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Google Instant Search Released

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Re: Google Instant Search Released

#41

Post by jfager »

dmpayton wrote: post #29
rubyrescue wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i did, and i thought about your objection, but then i thought, nobody is trying to rank for online deg yet... what if they did?

In the live webcast they said that they use auto-complete to populate the instant results. Typing "online deg" auto-completes to "online degrees", so that's the query used to generate the instant results.

"online deg" probably isn't the best example, but there are still going to be cases where a prefix autocompletes to a different target than the final intended search, that SEOs for the final intended search will want to start ranking more highly for. Finding those cases will be part of the fun.

Ask it another way: do you think a service that shows what the current google autocompletions are for every prefix of a given term becomes more or less interesting to SEOs after this announcement?

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#43

Post by replicatorblog »

rubyrescue wrote: post #24
jerf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you try it? It doesn't search for the current search term, it searches for its current best guess. The instant search results for "online deg" and "online degree" are identical, because it's the same search. (I compared it to a direct search for "online deg" and it's not the same search.) There's no optimization for "online deg" to be made. I don't think there's very much SEO implication here at all, actually, as…

i did, and i thought about your objection, but then i thought, nobody is trying to rank for online deg yet... what if they did?

Actually there is a big section of the SEO world that focuses on the long tail keywords. This change is going to harm those folks, but up the reward for anyone that does rank highly for the frequently used terms. Good and bad, hopefully this will lead to less spammy junk, but also reduces the amount of real estate available for new entrants (or at least makes it more pricey).

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#44

Post by ugh »

acqq wrote: post #33
sz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's [edit: not exactly] SafeSearch: Q: If an offensive or lewd word is a fraction of my query, will Google push these results in front of me as I type? A: As always, we provide options to filter the content you see in search. You can choose to set SafeSearch to filter out explicit content, and parents can lock SafeSearch to the strict setting. In addition, autocomplete excludes certain terms related to pornography,…

AFAIK not SafeSearch but "in addition," the second part of your qute.

You basically have to press enter if you want to search for a term with possible pornographic, violent or hateful content (that’s what they just said in their Q&A). That seems like a sensible solution to me. Safe Search doesn’t figure into it.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#45

Post by josefresco »

My question is how will this and previous auto-complete moves by Google effect the "long tail" search market. Will this reduce the number of truly unique queries and instead group people into already existing term categories? I know auto complete has been in effect for a while, but I wonder if this will only make it even more effective, thereby changing user behavior and simply re-enforcing the already existing terms.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#46

Post by lhnz »

shimonamit wrote: post #18

Why would I want Google to begin searching at 'he' if I'm looking for 'hello world'? Will the instant search list relevant results so early on, so as to save me from typing the whole term?

Solution: type faster or downgrade your internet connection. ;)

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#47

Post by mp3jeep01 »

jerf wrote: post #19
rubyrescue wrote: post #15

Not sure if this was covered elsewhere, but this actually changes the SEO game in a subtle way. imagine you could rank for the term online deg but NOT online degree. SEO's rejoice, this could be profitable for consultants and linkbuilders.

Did you try it? It doesn't search for the current search term, it searches for its current best guess. The instant search results for "online deg" and "online degree" are identical, because it's the same search. (I compared it to a direct search for "online deg" and it's not the same search.) There's no optimization for "online deg" to be made. I don't think there's very much SEO implication here at all, actually, as…

I like the idea that it's the same search for both - think about the number of terms that would bring back adult content based on the prefix, but given the entire term, are something entirely innocent.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#49

Post by rubyrescue »

rubyrescue wrote: post #24
jerf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you try it? It doesn't search for the current search term, it searches for its current best guess. The instant search results for "online deg" and "online degree" are identical, because it's the same search. (I compared it to a direct search for "online deg" and it's not the same search.) There's no optimization for "online deg" to be made. I don't think there's very much SEO implication here at all, actually, as…

i did, and i thought about your objection, but then i thought, nobody is trying to rank for online deg yet... what if they did?

for example, just type 'degree ' (make sure there's a space - you get results for "degree symbol" (or at least I do) - now all i have to do is rank for "degree symbol" and put links to my online degree affiliate links...

there are certainly keyword results that are a) in autocomplete, b) substrings of keyword results also in autocomplete, c) easier to rank for than the longer phrase.

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