kidder - 11:26 pm on May 9, 2010 (gmt 0)

Wonder wheel is just another way to keep users clicking on Google pages, more impressions mate..its actually pretty good for long tail keyword research. As far as traffic goes we are down on numbers here in AU where this change was rolled out earlier. I don't think it's a massive drop but I need to take into account seasonal factors and so before I can be sure. Its funny but my wife and kids started complaining instantly about the new layout and were very quick to bring it to my attention. As everyday users they will never go near the LHS column like most people IMO. Radio buttons are much better but of course they don't generate impressions, Google are just trying to do what I would try to do, keep the users attention for as long as possible.