So Google Instant has been launched (for those not keeping up: results now change as you type letters in) with many wondering if it’s the death of SEO and what the long-term impact is going to be – not only for search, but also for content (and here’s an interesting note on the domain names Google picked). There’s going to be screeds written about this so let’s just skip straight to bullet points:

• Google is on a dip – most people now get their information from links in their peer-to-peer networks like Facebook and Twitter. Instead of going to Google, they now ask their friends for information because it’s a trusted source.
• Similarly, many people are using the web less, using apps on their Androids, iPhones and BlackBerries. Add to that the fact that even those who do use Google do it via a menu bar box and not Google.com. Instant is an attempt to keep their front page – the page with the ads, which generate cash for Google – relevant.
• You really want to be in the results which pop up from the first search. Why? Because people may see something they deem more interesting before they actually find what they meant to look for. If I’m looking for Widow Twanky Services but when I type W ‘weather’ turns up first, I might go see what the weather is going to be and so on. Then I may run out of time to find Widow Twanky. (Silicon Valley Watcher has the current one letter list) (Mashable’s list points out that some of the results are based on your own search behaviour – which has very obvious implications for shared machines)
• Adam Tinworth points out a good issue of concern from Steve Rubel – real-time feedback will be fascinating here.
• Similarly, shorter keywords – as well as shorter URLs – are going to be better for this. Domain name sellers could do well from this.
• SearchEngineLand has a good post on what it means for AdWords and the Long Tail. There’s also early evidence that with the changing search results, people aren’t looking at Ads as much.
• This isn’t the death of SEO. Far from it. What it does mean is that companies and those online really need to focus on what their keywords are, making sure they are reinforced in copy (both on and offsite) and there’s good use of external links.
• Domain names matter. Having the right domain name will help.
• It’s been said before but Instant highlights it: past that first page, heck past the first six results now and you may as well not exist. Most people will take what comes between one and six (the more dedicated will keep looking – or search under another phrase).
• Google makes duds too. Wave anyone? This is a fresher way of searching – and will probably stay – but it’s no reinvention of the wheel.
• Google changes code and algorithms all the time. Good SEO operators know that. Don’t fall for cowboys with this stuff. And besides, SEO is about more than Google. Remember Bing and Yahoo?
• Remember the guy who used to annoy you with the alternative spellings from spellchecks (there’s a character like that in Complicity)? You know how they used to get their giggles from seeing what predicative text would bring up? He – and it was always a he – is now going to annoy you with what pops up when you type into Google Instant.