In recent weeks Google launched "Google Instant" in a blaze of publicity. Google Instant is a fundamental change to the way search results are displayed on the Google website. Instead of typing an entire search phrase, Google will intuitively display changing results as you type the search phrase.
From that announcement it seems a bunch of tech hacks and bloggers have deduced that it spells out the end of SEO. Seo is dead. The final nail in the coffin.
Having recently launched our SEO division, the news came as a surprise.
SEO is Dead! What, when did that happen?
I did a quick look up on Google instant, but failed to see how that translated to the death of SEO. In the following two weeks, on at least 3 seperate occasions I found myself defending SEO and, moreover explaining why it was not dead - far from it.
It seems a bit of lazy or sensationalist journalism goes a long way on the web these days. But I am pleased to suggest that the news of the untimely demise of SEO is somewhat premature.
7 reasons why Google Instant does not mean SEO is dead.
1) Google accounts for 65% of the search market. That leaves 35% of the market unaffected by any changes Google make.
2) By their own admission, Google Instant alters the way search results are displayed. It does not affect how sites are crawled, indexed or ranked. Therefore it has no impact on SERPs.
3) Just because Google displays search results before a user clicks the search button does not mean your site will magically appear at the top of the results, only working on SEO, will help you get to the top of the search results. [By 'working on SEO' we mean on-site and off-site optimisation of a website - improving the content and copy of your website, making it accessible to search engines, making it attractive to humans and search engines, and getting it linked too from high authority websites whenever possible].
4) Google Instant has only been rolled out fully in the US at the moment and is being trialled in some other territories, therefore its business as usual in some places.
5) Google Instant does not work when searching Google using a 3rd party website, Google Toolbar or the search box on your browser.
6) It only works for users that are logged into the Google account when they are searching
7) Users can turn off the instant results functionality if they don't like it
So, if you have decided to shelve your SEO plans in favour of hoping to get to the top of Google search results in an instant, maybe you better think again.
