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Google launches Instant Pages for faster results

The company's Instant Pages feature helps load search results pages much faster.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read

Google unveils Instant Pages.
Google unveils Instant Pages. CNET

Google is helping people get to their desired search results pages much sooner than they have in the past.

The company unveiled today a new feature called Instant Pages. After inputting a search query, users will be able to open results almost instantly. Previously, the company said, page loads from Google Search would take about 5 seconds to complete. The company pointed to the homepage for The Washington Post, which takes 3.2 seconds to load in average circumstances, but pops up instantly with the help of Instant Pages.

Google announced Instant Pages at its Inside Search event in San Francisco. The company also unveiled improved mobile search and added the ability to search via voice and images in Chrome.

Instant Pages complements the company's launch last year of Google Instant, a feature that shows results as a query is being typed into the search box. According to Google, Instant, along with Instant Pages, will help users save between 4 seconds and 10 seconds each time they search the Web.

In order to deliver instant results to users, Google is prerendering results "when we're confident you're going to click them." Though Google didn't say how many queries it has been able to accurately predict, the company did say that it has been working on the feature "for years" and so far, it has proven "fairly accurate" at predicting when it should prerender results. Any results that are not prerendered will load as they did in a pre-Instant Pages world.

Google's Instant Pages will be available this week in the company's Chrome beta. Google pointed out that it will not be available to other browsers for now. However, it said the service will be made available on Google's Mobile search "soon."

Update at 11:40 a.m. PT to include more details.

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