Google Instant speeds our lives up
Google Instant searches the Web “before-you-type,” delivering the fastest Web search possible. According to Google.
Google has always prided itself on its ability to deliver relevant search results in as fast a way as possible. And it’s achieved this in no short measure. However, delivering search results as quickly as possible after you’ve entered a query is one thing, searching while you type is another. And searching even before you type is the future. At least if Google has its way.
Google has been testing Google Instant for a few months now, but it’s now offering the feature to a wider audience. But what is it?
As Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience at Google, explains in a blog post, Google Instant is a combination of features which together deliver what Google hopes will be the best search engine possible.
At its heart Google Instant delivers search results as you type. For every letter you type into Google Search several more will appear in gray as the engine tries to accurately predict what you are eventually going to search for. What’s more, every letter typed in will change the results being instantly produced.
It means that the average Google user can now search by merely typing in a few letters and then scrolling down to, and clicking on, the most relevant result. Google has apparently been trying to implement something like this since 1999 but it’s only now that the company has felt confident enough to roll it out in a big way.
The overall result of this is a lot, and I mean a lot, of time saved. Google predicts that between two and five seconds will be shaved off each search made with Google Instant. Which will add up to an estimated 350 hours per year if everyone in the countries where Google Instant is being offered uses it as intended.
Google Instant will only work for people using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE8. It’s being rolled out in the U.S. today, with France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the U.K. joining the party over the next week or so.
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