Written by A few weeks ago I posted on the projected affects on SEO from Google’s latest update : “Google Instant”.
At the time it was not being used in Ireland, but since that post we have seen it’s release.
And I have noticed something!
It appears that while it doesn’t appear to affect SEO in general, it still does have an affect on SEO in some areas. The implications of this are yet to be explored.
For example. A site that was receiving traffic from the keyword (example : Safety Consultant) now no longer receives that traffic if “Safety Consultants” is a more popular search term.
The reason for this is because of the “s” at the end of the search phrase.
So, where, pre Instant, the user typed into the Google search box : “Safety Consultant” hit enter and reviewed the list of results based on that keyword.
Now, that keyword is defunct and “Safety Consultants” is the key phrase used, displaying a completely separate result list (OK some similarities, but a difference of 2 million results returned).
But thinking of this on a larger scale, are we going to see a departure of long tail keywords? (e.g 4 or 5 keywords)
Or, will searchers still feel they need to type their whole “thought out” keyword before even viewing the instant results Google has provided?
Let’s think of something we may search for : Say the search phrase “Web Hosting in Ireland”
For me, I think if I was this searcher, I am now quite happy to stop after typing : “Web Ho” and review the list of results.
What will the repercussions of this change mean for SEO? I believe, it will be a good effect, but not for the small business or new website.
Often times small businesses will target the long keywords because they tend to be less competitive. This is often where the cheap and nasty affiliate websites lurk also.
So, why do I say a “Good effect”?
I think this “funneling”, if you like, will help Google to provide it’s searchers a higher quality of search results. All the companies that are in the top 10 – 20 for “Web Hosting” are legitimate long standing companies that offer that service, exactly the result Google wants to display.
So for the small business and the new guy it could cause issues, but for the searcher it is(could be) a good move.
That’s my cents worth, feel free to post your comments.
