Instant Preview Now on Google Ads

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT

It's been nearly six months since Google launched Instant Previews on Google search results, providing users with a graphical overview of the site and highlighting the most relevant section (based on the users query).

This week Google extended the feature to Adwords. Instant Previews for Ads is rolling out to US users now and will be available internationally over the coming weeks.

The Instant Previews icon will appear next to ads on Google.com (see image below) allowing users to preview the landing page, giving customers the ability to see if that page matches what they are actively searching for.

Google has not released any statistics on the percentage of people that are using Instant Previews and admittedly many have not used the feature since its launch. Regardless, any change to Google SERPs is noteworthy and as we've mentioned previously, the quality of landing page design.

Advertisers are not able to opt-out of the feature - Google even goes as far as to say that Instant Previews are an "integral part of the Adwords search and ads experience."

A few other things to keep in mind:

- Adwords advertisers will not be charged for preview clicks

- Instant Previews are not taken into account when calculating Quality Score

- The "nosnippet" tag is not supported for Adwords (only organic web search)

- You can block AdsBot-Google to prevent Google from showing previews, but this will have an impact on Google ability to assess landing page quality.

Instant Previews Make Great Design Imperative

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:07:00 GMT

Google wants to keep users on its search results pages and increase their interaction – that much is clear with the release today of image-base snapshots.

Dubbed Instant Previews, Google has essentially released what amounts to a new kind of visual search result.

According to Google, “Instant Previews provide a graphic overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections.” How will users respond? Google’s own testing revealed that people who use Instant Previews were about 5% more likely to be satisfied with the result they select.

To use Instant Previews, click once on the magnifying glass next to the title of any search result and a visual overview of the page will appear on the right. From there, hover your cursor over any other result to see a preview.

How does Instant Preview impact you as a Web professional?

Since users will be able to compare results and find the content they are looking for more quickly, it has made design far more important. More on that and how consumers really feel about Instant Previews in the future.

While we’re still not seeing Instant Previews from our office in Chicago, Google indicated that the feature is rolling out this week.

'Net Features : instant previews

Instant Preview Now on Google Ads

Instant Previews Make Great Design Imperative