Google Instant is a feature that suggests terms users might be searching for and puts them in a box below the search bar. Google Instant was Google’s response to the fact that a lot of users are slow typers. Launched in 2010, It estimated that Google Instant would save people an average of 2-5 seconds per search.
“The reason? We read faster than we type, and predictive search pretty much takes typing out of the equation. If every Google user around the world switched to Instant, we’d save 3.5 billion seconds a day, or 11 hours per second.”
It was suitable for desktops. However when Google saw mobile overtake desktop in 2015, I guess it had to rethink this feature. You see, Instant Search is not appropriate for mobile browsing.
So Google quietly killed off this feature. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land:
“We launched Google Instant back in 2010 with the goal to provide users with the information they need as quickly as possible, even as they typed their searches on desktop devices. Since then, many more of our searches happen on mobile, with very different input and interaction and screen constraints. With this in mind, we have decided to remove Google Instant, so we can focus on ways to make Search even faster and more fluid on all devices.”
Now while Google continues to provide search suggestions as you type, it would not actually load any search results until you select one of the suggestions or press enter.
Did you notice that Google had dropped this feature?
2 Comments
It’s true oo. I noticed something of such. Thanks admin for the update.
Well, as long as they’re working on a better replacement, there’s reason to worry over a spilt milk. So, I’ll be waiting for the launch of a better Google Assistant in the nearest future.