Google changed on Wednesday?

20th May 2007

According to CNN, Google announced that they changed last Wednesday,  integrating all of the different types of search results onto the home page of Google, including news, images, video, and a new menu along the top, for access to all of their different Google services.

Note: Because I am usually signed into personal search, I did not even notice the change, and when I read the story on Saturday, I assumed they meant this upcoming Wednesday. I’ve edited the first sentence above to correct the date, and the rest of this article was written while I thought the change was still pending. 

We’ve already been force fed mandatory personal search, and now this? Why would they do this? To make more money, of course…

If the search results take you to different Google properties, like news, images, videos etc., then you are no longer transported “off of Google property” like you used to be.

Instead, you are taken to Google Videos, or Google’s News etc. and this gives them multiple opportunities to present you with more paid advertisements the more time you spend inside their domain.

After all search is money, and money is search, right? The CNN story quotes Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search and user experience saying…

“For us, ads are (search) answers as well. I would hope that we can bring some of these same advances, in terms of richness of media, to ads.”

Does this seem a bit hypocritical, considering that about 30 days ago Matt Cutts gave us a URL so we can report people suspected of buying or selling links?

What does this mean for the organic search results? How much space will be left on the front page that isn’t bought and paid for directly from Google?

In the past, when you searched for a term on Google, you were shown a list of search results with sponsored link advertisements down the right side, and frequently in the top two spots. This was this pretty much the standard format until some time last year.

Over the past few, you have likely noticed a lot of changes in the way your search results display…

• Occasionally, the top three spots have been occupied by sponsored links
• A local search usually finds Google maps in the top of the search pages, and sometimes listed in the middle of page 1, leaving room for only 7 organic results.
• Google news items were shown in a “one box” below the ads, and above the search results, in case that’s what you were looking for. Now, they are taking up one of the 10 organic spots.
• A search for images began showing thumbnails of image searches above the search results, in case that was you what you’re looking for.
• Products began showing in a “one box” above the search results, taking to the Google shopping area.

And now starting Wednesday, we’re going to see video ads there as well, along with a new menu too, as part of another step towards the Google grid.

Is there really room for all this stuff on the homepage? Will there be room and in the future for organic search results anymore? I guess we’ll find out on Wednesday.

Read the full CNN story here