Google Instant Search And The Long Tail

[brett]

Hi all

If you've not seen it yet, Google has added a new feature - Instant Search. The search results appear as soon as you start typing, and the results change as you keep on typing. It's pretty whizzy and takes a bit of getting used to.

I wonder what this means for long-tail search? No longer do you type in your phrase and then press search... the results start appearing as soon as you start typing.

Will be interesting to see how things pan out. Is this a blow to the long-tail approach to internet marketing? Does this mean that ranking for one and two word keywords is now really important?

What do people think?

Cheers
Brett

[The Mysterious Marketer]

I don't think it will have a very big effect.

Most people can't type without looking at the keyboard, much less looking at the screen while typing...

But anyways, I think long tail keywords will still be important.

Let's say you are looking for a sony mp3 player

And then there's the long tail keyword sony mp3 players on sale

Even if you get the basic results, you will still want to type in the full long tail keyword because you want the on sale results.

[ngovgroup]

This is really good because this doesn't eat much of your time. You can easily search what you are looking for even if you haven't finished typing your keyword.

[Mike Taylor]

I think it will actually help us who are working the long tails. It suggests there is more for the searcher to use to narrow their search. The longer the tail they can be induced to type, the better. The traffic will get more focused for us and give the searcher better results. I think deeper keyword research will pay off even more than it does now.

[Meg]

I agree with Mike and it's a great way to find the long tail phrases that Google is suggesting to people so we can add those long tail KW phrases to our own marketing efforts. I've been typing in the beginning of my long tail KW phrase part way, stopping and then seeing what Google is suggesting, then adding those phrases to my KW phrases to target or title my articles etc..

[Mike Taylor]

Meg, another way to get an idea of what Google thinks, in a graphical layout, is the Wonder Wheel. Do a Google search, then on the left sidebar, drop down 'more search tools' and pick 'Wonder Wheel'. All the nodes off your main phrase are related terms, and clicking on any of them expands that node's related terms.

One VERY ODD thing about the words that WW suggested was that many had reasonable amounts of traffic and pretty low competition. That may have changed in the last week, so check with other sources. If nothing else, it provides an interesting insight into how the service sees relationships.

[Meg]

Hey Mike,

I always forget about the ol' Wonder Wheel but I love it. In the past when I remember it, I've used it just to get KW phrase ideas when I've been stumped. But I like the way you put that it is a way Google sees relationships between phrases. I'm thinking I'll be using the WW a lot more now. Thanks for the tip and reminder.