How Will Google Chrome Web Browser Change Search?

The launch of Chrome, Google's new web browser, was long awaited. Though speculation about Google's entry in to the browser market has been going on for years, the surprise announcement at the beginning of September succeeded in creating a flash-flood of hype throughout the Web. However, in spite of the outlandish expectations, Chrome might seem unspectacular. This is not to say that it's a bad product - far from it - it's a solid release with a lot of neat features, all based on solid tech. Chrome won't cause any immediate seismic change to SEO, but may well signal a subtle paradigm shift in the way that people use the Web, and search in particular.

For an application in beta, Chrome is surprisingly slick. The minimal user interface strips the familiar toolbars and menus down to a few bold buttons. Tabs have been promoted to the very top of the screen, and empty tabs now display your nine most-used sites in a trendy thumbnail spread. But the most important part of the user experience - and the easiest to miss - is Chrome's address bar.

The so-called "Omnibar" invites you to "type to search", and is in fact an elegant hybrid of address bar and search bar. Like Firefox's "Awesome Bar", Chrome presents as-you-type matches from your history and bookmarks in a drop-down list. But it will also attempt to complete your search terms in the same way as Google Suggest - so typing "poker" will prompt Chrome to offer searches for "poker hands" and "poker chips". Crucially, it will also present a direct link to the top search result for the text you've typed. So typing "poker" will also direct us to the website of the online casino 888.com.

Evidently, the Omnibar is designed to put search at the forefront of the browser experience. Google realise that people use search engines for simple navigation (e.g. typing "wall street journal" as a search term instead of using the URL) as much as detailed information hunting, and Chrome makes this process even quicker. In Chrome, users making navigation searches don't even have to see a results page! If you have a unique brand name that ranks at the top of the SERPs, this will allow visitors to find you more easily without having to remember the URL.

Moreover, having a first-place ranking for a particular search term means that Chrome users will see your result before those of your competitors. First-place rankings in organic search are already highly valuable, and integrating search into the browser like this will make them even more prized. On the other hand, any feature that allows the user to skip the SERPs will diminish the effectiveness of PPC.

The thought of being able to reach customers before they even hit the enter key should have organic search gurus grinning. However, bear in mind that Chrome is yet to command any significant market share. Google has a tiny slice of the pie - in the browser wars, Microsoft and Mozilla are still the superpowers.

Chrome's user base may well increase as time passes and it moves out of beta. But even if it doesn't capture a significant market share, it will inevitably change the rules of the game. The changes Chrome has introduced will percolate through the browser world. Mozilla have already announced that Firefox will follow Chrome's "incognito" mode with its' own private session mode. The smart money says that they'll eventually try to clone Chrome's integrated search features, too. Google have chosen to make Chrome open source, explicitly hoping that this will allow their innovations to filter through to other browsers.

Ultimately, Chrome sets the stage for a world in which the browser is more important than ever. As the excellent comic that accompanied Chrome's launch explains, the web has moved from a collection of static pages to a platform for applications of all kinds. Chrome is part of Google's attempt to create a mature platform in an age of cloud computing, when we increasingly rely on the Web to deliver our data and apps. In this regard, much of Chrome's innovation is under the hood: better JavaScript execution, a stable multi-process architecture, et cetera.

The nature of search in this brave new world of cloud computing is uncertain. Search marketers should be savvy of the changing field, and how it relates to other emerging trends like mobile search. Chrome may impress us with one feature or another, but its real value will be in giving us a taste of things to come - a sneak preview of a future in which the browser and search are deeply integrated and central to user experience.