Google Instant Previews now live on Google Ireland

One month after the launch of Google Instant, Google has today introduced “Instant Previews”, a search feature that shows an image-based screenshot of each site beside their relevant search result. This feature is now live on Google Ireland.

According to the official blog post today:

“Instant Previews provides a graphic overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections, making finding the right page as quick and easy as flipping through a magazine”.

Each preview is accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass next to the title of any search result, and a screenshot of the page will appear on the right. Subsequent previews can be seen by hovering your cursor over other results.

Another interesting feature of Instant Previews is context within a preview. When searching for a specific phrase, Google can highlight that phrase within the preview itself.

Instant Previews is an organic addition to Google Instant and feeds Google’s healthy obsession with speed. Showing page previews undoubtedly speeds up the decision making process when choosing a search result. It may also help Google increase ad exposure as users can effectively ‘test’ a link before leaving the search results page.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.