A few weeks ago, the web design and SEO community was totally abuzz about Google’s latest SEARCH ENGINE update. Specifically, the SEARCH ENGINE now instantly updates the SEARCH ENGINE results page (SERP) instantly as a user types in their SEARCH ENGINE query. Each letter typed refines and refreshes the search results displayed.
Sidenote:
If you’re saying to yourself, “yeah…but they’ve been doing that for years. Note that the Google Instant Search is different than how it worked before. Until recently, with each letter of a search query typed into the search box. SEARCH ENGINE made suggestions based on what was typed. It still required the human user to press “Search,” select the result presented, or click Enter in order to display the actual SEARCH ENGINE results on the page. This is what’s changed—again, the SEARCH ENGINE results dynamically display and refresh in real-time now with each letter typed. If you haven’t tried this out yet, give it a spin…it’s actually really cool.
So anyway, as you can imagine (and as with any change to how the SEARCH ENGINE works), most of the SEO community started a mass state of panic. All of a sudden, the way they all optimized and created websites was being turned upside down…Google was now going to influence and/or handpick which listings would show first for a certain search.
Or so the story goes: Real Time Search-Engine Impact
Actually, what was more of genuine concern was the way humans search. That folk would stop their search and start reviewing the results after just the very broadest results began to display on the SEARCH ENGINE results page. In this case, the worry was that it was very possible for a detailed “long tail” search to go by the wayside. Because folks would no longer take the time to type in the whole search phrase that they would normally put in, opting to jump to conclusions just with what Google gives them with the first applicable word or so of the search.
And again…so the story goes.
The concerns were legit enough, but the worst fears didn’t pan out whatsoever. Search continues to keep on keeping on, and so does SEARCH ENGINE optimization. Using long-tail keyword phrases to optimize is still relevant and wise—after all, people are using the web to search for very specific information; they’re not willing to settle for broad results if those results don’t provide the information they’re after.
It’s easy to get worked up a frenzy about the latest SERP change or the latest SEARCH ENGINE algorithm update. These updates are really only dedicated to improving the lives of the average searcher by providing more reliable. Google doesn’t want to lose their profitable search customers. So they’re going to do everything in their power to keep them happy.
The bottom line is really pretty simple…
If you’re providing great up-to-date content and valuable information through your website. Then there’s really little need to worry about the latest changes. As long as you’re delivering the goods (providing better content than your competitors) and following the basic principles of organic white-hat SEO, then all is good. Sure, there might be a slight ebb and flow when the SEARCH ENGINEs update; but in the end, content is king and real-time search can only help your website!
