Google Instant Search Now Official From Google

We all know that Google's trying to make the way you search faster. They've been trying to do it for awhile now, and they've done a good job of it. Especially with that drop-down menu that shows you what you might be searching for, as you type. Now, they want to make Google Search a little bit of a psychic element, as they've just announced Google Instant. Which, as Google puts it, isn't search as you type, but search before you type.

There's a few updates. But the main gist of the situation is that Google Instant is going to search even before you hit the search key, or Enter key, if that's what you prefer. It will be available on Google Chrome, IE8, Safari, and Firefox, and it will be rolled out later today. As part of your core web experience. It will be released internationally over internationally. In the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Russia. And it will be for users that are signed in. The mobile aspect is coming "soon," but it won't launch right now.

Google is making sure that the "base element" and every feature you've grown to love with Search is staying in tact, but they're just making it better. As you'll notice right off the bat, (and if you've got any of the browsers listed above, you should start seeing the new "instant" results now, if not by the end of the day) that the Search queries now are far more advanced, and it will feel a lot more fluid. And thanks to the algorithms that Google has implemented into Google Instant, it may seem that Google's psychic now. And, they're proud of that.

And, for the record, you'll notice that there's an image of Google Instant working in the mobile space, on the Motorola Droid. If you're eager to get your hands on the mobile version of Google Instant, you'll be happy to know that the update for the mobile realm is coming out this Fall. And since we're already near the middle of September, that means you don't have long to wait at all.

We'll update this as more hits. Check out the videos below for more information.

Press Release

Google Instant is rolling out over several days to users signed in to a Google Account. Check back soon if you are signed in and do not see it yet.

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don't have to finish typing your full search term, or even press "search." Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.

Benefits

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don't know exactly what you're looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you're headed, every step of the way.

Did you know:

Before Google Instant, the typical searcher took more than 9 seconds to enter a search term, and we saw many examples of searches that took 30-90 seconds to type.

Using Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That's 11 hours saved every second.

15 new technologies contribute to Google Instant functionality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I turn off Google Instant?

A: If you don't want to see results as you type, you can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page.

Q: Where is Google Instant available?

A: Google Instant is starting to roll-out to users on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the following browsers: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8. Please note, users on domains other than Google.com can only access Google Instant if they are signed in to a Google Account. We will continue to add new domains and languages over the next several months.

Q: Will Google Instant slow my Internet connection?

A: We anticipate that Google Instant will not slow your Internet connection, and we plan to automatically turn it off for very slow connections. Even though we are serving more results pages, the additional load this enhancement creates is very small when compared to other types of web services such as streaming video and online gaming. We've also worked hard to minimize the amount of data that is sent and received during the search process. For example, when rendering new results as you type, we only send the parts of the page that change, without updating the static elements, such as a the page frame around the results.

Q: I love Google for its simplicity and I usually know what I want to type. Is Google Instant just a distraction for me?

A: With Google Instant you don't lose any of the functionality that you know and love about Google. If you want to type your full search term and hit enter, that still works just as it always has. Even for the experienced searcher, though, instant feedback can help you narrow in on the precise results you want, which may have taken several searches before. On top of that, we estimate that about half of your searches will be returned in net zero time because the results you want will appear before you finish typing.

Q: If an offensive or lewd word is a fraction of my query, will Google push these results in front of me as I type?

A: As always, we provide options to filter the content you see in search. You can choose to set SafeSearch to filter out explicit content, and parents can lock SafeSearch to the strict setting. In addition, autocomplete excludes certain terms related to pornography, violence and hate speech. Learn more about SafeSearch.

Q: Does this change impact the ranking of search results?

A: No, this change does not impact the ranking of search results.

Q: Is Google Instant available on mobile?

A: Google Instant is not yet available on mobile, but we plan to release it soon.