'Google Instant' Search Feature Unveiled At Google Press Conference (VIDEO)

Google has unveiled a new feature called Google Instant designed to help users access search results more quickly and easily than ever before.

Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of Search Products & User Experience, called the new feature a "fundamental shift in search," according to CNET's live blog from the event.

Google introduced Google Instant at a press conference Wednesday and explained how the new tool works in an official blog post:

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don't know exactly what you're looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you're headed, every step of the way.

"Many think of Google Instant as 'search as you type,' but really it's search 'before you type,'" Mayer explained. "There's almost a psychic element to it, because Google tries to predict the results and present them to you in real time," she said, according to Ars Technica. Mayer estimated that Google Instant may be able to save users 2 to 5 seconds per query.

Google Instant will be the default setting for users. As the screenshots below show, with Google Instant, the search results returned vary as the user types in their query. Type "H" into Google's search box, and Google will show you the results for "Hotmail," with several other suggested search terms ("Hulu," "Home Depot," "Hopstop") in a drop-down menu. Adding another letter--"H-U"--automatically causes the search results to refresh, and returns new suggestions.

Several have noted that Google Instant will censor "NSFW" results. ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick noted in a tweet, "NSFW results will not be instanted, even if you have safe search off. search results go blank for naughty queries." "I want to turn off the Google censor on Google Instant. Try searching for a naughty word. Doesn't work. I feel like I live in China," Robert Scoble tweeted.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt teased the new feature in a tweet earlier today. "I predict big things happening today at Google. We're already fast.. fast is about to get faster," Schmidt wrote.

See Google Instant in action in the video below, or watch Google's video introduction to the new feature. MORE: Find out which websites are winning Google Instant, how to disable the feature, and what users think of it.

LOOK:

• • • Typing "H"

WATCH:

Comments

[Madbunny]

12:28 PM on 09/12/2010

They probably had to turn off the NSFW terms because porn dominates so much of the internet.
The common sex terms would easily dominate the top list of most searches (probably)

[Writing4mylife]

11:06 AM on 09/11/2010

I don't want Googles suggestion as to what I MIGHT be looking for. I don't want a page that jumps around when I am trying to input a query. I don't want flash running in the background just to power a search page. I don't want my own terms ignored in favor of what Google thinks are better terms. I don't want my typing getting screwed up because the damn page can't stand still. Google instant is a major flub. Turned it off immediately. Did not even realize what they had done at first, and thought my PC had gotten infected with a virus or malware before I realized it was Google that was screwing everything up.

[Chip W]

05:15 AM on 09/11/2010

Technology that's more impressive than useful.
Wow, I can save 2 - 5 seconds per search? That's 2 - 5 seconds I can use more productively, like picking my nose.

[Toya Condelee]

04:59 PM on 09/13/2010

LAWL!! hilarious! but ur so rite! who's counting the 2-5 seconds anyways?? *smh*

[Kantinflas]

09:35 AM on 09/10/2010

My internet connection is plenty fast enough for everything but Google Search. Even with Instant off, it takes forever for keystrokes to register in the search window while every search suggestion in the universe except the one I want appears in the drop-down. It's like having the rudest person on earth constantly interrupting to finish your sentence before you do. Along with their No-Privacy policy, just one more bit of evidence that the pathological control freaks over there are morphing into SkyNet. Hey, Google! Search this!

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT SKYNET HAS JUDGED THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGE TOO DISTASTEFUL FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON'S DELICATE SENSIBILITIES. IT HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT COMMENT.

[Hopeful Greis]

12:27 PM on 09/09/2010

This video by Joe Sabia demonstrating it softens the annoyance a little:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFh6IAQoDA

[ThaGovna]

10:39 AM on 09/09/2010

This is cool.

Not annoying at all, and no big deal. So the results change as I type as opposed to looking at a static background?

People are crying over nothing.

[Istok]

11:40 AM on 09/09/2010

what does Govna mean?

[ThaGovna]

12:20 PM on 09/09/2010

In Bosnia or some such place is means "poop", though that ain't the actual word most would use when translating, and is meant as an insult. Ha!

I don't mind, cause I am the shizz.

Everywhere else it's short for governor.

[alyseven]

10:16 AM on 09/09/2010

I hate, hate, hate it and to make things worse, even when I disable it in my settings, it still doesn't turn off! I have been using Bing more and more and I'm looking for a better, more accurate, less intrusive, private search engine. I KNOW there have got to be at least a few search engines out there that are better than google and which are not trying to take over the world, as google seems to be doing. The only one I know of and use on occasion is WolframAlpha, but that is for more statistical and concrete data- not so much everyday use. Anyone have any others?

[blaharumph]

09:51 AM on 09/09/2010

amazon.com and etsy.com have this in their search features and it is VERY annoying.

[orbs]

09:12 AM on 09/09/2010

Counter-intuitive, consistently inaccurate, PITA doing all it can to extrapolate the user's location.

Auto-loading links and images prior to actually having a completed search typed in...collectively speaking, is going to have google responsible for wasting yottabits of bandwidth and disk space.

Do yourself and your fellow interwebbers a favor...disable Instant, or better...drop google.

[amaycatbaker]

08:37 AM on 09/09/2010

I still need to go about three pages in to find what I am looking for. Sometimes instant works but more times than not, it is still a search through the listings and I like that part. So... don't change it!

[MissAustenRegrets]

08:04 AM on 09/09/2010

This is really annoying but even more annoying it looks like you can't turn off the autofill suggested search feature in the settings anymore. I am thinking of switching to bing.

[KIVPossum]

07:44 AM on 09/09/2010

For my searches so far I've found it a bigger pain than the autofill

[TN60]

07:29 AM on 09/09/2010

Seems to me that.... www.ask.com ... has been doing this same search for some time.

Am I way off base, and is Google's new endeavor, truly innovative ?

Techie's (of which I'm not) would be able to answer my question.

[semoto]

08:26 AM on 09/09/2010

And I've been using Bing lately and it has always done the predicting thing. Not new. Not even close.

[TN60]

10:02 AM on 09/09/2010

Thank you for replying, semoto. I have Bing, but have never used it.

I used ask.com for years all the way back when they had the "butler" logo. Comparing them didn't seem all that much different.

Thanks again.

[BestGuest]

06:45 AM on 09/09/2010

They can predict because they know what ur doing on the net.... which must mean they got their eye on u....

Does anyone else get the hype surrounding Google and it's happy, fun, friendly image?

[dulceburro]

09:30 AM on 09/09/2010

based on their trends, they 'know' what is the most relevant when they search for certain things.
Just embrace it.

[sweetsalad]

06:37 AM on 09/09/2010

The searches are becoming too intrusive. The constant spying on what we are doing on the web must stop. We may have to go back to one of the old search engines – maybe AltaVista or Lycos. http://www.digitalundivide.com