On November 9th, Google began to roll out a new feature called Instant Previews
Beside the titles of organic search results there is a magnifying glass icon. Once a searcher clicks on the icon of any result, a zoomed-out snapshot of the underlying page appears to the right of the organic results.



Orange boxes highlight relevant content on the page, and text call outs show search terms in context. Once a searcher has clicked on the magnifying glass of one result for a specific search, the searcher can mouse over any of the other results and get the same preview without having to click again within that search.

Implications for advertisers & search marketers

According to Google, using Instant Previews makes searchers 5% happier with the result they end up clicking on, which suggests that people might spend more time on these sites they choose.



Users might also spend more time on Google’s results page while previewing sites and deciding which to...