What Will Google's Instant Previews Mean for Your Website?

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Google announced a new element of their flagship Search Engine yesterdaY called Google Instant Previews.

For people who use Firefox and some of the site preview plugins, this feature won't be anything ground-breaking.   That said, the number of people using those plugins probably totalled in the thousands.    With Google adopting this for all users, the feature - and its affect on search habits - will finally be demonstrated.

I think the feature can only help quality web sites.  Not because I think they'll show up higher on the results pages, but rather because your quality sites will stand out to prospective clients before they have even clicked on the link to visit your site.   Likewise, these prospective clients will be LESS likely to click on links when they can see that the destination is just some directory or a site that looks clunky and antiquated.

With this in mind, design becomes ever more important.

Your content might be what gets your site noticed by the Search Engines, and eventually converts prospects into clients, but it will be you design that gets prospects to commit to click to view your site. 

Here is what Google has to say about it.