A Preview of a New Kind of Search Result

Many of you might have noticed a little magnifying glass symbol appearing next to your search results in the UK over the past couple of days. This is a new feature that Google had been testing in the US, which is now being rolled out across the world.

Instant Preview – a name no doubt inspired by Google Instant – offers users a snapshot view of a site without having to visit it. This latest feature continues Google’s current mantra of getting you the most relevant results in the fastest time possible.

The Google blog states that “in our testing, we’ve found that people who use Instant Previews are about 5% more likely to be satisfied with the results they click. The previews provide new ways to evaluate search results, making you more likely to find what you’re looking for on the pages you visit.”

Making Site Design a Feature

Whilst Instant Preview will no doubt make users’ searches more relevant it potentially adds a new dimension for online performance. Never before has site design been more important.

Ensuring that your site is eye-catching, relevant to the subject and well organised will gain greater importance as Instant Preview becomes more established. It is likely to have an impact on click through rate (CTR), which could be interesting for PPC.

Instant preview is easy to use; simply click on the magnifying glass symbol and you will get an image of the site and the most relevant page to your search query. Move your cursor over each search result to view other sites’ pages.