Is Google’s Redesign About Swifter Search or More Money?
When you’re as big as Google, even the smallest changes to your website set off a firestorm of debate. So, naturally, when Google increased the size of its search bar yesterday, people took notice.
In an official post to the Google Blog, Vice President of Search Products & User Experience Marissa Mayer explained the change, saying:
For us, search has always been our focus. And, starting today, you’ll notice on our homepage and on our search results pages, our search box is growing in size. Although this is a very simple idea and an even simpler change, we’re excited about it — because it symbolizes our focus on search and because it makes our clean, minimalist homepage even easier and more fun to use. The new, larger Google search box features larger text when you type so you can see your query more clearly. It also uses a larger text size for the suggestions below the search box, making it easier to select one of the possible refinements.
For a side-by-side comparison of Google’s former search bar and the new jumbo version, check out the image below (click for a larger version).
To be perfectly honest, as a user, the new search bar doesn’t do much for me. In fact, for the most part, it’s completely superfluous to my searching experience. As such, it seems clear to me that Google’s real reason for this change isn’t necessarily about improving user experience, but making more money?
Now, I’m not saying that Google is anti-users (the company has always strong praise for its simple interface and intuitive design). Rather, I am saying that for as much effort as they put into designing this bigger search box for users, they put an equal or greater amount of time into designing it for increased advertising revenue. Blogger Dave Jeyes explained how the bigger search box could lead to greater search revenue in an excellent post for the blog, Tech.Blorge.
These changes may seem fairly minor, but where your attention flows, ad search revenue is sure to follow. By making the search box more prominent, users are ever-so-slightly more likely to try a new query rather than thumbing through page after page of results.
The result is not only a quicker way for users to dig through Google’s search index, but also a faster way to deliver Google’s lucrative search ads. Overall that sounds like a win-win for both Google and users.
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Since Google’s revenue comes primarily from search ads, it has been relatively immune to the recession affecting display advertisers. That run could be coming to an end as advertisers’ budgets dry up at the end of the year.
A land-grab for screen real estate could serve as an effective way to offset lower search ad revenue. Likewise the change could be a well-tested way to make searchers’ lives easier when hunting for information on the site.
Does this make Google a bad company? Certainly not (at least compared to some other things we know). Should it affect how individuals judge Google search results? Absolutely.
As ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik said in his recent foreword to the book, Google Bomb, by Sue Scheff and John W. Dozier, Jr.,
Google is not God. Google is not the First Amendment, and it is not the truth. It is a machine. It may be the best machine invented in the past fifteen years, with myriad benefits for human knowledge and collaboration, but it is still just a machine that operates on rules devised by people. For that reason, it is both inherently fallible and subject to deliberate abuse.
While Google has undeniably changed the way in which people access information, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the information is good or honest or valid. If someone is searching for you or your business online (and they are) it is important that they see what you want them to see, which is why you need to be pro-active in managing your reputation online. For help on owning your Google search results, contact a member of the ReputationDefender customer service team today.
