You may recall our September 14th post on the launch of Google Instant, Google’s advanced search engine that returns search results with each letter you type, and our follow up post a month after its launch on how it had improved the likelihood of businesses connecting with their ideal clients. Well, it’s been another month and courtesy of the Google geniuses, we’ve got another update: Instant Previews.


Instant Previews is shaking up the SEO world once again as the concept of web design comes back into focus. Because Instant Previews allows Google users to get a sneak peek at the websites in their search results, now not only can they opt to skip or visit your site based on the value of your title and description, they can check out your design before they ever click your link.


Now, some may argue that content is key and that when it comes to a website’s value, design is secondary, and that’s ultimately true. (Clichés like “lipstick on a pig” come to mind.) However, people like pretty. Whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve all got a little magpie in us and we’re drawn to shiny, attractive things – and so are your clients and potential customers.


Think about it; corporations devote entire departments to creating, updating and maintaining their websites with a team specifically focused on making sure they’re attractive and user-friendly. Why? Because: design is important.


The thing is, when your ideal client does a search for your products or services, your competition comes up in the list of results with you. Thanks to Google Instant Previews, the deciding factor in which link they choose may very well be the design, especially if your site’s content is comparable in value to the others. It’s definitely something to think about. By the way, since the previews shown are not necessarily of the homepage, every page on your site needs to be taken into consideration. <br>

As always, Google has been hard at work trying to improve user experience and reduce the time it takes to complete a search inquiry. This time their efforts have paid off in the form of a new search enhancement: Google Instant. A new, advanced search engine, Google Instant returns search results with each letter you type, thereby helping you refine your search as you enter your term, rather than refining by trial and error.

 

Google Instant, not only suggests word and phrases as you enter your search term, actual results are shown on the page, and they change with each successive letter you type. Turns out, the biggest drain on turnaround time for a search inquiry on plain old Google was user-centric in that the person conducting the search had to type in a phrase, hit enter, evaluate the results and refine their term as many times as necessary to get what they were looking for. The innovation of Google Instant has solved all that.

 

So, how is this good news for SEO? Well, you’ve already done the research to select the perfect keywords and phrases to attract the clients who would benefit most from your services. Now Google Instant will help guide them to those keywords and phrases, even if they don’t come up with them on their own. As Google Instant helps users refine their searches to get exactly what they’re looking for, your chances of being connected to your ideal customers increases.

 

Another benefit is that the number of results a person will see based on a single search is going to multiply exponentially. Say with each letter you type, you see the top ten results. A five-letter word is exposing the user to 50 results along the way as opposed to the top ten they would have seen once they entered the entire word. The volume alone optimizes your chances of being seen.

 

Plus, for the countless number of people who use Google Instant while logged in, results are personalized which means your odds of connecting with your perfect potential client are higher than ever.