Today Google announced instant previews in search results. You can hover over Google’s search results and you’ll see a small preview of the page.

So what?

For users this is a great feature because it eliminates some ‘pogo-sticking’ where people move back and forth between websites and the search results before they find the right page for them. Google claims people are 5% more satisfied when they’re using instant previews.

For website owners, the implication are that SEO all of a sudden also means making sure the preview of your web pages look relevant and appealing enough for somebody to want to click on it.

Keep an eye on your web analytics over the next few weeks. If your percentage of organic search engine traffic goes up and/or your bounce rate decreases, the feature could very well work in your favour. If not, you might have some work to do.

Google already put out webmaster guidelines for instant previews and SEO forums are buzzing.

You can test drive the new feature here.