The holiday season might be over, but if you’re like me, you’re still thinking about gifts. After all, the “Big G” did its fair share of gifting this year (delivering new search tools and verticals!) and now it’s time to play with all the shiny new toys. It’s not all fun and games though – Google’s latest innovations also have big implications for SEO. Specifically, tools like Google Instant Previews have ushered in a new kind of search experience, one that adds another visual dimension to the search optimization process.

With Google Instant Previews, searchers can now visually compare the landing pages of search results before they commit to a click. This “page preview” feature essentially lets the searcher evaluate the layout and relevance of the web page before clicking on any result. Additionally, the search term and relevant text are highlighted for users, helping them determine if the page has the content they’re looking for.

Instant Previews becomes active once users click on the magnifying glass icon located next to each search result. Once it’s turned on, a pictorial preview pops up whenever the cursor hovers over the search result.

Take a look at the screenshots below. An interesting thing happens as we move down the SERPs for “streaming music sites.” In particular, look at the third result:

Limited by its Flash content, the preview for the third result (Grooveshark) falls way short of engaging the user. In the days of purely text/image results, having the third result might have been enough to get a user to your site. But now, the lack of a strong preview image can turn them off completely.

Even more significant? The listing that ultimately won my attention was the ninth result, thanks to eye-popping visuals.

Attention SEOs: It’s time to take the web designers out to lunch. In order to get the maximum return on your search marketing efforts, a conversation about page design is in order. Instant Previews is helping further forge the bond between SEO and Web Design, one 300-pixel-wide thumbnail at a time. The searcher’s decision-making process is now being aided visually, and this new perspective means SEOs must have a stronger voice when it comes to crafting site layouts and templates.

From an SEO perspective, one of the most vital elements of the preview image is the highlighted text that Google returns as a magnified orange box. The purpose of this box is fairly straightforward: Google wants to show you exactly where on a page the search term exists.

But this highlight may not appear in every search result. As Google blogs, “For some previews, highly relevant parts of the page will appear in text call out boxes over the preview image to help you see where your query appears on the page.”

Looking more closely, it seems as if the highlight focuses specifically on the body text where the search term exists, while leaving out page headers that may contain such terms. This makes some sense, as we know that headers rich with keyword text usually do more for page rankings than associated keyword-rich body text, but why does Google leverage the search terms found in the body copy instead of the page headers or anchor text?

Because every bit of context counts. Highlighting a page header says: “Yes, your term is here, but you’ll have to read on to find out exactly where.” Highlighting anchor text says: “Look, here it is, but the explanation lives somewhere else.” However, highlighting the location of the search term within the preview itself provides visual assurance of exactly where that search term resides – leading to a more confident click.

Initial studies show Instant Previews can deliver a measurable increase in user satisfaction.

In fact, internal testing done at Google with employees and focus groups shows that Instant Previews delivers a 5% increase in user satisfaction. That may not seem like a huge impact, but with almost 35,000 Google searches performed each second, that 5% bump can translate in a big way for overall click through rates. The previews themselves won’t directly impact page ranking, but they will influence your customer’s perception and interaction with your site – two key factors to overall marketing success.

Other Applications
The Instant Previews feature doesn’t extend to all of Google’s search verticals just yet. It does, however, lend its sneak peeks to “Places” and “Discussions.”

An example of the “Places Preview” can be seen below. Notice the highlighted text callout box with the hours of operation emphasized (even though the search query “Noodle Bar” does not suggest those specific results). The callout box also includes pertinent on-page body copy that matches up with the Places description listing:

With these examples in mind, here are 8 best practices for Instant Previews page design optimization:

Don’t
Certain elements can cause your screenshots to look broken – or just plain ugly – and end up distracting potential customers. Avoid using the following:

1. Lackluster Interstitial Pages. These are unnecessary, especially if all you’re doing is providing extra information during navigation from one page to the next.
2. Ad Pop-Ups. These won’t add value or confidence to the page.
3. Flash Content. The engines don’t parse Flash content, meaning it’ll show up in your preview as a “broken puzzle piece.”
4. Low Quality Images. Poor resolution images – or ones that don’t match your color scheme – can be a quick way to cause a searcher to look elsewhere.

Do
The following tips, however, will add that “shiny ball” look to your Instant Preview, helping win the click:

1. Open Spaces. Give your preview a more user-friendly look by using blank space between content. This technique breaks up blocks of text that may insinuate a drawn-out, copy-heavy page, improving scannability and user retention.
2. Color-Coordinate. Make sure the color of your header text matches your overall color scheme, and use headers to break up chunks of content.
3. Priority Keywords. Include these in your body copy so that they pop up in the “text highlight boxes.”
4. Highlight Key Information. For the “Places” landing page, be sure to include key business operation information so that it’s prominent for customers to see.

Keeping these practices in mind will help marry relevant content to winning page designs. Like it or not, new features like Google Instant Previews have brought search and design closer than ever before, and it’s important to approach both with an emphasis on usability and matching customers’ search intent. You’ve fought hard for those Page 1 Rankings for so long; now, they’re being judged by the look of their thumbnails, so take a look in the mirror and make sure your pages are gleaming and ready to go!

Need more advice on how to take advantage of Google Instant Previews? Talk to us directly at bebrilliant@acronym.com.