Friday, November 20, 2009

Introducing New Interface for Google


(Image courtesy of Search Engine Land)

Search engine giant Google is in the search engine optimization news again. Marissa Meyer, vice president of search product and user experience, has announced that Google is going to try its hand at a new interface. The new interface will introduce a permanent sidebar on the left side of the search results. This change stems from complaints from users about how inconsistent Google’s search interface has been and how it needs to be streamlined. Luckily for search engine optimization leaders, you don’t need to worry about your search engine optimization efforts like you might with Caffeine. It’s just interface changes.

The sidebar will provide users with various search options to help make a user’s search experience easier and more enjoyable. Search options include the ability to search within a certain time frame. Also useful for users are suggested searches / related searches so that users can expand their search results if they can’t find it with their initial searches. Meyer points out that “we’re basically looking at a new look and feel for Google. It’s an overall cleaning up of the search results page.”

This is a big change for Google who hasn’t initiated any major changes like this in the past. It seems like they are attempting to overhaul a lot of aspects of their company for better user experience. It’s a welcome change though, simply to know that even an industry leader like Google knows when it needs to evolve to stay on top.

The new interface will be introduced to a few select users for testing before being rolled out site-wide.

Written by: Daisy K.

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