Posted in
Design
Google has just announced (Sept 8, 2010) their latest innovation in search - Google Instant. Google Instant starts providing search results AS YOU TYPE. Google's Marissa Mayer claims that its primary benefit is in saving us time. Maybe it will save time, or maybe it will take more of it. Time will tell. Let's take a quick look.
Google believes that by offering results as you type, you will be able to skip typing unnecessary characters and therefore save time. In my testing, it can deliver that result for me. I can also see where it could cause problems. Previously, Google's suggested search results were always a nice touch. It wasn't always right about what I was looking for, but was handy when they got it right. Here is Google's pitch for the product:
Saves Time?
When I start typing the typical words that I might use to find one of my customers, Google saved me 9 characters. "brookfield interi" rather than "brookfield interior design" delivered iDesign 4 Interiors even above "Brookfield Interiors".
HOWEVER, Google takes into account location, my search history and other factors to determine what they offer as suggested results. Quickly, you can think of cases where those weighting elements would be, but also might not be helpful. For me, it was a small time-saver. It raises questions for me about what to predict for potential customers searching for my clients though. After all, the results will be different based on their own locations and search histories. While I wouldn't expect Google to design the product for SEO companies, it could send a lot of companies back to Google school.
If you happen to be a bit like me, you might also find the predicted search results occasionally distracting for two reasons:
- Things are happening while you type, so you might have to be looking at two places at once for this to work - search field AND results.
- Bing's hilarious "search overload" ads come to life in realtime by catching my eye with a result that is off target, but gets me hooked. The ol' bait and switch trap. This could be a horror for ADHD sufferers.
Privacy Alert?
In a Computerworld article, the writer Mitch Wagner observed
I get the same results whether I'm logged in or not, with private browsing switched on in Firefox, with cookies cleared, and with permission revoked for Google to use my location (which is actually a little disturbing -- why is Google still showing me search results for the local power company and furniture store if it's not supposed to know who or where I am?).
This is more of a general warning regarding the depth of personal information being gathered by Google and not specific to Google Instant.
Psychology?
Whenever a company tries to anticipate your needs, there are two key issues to consider:
1. Do you really know me?
- If you do, is it creepy?
- If you don't, is it annoying?
2. Does your supposed desired behavior actually help me?
Time Will Tell
We'll see over time if this innovation is a huge positive move for Google or another bad science project. Sadly, Google's track record leans toward bad science project with some huge wins such as simple search, AdWords, Maps... and massive failures such as Google Wave and Nexus One online sales. Google Wave was a big play to redefine email non-realtime & realtime communications, but they misjudged user behaviors. Sometimes it appears that Google is too internally focused in its testing of experiences and Google is heavily an engineering bunch. However, this is a difficult area for the best of companies. I hope that this helps us all to sift through the growing heaps of content online.
Fun With Google Instant
If you have a little time to play, you might try entering each letter of the alphabet individually and see what Google thinks the rankings of top results should be for YOU.
