Google offers instant searching

Google has unveiled instant searching for their search engine with the suggested results being displayed as the request is entered.

Google has finally unveiled their strange dark logo which changes colour once a request is made. It provides the illusion that a new function is currently being deployed on the worlds most widely used search engine: instant searching (or Google Instant).

This instant searching will firstly appear on Google.com before being deployed to the various local portals around the world. Instant searching has already started to appear on some local versions of the search engine.

To be able to test this, you do need to connect with a Google account, although it would have been nice if this was not required, leaving users with a little more privacy. This is the first small obstacle which apparently only applies to the domains other than Google.com and we can only imagine that this will evolve more in the future.

A second obstacle is that you must have a browser that is compatible with Google Instant, which for the time being is Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE8. We can note the temporary absence of Opera, with this and mobile browsers being planned for release in the autumn. Another obstacle could be an internet connection which is too slow, and if this is the case then the instant searching will be automatically disabled.

In principle, as long as the user enters a search request, the relevant results will be displayed almost instantaneously. Google also anticipates the desired search and offers the completion of the request, dynamically appearing in grey, with the potential results changing depending on the entered text. To speed things up, the user no longer needs to click on the Search button (or press Enter on the keyboard), as they can directly select the prediction offered by Google in the search field.

Google has put forward that the process speeds up searching, which is where the interest in instant searching comes from. According to Google, its function allows an average user to save between two and five seconds per search. When you add up all of these seconds over a day, this can add up to a lot.

To power Google Instant, Google has indicated that they will call on new technologies, fifteen in total, including new cache systems, the ability to adaptively control the speed in which results are displayed and JavaScript optimisation so that Web browsers don’t become over loaded.

Not everyone will necessarily appreciate this new instant function. Some may find it disrupting, either visually or by the fact that you may feel that you never get to the end of the search you want to perform. It is probable that such fears will be overcome with time, through familiarisation with this new function which certainly breaks from some old habits.

Instant searching can also be disabled at any time to the right of the search field. Over time the process may also have to be refined, as Google may not have thought of the auto complete the user is looking for, with some terms relating to pornography, violence and hate speech being excluded.