IT contractors specialising in search engine optimisation (SEO) have been reassured that Google's new instant system will not make it irrelevant.

The senior vice-president and director of insights for Edelman Digital Steve Rubel suggested it would last week, insisting that SEO works because everyone sees the same web results, but Google Instant will change that fact.

However, the senior research analyst at Econsultancy says such claims make no sense.

He explains that Google's new system, which pre-empts search results as the user types, is still based on the same keywords, and businesses will still need to have these keywords promoted on their site.

"It may have changed the user experience and the search engine results page interface but, for now, the algorithm systems which index and deliver the relevant results are unchanged," he said.

Mr Rubel did concede that Google Instant is going to make IT contractors' jobs more difficult, as trying to understand SEO becomes more complex.