Who Benefits From Google Instant Search?

Google just released a new search enhancement that changes the playing field with regard to search engine optimization. As you begin typing in the search field, suggestions are displayed and search results are refreshed in real time. While it benefits surfers by speeding up access to information, sites in first positions that start with the letter getting typed receive additional exposure.

A is for Amazon

So who might benefit from this change? Here’s a list of the current #1 position sites for each letter:

A – Amazon
B – Best Buy
C – Craigslist
D – Dictionary.com
E – Ebay
F – Facebook
G – Gmail
H – Hotmail
I – IKEA
J – Monster.com
K – Kohl’s
L – Lowe’s
M – MapQuest
N – Netflix
O – Orbitz
P – Pandora
Q – BrainyQuote
R – Redbox
S – Skype
T – Target
U – UPS
V – Verizon
W – Weather.com
X – Xbox
Y – Yahoo
Z – Zappos

Battle of the Brands

What makes this interesting is whether big brands change their strategy to gain an edge. Could we see Bank of America fighting it out with Best Buy? Walmart vs. the weather? With Lowe’s in control, does Home Depot get any less traffic?

Google Killed SEO… Again.

With other recent changes, including additional search results from a single domain and blended search, top brands command almost entire pages for single letters. Check out A for Amazon and B for Best Buy for examples. How this affects search engine optimization remains to be seen. No doubt some will say they killed SEO, but in my opinion, they simple changed the game yet again. I’ll be very interested to see the changes, if any, in traffic going to these sites in the coming months. It may give some indication as to how much Google Instant really changed search engine optimization.