In a world of instant everything we find it hard to wait even a minute for anything online. If we can’t get a web page to appear within a couple of seconds, most figure it’s probably not worth visiting.
The folks at Google are catering to that very need in our lives with ‘Google Instant’.
Now when you visit the Google home page and begin typing your search terms, Google begins searching and showing you the results. This omits the need to type in your complete sentence or search term if the correct site appears while showing you in milliseconds if your terms aren’t going to yield the results you are looking for.
They have also improved the predictions feature in the search box. So now if are typing and you see the correct finished term you can click it and see your results immediately. Google estimates that between the predictions feature and the instant search results they can save any surfer two to five second per search. For someone who works online and searches different sites, blogs, and articles all day long it can save hours over time and frustrations instantly.
There are those who would serve to question some of the prediction details. Google has created a list of words for which it will not predict or offer instant results. These words are meant to prevent promoting sexual or inappropriate websites, however the list is ‘imperfect’ admits a Google spokesperson to the media.
In the list the words “lesbian, cocaine and domination” are taboo while “gay, heroin and crack” are okay.
“It’s important to note that removing queries from auto-complete is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases,” Says that same spokesperson. Presumably Google will continue to refine the search terms and results the best that they can.
For those who don’t appreciate change, or are offended by the blacklisted terms, Google has provided a ‘turn off’ option in your preferences area that allows you to search the way you always have.
