In most cases, I’m not only getting results in real-time or blink of an eye speeds but the actual predictions are correct about 80% of the time after only 2 letters.

The predictions of Google Instant are based on the same system as Google Suggest. Not only that but it is also using personalization. I tend to see things I search for more frequently (and their related searches) surfacing incredibly fast, as well as locality making an impact (searches for restaurants near my parents’ home east of Sacramento, for example, appear to influence searching for just the letters ‘EL’, the second result is ‘El Dorado County’, the county in which they reside, and the restaurants I was searching in are located. I guarantee you “El Dorado County” is not in the top 50 searches that begin with the letters “EL” (let alone the top 30%.)

For many searches, at this point at least one in three in my experience, I’m not receiving a result but instead a blank page asking to press ‘enter’ to complete the search. Apparently, the system doesn’t have every possible search instantly accessible (how could it?) However, as of the writing of this, I’m now seeing this about 5% of the time at most. It’s learning, fast.

The rumors of SEOs death are greatly exaggerated. This is one of the single greatest innovations in recent memory from our favorite multi-colored search engine. SEO has just become an even more competitive game: Results instantly appear and with instantly changeable search scrolling may be a thing of the past. Taking the top spots organically is going to be that much more important.

In summation I’m only slightly reluctant to say that you do not need to start optimizing for the head terms, the short tail, the letter W or F or whatever your brand may be. At this point, Google Instant isn’t going to change the way visitors find you or search for information, specially researched information or brands.