Use Google Instant as a Ranking Preview

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google instant uses a different data set than the "hit enter" variety. I've been noticing that when I write an article I can see the ranking results within 30 seconds if I type in the keyword and hit enter. If I just type in the keywords and do not hit enter Google instant shows me what the rankings USED to be. In short the "enter" variety are instantly updated but Google instant isn't. Ironic but hey...

I've also noticed that I can gauge what the non Instant rankings will be within seconds of posting an article(yay for fast indexing). As such it's possible to use Google instant as an almost instant preview of changes to rankings, just hit enter and you'll see any changes in the top 10 immediately.

Hows that for a fun but fairly useless tidbit of info? :-)

[tedster]

Within 30 seconds? measured from what event?

[TheMadScientist]

Ironic but hey...

Yeah, but not surprising imo. To do instant on the scale they do they almost have to cache the info they access for it, which would mean they have to push the data into the cache to update it.

Hows that for a fun but fairly useless tidbit of info? :-)

I've got so many, some times when I'm not careful they get lost, especially in the shower! lol

[aristotle]

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it meant that Instant could be used to predict future changes in the organic rankings. But the discussion seems to indicate that Instant lags behind the organic results. Or maybe I'm just confused

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Within 30 seconds? measured from what event?

From the moment I publish a new article, and it's closer to 5 seconds this past week. Standard blog setup, it pings google and places some "related" links in various places on site so a crawler on related pages may see the link to the new article instantly.

Yes, it's about "instant" lag, it seems to be a day behind and up to 3 days behind (limited testing, with no real reason to want to test further). Since I can see where the article ranks with regular search results I've found myself making small changes to text and title to see if I can bump it up a little before the "instant" results catch up.

Fun if nothing else. The best of the best content is safe though, entrenched with incoming links my new articles don't yet have, so this is of little use. Just a quirk :-)

I find it especially amusing because, as "instant" becomes the norm for many searchers, I have a preview of where I can expect new articles to rank for those "instant" users up to 3 days early. Yes, you can re-write an article and republish with different url and get better results for the same keyword, if you're into that kind of thing.

[tedster]

Wow. That sounds like Caffeine is really in overdrive. I would never have even thought to check five seconds after the first ping.