Google’s new platform, Instant Search, displays and predicts a search engine results page (SERP) while the user is still typing. Like the auto-complete feature, this instant search pushes the user into a well-traveled road hoping to make the search faster and more streamlined.

Unfortunately for the advertiser, the well-traveled road means less opportunity in the long tail. With more advertisers competing in the same space, the auction prices for head terms will rise in both volume and price, at the expense of less expensive/less common search terms.

A worst-case scenario, and perhaps overly dramatic, is that tools like AdWords shift in nature from high ROI opportunities to brand awareness focused, and thus perhaps reducing the sheer volume of competitors in markets. But Google is significantly less concerned with smaller markets.

This push appears to be aimed at reducing search creativity, especially in verticals such as law, education, real estate, and wealth management. This will make the challenge for smaller advertisers looking to take a slice of major competitors’ market shares all the more challenging.

google instant search

Article by John Lynch from Search Engine Watch

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