Much has been made of the Google Instant search function. It looks nice and shaves a reported 2 – 5 seconds per search. Most people aren’t too bothered about those extra few seconds but they do add up.
If Google handles 2 billion searches per day then it has saved the equivalent of 126 years of search every day (2bn x 2 seconds). Now this is a great thing for the consumer but it is also a great thing for Google.
Not only does it shave the amount of time (and one would assume cost) of handling these searches, it has the potential to boost the nuber of searches done per person. This is an important point.
More searches means more opportunity to sell, which is Google’s core revenue stream.
Making Space in the Cloud
Google was one of the first global businesses to really harness the power of the cloud. This method of computing meant they could launch new products on a trial basis ‘in the cloud’ without the need for fresh infrastructure and set up.
So when you see Google Wave come and go, it won’t have been a massive loss to Google just an inconvenience. So, if Google reduces the space needed to run its core search business, this could free up room for other trial applications to be launched.
Reducing Image Size, Speeding up the Web
The recent announcement of Google’s new image size is also an important factor in Google’s attempt to shrink the web and speed up its access and indexing. This again is an important factor although one that will take time to really matter.
Google engineers suggest their new WebP format (pronounced “weppy”) will reduce the size of a comparable JPG file by 39%. Heavy images are often one of the key elements to slowing a site down which has an impact for the number of pages Google will crawl. So, switching to the new image format [when available] has the potential to boost your site speed and crawl potential.
On the global scale, if Google can help reduce file sizes it will also have more time to index more pages.
Interesting times.
