Google Instant? I just started figuring out regular Google.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple weeks, you’ve heard all the excitement about Google Instant.   If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to step away from the integrated search bar in your web browser and go straight to Google.

Even more important, if you’re like me and use iGoogle so you can have your widgets giving you information you haven’t seen it.  Now is the time to turn iGoogle off and start doing a search for you association.

Start by running a few quick tests.  First, start typing your organization’s acronym.  How quickly did your site come up?  Now start typing the actual name and see how long it takes.

Of course, this supposes that people know who you are and how to find you based on that information.  So for your next test, start typing information about the industry that you serve.  Keep going with as long phrase related to your industry. Where does your site show up?

There’s a lot of discussion going on about what this means for search.  Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) dead?  What does it mean for your PPC campaigns?  The jury is out and it will take some time to sort it out.

But in the meanwhile, here are some resources and blog posts to bring you up to speed:

The Google Blog – Search: Now Faster than the Speed of Type

Steve Rubel – Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant (hint: make sure you read the comments)

Search Engine Land – SEO Is Here to Stay, It Will Never Die

associationTech – Google Instant and SEO