Google Chrome to wipe out SERPs?

Some of you might have noticed that starting from a few months ago, google's search page predicts the text you are writing to try and auto-complete the phrase you may be looking for, based on the current search results. There is also a small number of the amount of results that google could display for you on the right hand side of the drop down option bar.

Google's Chrome has gone one step further - including the search bar within the actual address bar. Chrome has had a rapid rise to fame and has been the quickets Google product out of Beta, with over 2 million followers, accodring to Google themselves. There are obviously improvements to be made along the way, considering the fact that it is a brand new concept in browsing, and the direct competition - Microsoft Internet Explorer - is about to release explorer version 8, and this is only from continued testing and correction of problems.

At the moment, a user can write in Chrome's address bar as if it was the search bar, and google with then throw up a SERP, or in some occasions, a result directly. Google is collecting and storing a massive amount of data about search through custom search, Universal search, Google wiki, Adwords and AdSense, and is in the most powerful position with regards retuning search results - even now, certain results are given to you based on your search history, or are "personalised".

I would not be surprised to see in the future (maybe not too distant) to see that the search term you type in change directly into the top result of a SERP - as this is what is considered to be the most relevant result. There is even talk of Chrome being pre-installed on certain computers, almost as an OS which would mean even less use of Google toolbar or Google homepage to show SERPs - bad news for numbers 3-10.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the clever people at eyetools have also shown that 100% of users in a controlled test look at position 1, 2 and 3 for longest and first. This means that people expect to find their answer to their search term in the first 3 results. If Chrome decides which one to show you in the toolbar, too, then this means SEO as we know it is changing.

Never more has conversion tracking, maintianing users onsite for longer, and "real" marketing and sales been more important. What's the use of having huge amounts of traffic if your sales skills or online presentation is terrible? Please feel free to comment on your thoughts and idea regarding this new possible shift.

David Brydon is an expert in SEO and runs Barcelona SEO. The company also offers comprehensive in-house SEO Training in Barcelona.