In the last 48 hours, Google has launched one of the most serious developments in Internet software with its Instant Search offering. Essentially, Google no longer waits for you to hit the 'Enter' key when conducting a search, rather it predicts your potential search term, generating results as you type below the search box.

Why have they done this? Google say, "Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type."

What does this mean for us folk in PR and online marketing? Well, quite a lot actually. With the launch of this software, Google has singlehandedly removed the immediate value of bought keywords, because, when you now type a letter into Google Instant Search, brands and services appear upon the instant a letter is typed.

It doesn't matter anymore if your client has bought the search term 'foreign exchange', by the time they've typed the letter 'F', two results for Facebook have appeared - proving more than enough distraction for the average internet user. Importantly, the Instant results could potentially yield a rival brands services or products. Quite a change on the previous search incarnation!

So, if you're a brand, the new Holy Grail for Search is being recognised by Google Instant Search when a user enters the first letter of your brand name. Former FT journalist, Tom Foremski has written a post about this from a US perspective. He's gone to the trouble of listing each brand that appears upon the entry of each first letter. I wanted to do this for the UK, so dropped Tom a note and checked he wouldn't mind. He was happy for me to do this, so here is the listing.

A - Argos, Amazon, Asda, ASOS

B - BBC, BBC News, BBC Weather, BBC Sport

C - Currys, Comet, CBBC, Cineworld

D - Debenhams, Daily Mail, DVLA, Dictionary

E - eBay, Easyjet, Expedia, ebuddy

F - Facebook, Facebook login, Friv, First Choice

G - Google maps, Gmail, Gumtree, Games

H - Hotmail, HSBC, Homebase, Halfords

I - ITV, Ikea, iPlayer, IMDB

J - John Lewis, Jobcentre Plus, Jane Norman, Jobs

K - KLM, KFC, Kwik Fit, Karen Millen

L - Lotto, Lloyds TSB, Lottery Results, Lidl

M - MSN, Maps, Matalan, Miniclip

N - Next, New Look, Natwest, National Rail

O - O2, Orange, Odeon, Office

P - Paypal, PC World, Play, Primark

Q - QVC, Quidco, Quiz Quotes

R - Rightmove, Ryan Air, River Island, Royal Mail

S - Sky, Sky News, Sky Sports, Skype

T - Tesco, TFL, The Sun, Topshop

U - Utube, UCAS, UK top 40, UFC

V - Virgin, Vodafone, Virgin Media, Very

W - Weather, Wikipedia, Wickes, We7

X - Xbox, XE, Xbox live, XFM

Y - Youtube, Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yell

Z - Zara, Zoopla, Zumba, Zizi

I for one am intrigued by Google's latest version of its software; it sure throws up a lot of questions. Can it be manipulated? Can a place be bought? Will an organisation now not appearing at the top of Google challenge it for loss of revenue? Will brands seek out their search agency and begin the questioning? It firmly sits above the traditional keyword search and does relegate keyword search to the backseat. What is for sure is that the goalposts of SEO have just moved a million miles apart.

 

James