1. What Is Google Instant? It’s a new feature that predicts what an online user is searching for and shows results as the user types.
2. What are the benefits? Instant results allow searchers to find what they’re looking for without clicking ‘enter’ or ‘search’. According to Google this provides faster and smarter searches.
3. What has changed, and what has not? The ‘basics’ remain the same. Google has been predicting and suggesting search terms for at least a year based on a user’s search history and location. Google Instant takes this a step further by displaying a full page of results before the user has finished typing. With every character typed the organic, paid, maps and news results change in real time. It’s important to note that Google Instant does not affect all Google search results. It can be turned off by users who don’t like it. Plus, Google Instant is only available at Google.com, so for now things will stay the same for users who search exclusively in their browser toolbar.
4. Does Google Instant impact or rankings? According to Google the answer is ‘no’. A well-rounded approach to solid content development and optimization should actually benefit from Google Instant. Now it’s simply faster, and the results will change as the query changes. However, Google Instant undoubtedly creates a major traffic bias towards top ranked search results for short-tail keywords.
5. Does Google Instant impact my PPC ads? No. Targeted pay-per-click ads continue to show as they normally would – just faster, and will change as the query changes. Click here to view how Google Instant will affect Impressions and Click-Through rates.
For more information, see this article on Search Engine Land.