Google Instant Preview Says Design for Function

When Google Instant rolled out way back when – let's be honest, anything older than "a few days" in the online world is filed in the "ago" – the entire SEO world was up in arms. Blog posts, articles and tweets of "SEO is DEAD!" abounded. Again. Every time Google does anything it's declared as a spear through the heart of search optimization. No worries. Google Instant did NOT kill SEO. Truly.

But now a new function is about to roll out within Google Instant: The Preview. Soon, not only will Google fill in the SERP while a user types; once the query is chosen the user will gain even more insight into the results. By clicking on the magnifying glass to the right of the <title> tag, every user will be able to discern just what type of web page they'd be visiting by seeing an Instant Preview:

Pretty cool, huh? It even pulls out snippets of text on the page (seems to pull data from the meta description).

So, other than the coolness of this new, soon-to-be function, what effect – if any – could or should this have on websites? On SEO? Design?

Well, therein lies the rub. Depending on how you wish your site to appear at a glance to a potential visitor, you might want to re-think how you've built your site. Do flash aspects make a site look cool once the visitor's on the page? Sure. Will it show up in The Instant Preview? Nope. Take a look at our own site's preview:

While still a good snapshot – along with some text information pulled out in orange – you can see our cool flash portion doesn't translate. Not a big deal, but certainly something to think about.

For those sites still built entirely in flash (ahem, ad agencies, you know who you are), well, they'll definitely be at a distinct disadvantage:

A slightly-less-than-desirable user experience.

And, it seems if web designers want to use a flash fade-in that also affects The Instant Preview:

Should every web master design to avoid a "bad" Instant Preview? Surely not. After all, we're not sheeple.

BUT, if you want your website's first impression to be a fully-functioning, easy-to-see experience...then yes. Also, from Google's testing, they're predicting that users who take advantage of this functionality will be 5% more likely to be satisfied with their choice. But don't take my word for it. Read more about Instant Preview, try it out, and see for yourself.