Sep 8, 2010
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Google has come out with new technology to help speed up the process in which it takes to search for something. The new technology is called Google Instant. The way it works is Google will show search results as people are typing into the search box before they actually hit search. It has been difficult in the past for search engines to detect what a searcher may be looking for, but now they can display search results based on the most likely completions for the keyword phrase you are typing.
Google Instant is a search before you type technology that has been tested by Google to improve the average search time for a user of 2-5 seconds per search query.
Some of the features of Google Instant include:
- Scroll to Search – scroll down the search results as you are looking for different queries.
- Dynamic Results – search results are dynamically created so you can click as you search.
- Predictions – Google will predict in a light grey text the remainder of what you may be looking for.
As you can see from the above picture to the right of the search box you will see “instant is on” and in the search box you will see the predicted search result as I have typed in Utah Web and in light grey is the word Design.
Here are some quick news facts that Google has noted:
- The average searcher took more than 9 seconds to enter a search term.
- Many searchers took 30 – 90 seconds to type in a search term.
- Google Instant can save 2 – 5 seconds per search.
- If Google Instant was used globally it would save 11 hours of search time every second.
If you wish to not use Google Instant you can turn it off by simply clicking on the link to the right of the search box and it will drop down to where you can turn it off. Using Google Instant will not slow down internet connections and if it does Google will automatically detect it and turn it off. With this new technology improving the way we search for content, it will not affect or change the rankings of search results.
Currently Google Instant is not available on mobile devices, but will soon. This is another big push for Google to improve the way in which they help us all find things faster.