Tuesday Tip: Save Search Time with Google Instant Previews
If you do a lot of searching on Google, you may have noticed the recent addition of a small magnifying glass icon next to your search results. This Google feature, called Instant Preview, allows users to view a quick snapshot of a web page without having to follow a link to the actual website. While this feature has been appearing in organic search results since late last year, it only recently began showing up in the paid search results.
Typically Google users have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for when they do a search, and they can often tell at a glance if a particular webpage search result is going to have a good chance of containing what they want. This is where Google Instant Preview can be a real time saver. Instead of waiting for each page in a search result to load, searchers can click on a magnifying glass icon to activate Instant Preview. Once activated, Instant Preview will display a snapshot of all the results by simply hovering over each preview icon. This allows users easily view pages as they scroll through results. The Instant Preview includes a callout featuring a page excerpt containing the specified search terms entered by the user. If the constant barrage of previews becomes annoying, Instant Preview can be deactivated by clicking on a spot outside of the results area, such as the upper right or lower left corner of the search results page.
Instant Preview works the same way for paid search results as it does for organic. Searchers can click on the magnifying glass preview icon for a snapshot, without the advertiser being charged for a click. In this way, Instant Preview should be beneficial to advertisers as a way of qualifying pay per click leads.
Learn more about Instant Preview: