Google Instant for Mobile

Google Instant Lifting Google Revenue?

Aside from the fact that many users seem to like it, Google Instant might be boosting Google's ad revenue, increasing search operations and clicks, while advertiser costs might have dipped.

A Marin Software study of Google Instant across a sample of clients that collectively manage over $1.3 billion dollars in annualized paid search spend suggests search users have responded positively to Google Instant. Marin found that overall impressions for paid search ads increased by more than nine percent, while clicks increased by more than five percent.

That suggests people are actually searching and clicking more as a result of Google Instant.

Overall advertiser costs rose by less than two percent for the time period studied as a result of increased click volumes. Despite these increased costs, advertisers have benefitted from Instant. With average cost-per-click rates falling by over three percent, advertisers are now getting more value for their money as a result of Google Instant, the study suggests.

Google's Gamble

Google Instant is about User Experience, Not Revenue, At This Point

Jonathan Rosenberg , SVP Product Management at Google, says that “from a revenue standpoint impact, Google Instant has been minimal.”

From a resource standpoint, it's more expensive. So why do it? People like it. That doesn't mean there is no revenue-related reason to do it. To the extent that it glues users to Google for search, it is worth it. If other revenue opportunities arise later, that's good. But right now, it might be more a cool feature than an immediate driver of revenue.

Impact of ‘Google Instant’ on Revenue Is Minimal, But People Love It

'Google Instant' On Smartphones: 4G Implications

 The beauty of "Google Instant" is that it could save users a lot of typing on a mobile keyboard, which is a hassle, especially if your phone has no physical keyboard. But there is another angle of importance to mobile service providers with fast 3G connections or 4G.

The use case might be that a user starts with voice search, which then displays results as the user is speaking.

As you say the words the search engine is not only trying to guess the next word in the phrase, but is also displaying search results for the search terms it’s guessing. But that is going to be a better experience with a faster mobile connection.

It isn't "the" killer app for 4G, but it will help differentiate the experience from the same app running on a 3G network, at least potentially.

'Google Instant' On Smartphones

Is Google Instant A Revolution in Search?

Google Instant will become the core search experience on Google.com for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8. It also will be offered to users in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the U.K. who are signed in and have Instant-capable browsers. Over the coming weeks and months, Google Instant will berolled to all geographies and platforms.

Google Search Impressions Will Change Because of "Google Instant"

As Google Instant rolls out widely, the raw number of ads displayed per query will inevitably increase as Google displays a sequence of best guesses about its users' desired queries and shows results for the top guess.

For example, a search for 'a' displays results and ads for Amazon.com; an 'e' search does the same for eBay.com. That is going to require some tweaking of what an "impression" is.

To qualify as an impression, an ad exposure must last for at least three seconds, Google now says.

Even with that calculation in place, the effective click-through rate experienced by many Google advertisers may change.

Google Instant Will Impact Search Ads and SEO

Google Unveils Instant Mobile Search

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as users type. Google's key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page.

The most obvious change is that users should get to the right content much faster than before because they don’t have to finish typing a full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as one types helps people formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. Users can adapt their searches on the fly until the results match exactly what they want. 

Google Instant can save 2 seconds to 5 seconds per search, Google estimates. The new algorithms also will make smarter predications about what any user might be looking for. 

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Google Unveils Instant Mobile Search

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as users type. Google's key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page.

The most obvious change is that users should get to the right content much faster than before because they don’t have to finish typing a full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as one types helps people formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. Users can adapt their searches on the fly until the results match exactly what they want. 

Google Instant can save 2 seconds to 5 seconds per search, Google estimates. The new algorithms also will make smarter predications about what any user might be looking for. 

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