05 May 2010 | Author: R. Falconer SEO Consultant
Some of the subtle changes by Google could have big effects on web marketing, Google's profits and the fortunes of start-up search engines.
The new look includes a left hand, side bar navigation with icon and text links to images, video, maps etc. as well as links to other things that are usually hidden under a single plus sign and "Show options..." text - for example, the Wonder Wheel, sites with images and time filters ('past 2 days', etc.)
Related searches have not been moved but have more prominence, due to the removal of the light blue bar at the top of the page. This provides a cleaner look to the page and draws the user's eye straight to the paid advertising and search results. It also means a larger number of results can be seen 'above the fold.'
Showing more results at the top of a page could make a big difference to marketing efforts. From a natural search perspective, this should mean a greater number of web page results in a search space that has been heavily eroded over the last few years with universal search elements such as video, images, maps, news, etc.
But increased natural search space is unlikely to be Google's main reason for increasing the visible search result area.
Effectively, Google has added more flexibility and opportunities to bring in new Adwords innovations. Recently we've seen Google introduce paid sitelinks on Adwords ads. These take up more space on a page and whilst the pressure is constantly on Google from its shareholders to increase revenue and profits, the amount of advertising space can't keep increasing indefinitely.
It will be interesting to see which Adwords innovations Google finds to fill the space. I'd expect further integration with geographic elements of universal search - notice that Google has been steadily increasing the prominence of local business maps in natural search results. These must now be ripe for more advertising, in Google's eyes at least.
So, more stuff coming to fill an increased search area, do users really want this? Judging by the growing popularity of search engine startup DuckDuckGo, people might really just be looking for a back-to-basics search engine that just provides results.
DuckDuckGo is not yet any sort of threat to Google, or even Ask Jeeves. Yet. But its simple, back-to-basics approach (privacy kept, less clutter, less spam, less advertising) is increasingly appealing to many. The more Google and other big search engines continue to cram onto their pages, the more traffic those simple search engines are likely to receive.
Google's new look likely to increase profits
We've been noticing it for some time, but it now seems that Google's new look is being pushed out to more and more users for testing. Over the last week or so, this number appears to have increased dramatically, suggesting a full launch could be imminent.Some of the subtle changes by Google could have big effects on web marketing, Google's profits and the fortunes of start-up search engines.
The new look includes a left hand, side bar navigation with icon and text links to images, video, maps etc. as well as links to other things that are usually hidden under a single plus sign and "Show options..." text - for example, the Wonder Wheel, sites with images and time filters ('past 2 days', etc.)
Related searches have not been moved but have more prominence, due to the removal of the light blue bar at the top of the page. This provides a cleaner look to the page and draws the user's eye straight to the paid advertising and search results. It also means a larger number of results can be seen 'above the fold.'Showing more results at the top of a page could make a big difference to marketing efforts. From a natural search perspective, this should mean a greater number of web page results in a search space that has been heavily eroded over the last few years with universal search elements such as video, images, maps, news, etc.
But increased natural search space is unlikely to be Google's main reason for increasing the visible search result area.
Effectively, Google has added more flexibility and opportunities to bring in new Adwords innovations. Recently we've seen Google introduce paid sitelinks on Adwords ads. These take up more space on a page and whilst the pressure is constantly on Google from its shareholders to increase revenue and profits, the amount of advertising space can't keep increasing indefinitely.
It will be interesting to see which Adwords innovations Google finds to fill the space. I'd expect further integration with geographic elements of universal search - notice that Google has been steadily increasing the prominence of local business maps in natural search results. These must now be ripe for more advertising, in Google's eyes at least.
So, more stuff coming to fill an increased search area, do users really want this? Judging by the growing popularity of search engine startup DuckDuckGo, people might really just be looking for a back-to-basics search engine that just provides results.
DuckDuckGo is not yet any sort of threat to Google, or even Ask Jeeves. Yet. But its simple, back-to-basics approach (privacy kept, less clutter, less spam, less advertising) is increasingly appealing to many. The more Google and other big search engines continue to cram onto their pages, the more traffic those simple search engines are likely to receive.
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