Google Instant is here, and the game has begun. What game? you may ask. Why, the game of gaming the system, of course. Meaning, to start playing around with the Google Instant system by linearly targeting keystrokes from the first letter until when either the search is complete or gives a relevant search result set. And perhaps linear targeting of search results can become the next weapon of choice in the SEO search tool armory.
As most recent experience shows, when someone starts typing in a search phrase, there is a very high probability they may never complete the phrase. This half-way gateway to accepting a search result by the user happens in a time delay of three seconds. And most times, the search results suggested are good enough to be clicked on by the user. By studying this phenomena, SEO experts and paid search advertisers can now directly target the intended search in order of typing.
A keystroke brings up suggestions, as deemed relevant by the Google Instant system, and the more letters you input, the more the suggested options, taking the user toward sort of a preferential term search. Additionally, search suggestions continuously change with each space added in between words.
But even if a preferred combination term search is opted for by search experts for key-letter targeting, there aren’t many options available but to end scrolling further for results that may be of interest.
As more and more preferences come up in the predicted search, search marketers will need to surgically approach targeting criteria in order to make sure their clients are benefitting from this concept. Much work for the search experts, you ask? Definitely! Of course, do keep in mind that with the given system at hand, it is also crucial to devise a strategy for pricing, as chances are, targeting terms in this system will cost a tad bit more than regular PPC.
With the given combination of preferential term targeting and the relevance of each keystroke in Google Instant, it will be wise to start optimizing your search campaigns accordingly, as the last thing you would want is to wait until some cunning search experts beats you to it. And as one expert stated, “It presents challenges for SEO, as we have to broaden to a new long tail of shorties.”
One thing is for sure, though. Linear targeting is here to stay for paid search and SEO.
