First of all don’t panic, whenever The big G [google] make changes we get a lot of panic in the SEO world. The new set of features of Instant Search, I believe will make your traffic more targeted as people will start to find phrases that catch their eye as the search progresses. This will mean optimisation for the long tail will play a larger part in search optimisation tactics.

I see this change improving the speed at which users are going to find results for their searches I don’t necessarily see it helping users find better results.

From Googles point of view it’s an attempt to make the search quicker. I see it having an opposite effect by giving to much choice. When a user spots an interesting phrase in the drop down, this can take them off on a tangent and before you know it an hour has passed and they still haven’t found what they’re looking for. The new layout encourages exploring because you see more screens as you type It sounds good but its going to be time consuming for those who get distracted easily.