Google Instant: new 3 second rule, implications on PPC
It’s not everyday that Google re-engineers their search results pages — every 6-8 months, sure — but rarely does this retooling ever result in a potentially significant change to the way marketers do business on Google Adwords. With the introduction of Google Instant, advertisers in the United States, and additional countries in the coming weeks, should start to see marked differences in ad impressions and click through rate for their PPC campaigns in Adwords. Why? I call it the “new 3s rule” and it has nothing to do with eating food off the ground.
The whole client use case problem behind Google Instant is that people spend, on average, too much time typing and refining search terms for commonly searched queries. The solution? Google now suggests keywords instantly, and instantly previews search engine results pages based on the current query being typed. That’s surprisingly hard to describe in words, but you get the point.
Impact of Google Instant, The New 3s Rule
The main trend that I’m watching for is a marked change in the way quality score is determined. According to Google,
- The user begins to type a query on Google and clicks anywhere on the page (a search result, an ad, a spell correction, a related search).
- The user chooses a particular query by clicking the Search button, pressing Enter, or selecting one of the predicted queries.
- The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds.
These new “impression” definitions have several implications, however, the most significant might end up being the impact “instantness” has on quality score calculations. Obviously, just like any business, Google is in it to make money, and Google isn’t an information technology company, they’re in advertising.
Indulge me for a minute here while I play devil’s advocate:
- What you are charged as an advertiser is based on Quality Score
- Primary determinant of Quality Score is click through rate
- Better click through rate = lower CPC, however worse click through rate = higher CPC
- Increased ad impressions = lower click through rate = higher CPC
There will undoubtedly be a “novelty phase” whereby users visit Google to search for random terms to see what pops up (we’ve all had fun doing this ourselves with “how best to…”), but this still equates to inflated impression numbers and lowered CTR. Three seconds isn’t a lot of time for a visitor to see an ad, and have it register as something that warrants a click.
Sure, the entire system is based on an auction model, however, I can’t see it not having a positive ROI for Google’s advertising machine, translating to: that’s right, higher CPC’s for all. I’m hoping Craig Danuloff and Alex Cohen are starting to rewrite the ClickEquations whitepaper on QS soon! 
