We had to live with those annoying, interactive Doodles for two days but now Google let the Marissa out of the bag: the new feature, which is dubbed “Instant Search” will already show you search-results, while you are still typing the keyword into the search-box. From a engineering point-of-view, this has been very well implemented and will be quite impressive when first used. Everyone who wishes to try this new feature should log into their Google account and then click here. This new feature is there to help you get to the results you want even more quickly. According to Google, it should shorten the time you search for a result by about 2 to 5 seconds. The new feature is completely G-rated, once the results move over to the adult-category, the SERPs won't be shown automatically anymore.

I was able to find something on the question of how impressions are going to be counted now over at Greg's: Google will count an ad-impression if either a) a user clicks on a result, b) the user agrees on the search-recommendation (click on keyword, hit enter or click on the search-button) or c) the results are shown for at least three seconds. I could imagine that the third factor especially will increase the amount of impressions within the next few days.

When we get to the issue of what kind of an impact this feature will have on the search-behavior, we see a few different points-of-view. You have those who believe that the long-tail will be strengthened by these recommendations (effectively an extension of Google Suggest) and then, there are those who think the exact opposite is true. Personally, I am not quite sure yet, but I do believe that something else is much more important: Google is now able to analyze User's search-behavior even better (at which letter in the keyword do the users find the results they are searching for) and – which I find more exiting – Google can also directly control the search-behavior of users. We all know that the short-tail is more profitable for Google, which means that more search-traffic in this area will probably well liked for a publicly traded company...