Disable Google Instant

Want to disable Google instant?

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed lately, but if you conduct a search in Google, there will be “suggestions” instantly given to you by Google based on the keywords you start typing in the search box. Now in order for this latest Google tool to work, Google Instant has to be turned on, but I’m pretty sure that it is turned on for you by default and that you would have to turn it off to stop using it.

So Why Would You Want To Disable Google Instant?

Now Google claims that you the user will benefit in several ways:

“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.”

Yet some users complain that it is simply distracting and often annoying during a typical search.

Also, if you are an online business owner, you might really hate it because it can take away from the long-tail keyword searches that we all love so much. Instead of someone typing out exactly what they are looking for, Google will make suggestions based on what they think the user wants to find. Often it’s not what the user wanted to find at all – but now that other suggestions have been made – a user might say “what the heck – I’ll check it out.”

For instance, if I were to begin to conduct a search for “how do I cook curry chicken”, before I even get the opportunity to finish, I see Google Instant suggestions for cooking corn on the cob, spaghetti squash, rice, quiona, etc. This might be very distracting for a “foodie”. A foodie might just click on one of the other how-to recipes and totally forget to get back to cooking the curry chicken!

How Do I Disable Google Instant?

If you notice in small blue print in the top right hand corner of this example, it says that Google instant is on.  So if you don’t want to see those suggested results as you type,  you can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page. That’s it!

*Side Note – At the time of this writing, Google Instant is not yet available for mobile search.