Google Instant Search -Quick Thoughts on How it Affects Your Law Firm

Google instant search just came out. Here are some quick thoughts on how it may affect your law firm.

Search Engine Optimization

Suggested searches will be used more and more by users. Suggested searches are typically the most common searches by users. Suggested searches are automatically shown to the user while typing a search query. This means your law firm needs to rank high in the most common searches as they will probably be used more and more.

Pay per Click

Impressions of your PPC will probably increase. Fast Company has a great article here that interviews Dr. Sid Shah. Dr. Shah explains that Google is now counting every pause (not every “search”) as an impression. This means that every time someone pauses to think about the query, ads will display. Each one of those will be counted as an impression. This means your overall impressions may increase, thus lowering your click thru rate.

Overall Search

Common searches will also become more prevalent because search results will appear instantly once the user pauses. This means if someone is searching for “Miami Lawyer”, they may stop right after typing that as the results already appear. If they need a criminal, they just add on criminal to the search. In this case, the PPC ad and Google Local appear right away. Organic search results are hidden below the fold. Google Local and the ads may now become even more important. If you are not in Google Local, you may not be found to the lazy searcher.