Forum Moderators: buckworks
All i can put this down to is the front page looking great, very fast, though buyers have inherent sub-conscious suspicions about the simplicity of the front page.
Personally, i don't care, i just see it as a search engine, and use it as a research tool, regarding my own user status and consumer - i go by word of mouth, via people here and also contacts beyond WebmasterWorld.
Question: do you think G has a creditability problem in promoting Ecomm from listed sites or not?
Are you saying people click less on Adwords ads than ads on Yahoo and MSN?
Are you saying people trust sites that they found via Google less than sites they have found through Yahoo and MSN?
I personally think Google has a good brand awareness and Joe Public respects Google and the sites it "promotes" on it's SERPs
Simplicity transpires honesty. Why would their design conflict with promoting ecomm?
The only credibility problem I have is that little line at the bottom, that seems to be frozen in time:
©2003 Google - Searching 3,083,324,652 web pages
It's clearly no longer true. Ah well, perhaps it's left there for those who like to point out deliberate typos.
Barry Welford
Also AdWords is one of the most popular PPC options out there. If it didn't drive traffic nobody would pay for it.
A 10 year old could use it; or a 60 year old; or anyone in between. I think people like the ease of use and I don't think it harms credibility.
The impression I get is that certain types of products convert better from search portals that people don't choose. In my view, if you connect with ISP X and search with ISP X, you'll just buy things. Is it too simple to assume that these are the same people who buy the most advertised form of cola/furniture/music? That's how I tend to see it.
Google delivers very well when it comes to high value products. For example, an intangible and hard to comprehend, six figure (sterling) product I know of wouldn't sell easily to MSN search users but converts well on Google.
great foresight, great risk..who knows, but if it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind. And don't forget people here are are not your average critic, everyone I've recommended to use Google as search tool (yes some people still don't know how to search for stuff..), think it's 'b****y' amazing, but then they didn't even know it existed before yesterday!
I still remember when I first found it, I didn't know why I liked it, but I now know it's because it's not a portal, i.e. it's not cluttered, if I want to find something I don't want to to have to "search for the search box"..
Suzy
That's been the first reason for me why i liked it and it still is a very important reason for me. It's like the thing with using apple - it feels sometimes childish but it's soo much fun and refreshing compared to the grey rest.
>being less than serious, which may carry over its advertisers as well.
Probably but all that advertisers want if they buy adds, is targeted visitors, clicks that convert well. That's what they get with google. And the funny thing is (which might make Sergey and Larry laugh the whole day long) is that ALLTHOUGH they run a childish looking start page, they make more bucks than many of the highly professional looking, perfectly advertisers friendly, service, graphics and design overloaded search engines. That's just too cool, imho.
Can't see any problem with this minimal design. They don't have to attract advertisers but customers.
They don't have to attract advertisers but customers.
Right on!
When I search, the last thing I want is randomness or luck.
Anyone else have a comment?
How many of you understand that button?
How many of you understand that button?
I understand it perfectly. With an SE whose results are consistently what I'm looking for, it's quite useful, and I use it. It wouldn't work if I didn't know that I had an excellent chance of finding what I was looking for at the top, but they're good enough that it's useful.
One thing I've noticed in listening to user feedback on my pet site is that reducing the number of clicks is something people really appreciate. I add new bells, whistles, features, etc - and nobody notices enough to comment. I add a simple front-page link to a popular internal portion of the most used section of the site, and ~40% of the users thank me personally. (Small user base. I doubt Brett would enjoy it if 40% of us all stickied him at once!)
The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button takes out a click, so it wins.
Credibility also has a lot to do with brand recognition. Google is highly recognized company so I don't think the simple design creates credibility problems.
The web has brought a sense of fun back into adult life (just think of all those chain email jokes) - and I think the calculated risk of the Google logo was a major coup. In fact, I try to get the stuffiness out of my client's web plans as much as they will tolerate.
"We're here to help you search- that's all; not to get you to look at our ads or sway you towards the people who pay us money."
You get the clear impression that search is their primary focus, not a secondary focus or a hook to get you to the site.
I think Google needs to add a Mission Statement and Terms and Conditions of use
Agreed. And they should ban such frivolous uses as Googlewhacking.
I don't think the object was to comment on it as search portal, where it is undeniably successful.
