest marvel in 7 major markets including UK, US, France, Spain and Germany on the 8th September.

Google's quest to help consumers find things faster and serve them relevant information has stepped up a gear with the introduction of "Google Instant". In their own words they have managed to shave off an average of 2.5 seconds per search. By changing the search results page per key stroke a user types, Google are now serving their users highly relevant results at an even quicker pace. They use their vast amounts of historical and real time search behaviour data to predict what users are searching for and couple this with users' own search history where relevant to give highly accurate results.

In a nutshell Google Instant is the product of shifting through masses of search data in real time while users type to:

1. Predict what users are searching for – before they finish their sentence. An improvement on Google suggest or auto complete launched in 2006.
2. 2. Serve users natural listings and paid ads as they search. This means the page changes per keystroke based on what Google thinks you are searching for. With Google Instant users are served results without having to finish the full intended query.

For example: 
If a user who is looking for London Hotels pauses for a split second in typing in the search query, Google will serve natural and paid listings based on the query so far. As seen below typing in the letter "London h"

Google will always suggest what the system deems to be the most relevant results based on historical search data the user personal searches.

POTENTIAL IMPACT FOR ADVERTISERS AND BRAND OWNERS

Although Google Instant is the biggest change in the search landscape since universal search in 2008 it will not be available to users who are not signed into Google when searching. Searchers who do not sign in will see the Google results page in its current static form – with the auto complete dropdown but without the changes in results as you search. This means that the majority of Google users will not be using Google Instant when searching. Furthermore, when signed in users can toggle the functionality on and off.