In the first of a series of guest posts from IAB members, Fiona Robertson and Andrew Girdwood from Big Mouth Media share how they’ve been reacting to Google Instant and what it means for affiliate marketers.

Google Instant and affiliates
We’ve had a day of affiliate meetings. In the morning we were told Google Instant will hurt content affiliates the most.  After lunch we were told Google Instant would hurt PPC affiliates the most.

So, which is it?
We don’t think Google Instant will hurt affiliates at all. Google Instant changes things. It means Google takes a stronger hand in guiding search behaviour. Affiliates always do well in times of changes. Very often affiliates can make changes to their websites or digital strategies faster than merchants can. At the announcement, Google banged on about speed. If you want speed then go affiliate.

So what changes might affiliates react to first? Google Instant isn’t just auto-complete. Google Instant tries to work out what people are searching for. As a result Google Instant will favour such things as correct spellings and popular searches.  Affiliates who find themselves leaning too heavily on misspellings will simply change tactics.

Interstitial searches are a new opportunity for affiliates. With Google Instant, as a searcher formulates their search, results flash by. These results will impact the search term the user finally settles on (and a pause of three or more seconds counts as an impression). Affiliates can certainly study which desirable keywords come with the opportunity of winning the click through an eye catching interstitial.

PPC affiliates are used to Google throwing curve balls at them. Google Instant will likely push impressions up but that’ll effect merchants and affiliates equally. Merchants tied to ropy bid management platforms from 2005 (and perhaps who’ve just renewed a three year contract only this year) will struggle if their bidding tech does not adapt well to the new impression count and user behaviour. Affiliates in the same boat will suffer the same fate. Experience suggests that most affiliates will be able to adapt more quickly than that.

In summary Google Instant changes the rules. Affiliates are among the many who will have to adapt. It just so happens that affiliates are very good at adapting.

Want to ask us a question about Google Instant?  Grab us on Twitter @andrewgirdwood or @fi_robertson