Most of you Google users out there have probably already seen the big change in the way your favorite search engine operates.  If so, you are just one of the millions that are now seeing results appear as they type search queries!  This huge change in the makeup of Google is called Google Instant.

If you have not seen this change in action, just hang tight.  Although Google says that its new feature is available to all major browsers in the US, one of my computers still isn’t seeing the new change in Google (while my other one does).  The reason for this is currently foreign to me, but I’m sure Google will have their new program up and running on all computers soon.  By the end of the year, it actually plans on having Google Instant available on every device, browser, and country.

If you have been able to experience this new change, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it is pretty sweet!  However, with this new change comes our wonderful friends telling us that “SEO is dead!!” I’m sure, if you’ve done any research into this update, that you’ve heard someone claiming that because of Google Instant, it will be impossible to optimize your site for a higher ranking.

Let me help you by quickly saying, this just isn’t true.  As long as there is search engines, there will be SEO.  I can guarantee you that.

However, the way we do SEO is (and always will be) evolving.  I like what Googler Matt Cutts stated, “The search results will remain the same for a query, but it’s possible that people will learn to search differently over time.  For example, I was recently researching a congressperson. With Google Instant, it was more visible to me that this congressperson had proposed an energy plan, so I refined my search to learn more, and quickly found myself reading a post on the congressperson’s blog that had been on page 2 of the search results.”

Since Google gives instant suggestions (and results for those suggestions) as you type, people may end up searching different queries than they originally intended to.  For instance, if someone decides they want to search for “pet pups”, but when they start typing “pet”, Google suggests “pet dogs”.  In this case, the person may just decide to stick with Google’s suggestion and look for listings under that search query.  Now, if your website had a high ranking under the keyword “pet pups”, but not “pet dogs”, that person would probably never come across your website.

On the other hand, if you had a high ranking for the keyword “pet dogs” and not “pet pups”, then you’re site’s traffic would benefit. Either way, the method Google uses to rank your site has not changed, it’s merely the way that people search that changes.

So, please don’t freak out and believe the lie that SEO is dying and that your site will never rank on Google.  Just do some more experimenting with Google Instant.  See how your site ranks on other keywords that people may end up seeing results for.  Try to broaden your ranking to more keywords.  When push comes to shove, the way to get ranking is still the same: links, social media, and blogging.  Keep up the good work!