Instant Previews Make Great Design Imperative

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.