Google's Revamped Search Engine Seeing More Traffic

[outland88]

Google claims the numbers are way up with its revamped search engine. More searches or is it people looking for their sites? [news.cnet.com...]

"Early indications are that people are interacting with it more, learning about more things...and doing more [search] queries," top Google search executive Amit Singhal told the Journal in an interview. "It's stoking people's curiosity."

[edited by: engine at 9:19 am (utc) on May 30, 2012]
[edit reason] added quote [/edit]

[Seb7]

People are probably doing more with it lately, as they are no longer getting the results they were looking for first time!

[jmccormac]

I wouldn't trust anything that Google claims these days without verification.

Good search engines provide results and the bounce rate shout be high if the user gets the answer. The fact that Google is, according to Singhal, getting more queries indicates that users may not be getting the answers they want and have to resort to more queries.

Regards...jmcc

[dertyfern]

The fact that Google is, according to Singhal, getting more queries indicates that users may not be getting the answers they want and have to resort to more queries.

My feeling exactly.

More of my own Google searches than not, result in poor serps. Could people be re-searching until they get their queries right? If so, yeah, they're doing more search queries and interaction is "better".

An alternative search engine just isn't top of mind for more people--especially in Europe.

[idolw]

So, people did not use Google before because they had need for knowledge but waited for proper tool

Yeah, sure.

[jmccormac]

Well the happy-clappy technology journalists will probably all run this as a great discovery by Google. Meanwhile back in the real world...

Regards...jmcc

[mcneely]

If you set out to intentionally confuse or otherwise make getting info difficult, the visitor will do one of two things .. #1 they leave right away (smaller less well known sites) or #2 they remain on the domain longer trying to find what they need (bigger sites like Google, Amazon, so forth).

Google has *Revamped, crowded, or otherwise cluttered their internet properties up a bit to keep people on the domains longer ..

[SEO2Go]

The longer you stay on their search engine, the more likely you are to click one of their ads.

[AndyA]

More search queries would result when frustrated searchers aren't finding what they're looking for. Google doesn't say they have gained new users, just more searches.

Not sure how that's necessarily a positive thing, but that's the way it's being presented. I always thought search engines were supposed to help people find sites, and not become a destination in themselves. I didn't realize there were people who just want to go hang out searching for stuff, never leaving the search site.

I still think a large percentage of Google's market share has always been webmasters constantly checking their rankings. With all the changes lately, I'm certain site owners and those who manage sites for them are doing a lot more searching to determine where their sites ended up.

[backdraft7]

As B.F. Skinner proved, if the rat doesn't get rewarded, it won't return.
User's may be scrambling to find out what happened to their sites, but once the grim reality or Google's poor results sinks in, you'll be seeing a more believable rise in Bing! numbers.

GOOG does not correlate any rise in user numbers with their stock price. [bing.com...]

[Slashus]

Did that guy really say that? He's happy people are having to search over and over now to find what they want? Then rather than see it for what it is - poorer results - he spins it as, "People are more curious! woohoo! That's the ticket!"

um, okay dude - good job? Panda & Penguin ftw?

[engine]

Google has wanted to become a destination, and to retain vistors, for some time. They have ads to show you, and that earns them money. The longer they can keep you on their site, the greater the chance you'll find something in an ad.

[neildt]

Google search queries are up, because of the poor results users are having to re-search again and again.

[Andem]

I can report on behalf of the people in this household, that we are all performing more searches because it's become very difficult to find what we want which results in further queries.

I can say with absolute certainty that none of this increased activity is due to 'curiosity'.

[londrum]

i hate sticking up for google, but there is one reason why people might be searching more -- their instant results thing.

ive found that i frequently type a word or phrase, and then backspace to change a letter to get different set of results up. i didnt do so much of that in the past, when you had to press enter to get the results.

do you think google counts these as a whole extra search? (backspacing to get a new result set up?) that would be cheeky, but i wouldn't put it past them.

[aleksl]

all of the above.

I also hate instant search thingy. Don't know how many times you type something and it shoves something wrong. Or just doesn't refresh results, no matter what you do, even hit Enter numerous times - btw you have to go back to main page and redo search when that thing is frozen, very annoying.

I actually did this in a major store, me and a sale tech were looking for a product on an in-store laptop. I told him forget it, just go to Bing. My opinion on this was that the way it is going, within a year Google will be struggling to keep people on. Tech seemed extremely interested in that.

Right, keep spinning it. "If people can't find it, search pages and fancey javascript are broken - it certainly means people are more curious". Right, all of a sudden.

One more spinner, Matt Cutts will be proud.

[Bewenched]

Google search queries are up, because of the poor results users are having to re-search again and again.

BINGO!

[ponyboy96]

I think everyone hit the nail on the head. This is also the reason I change all default searches to Bing. I find what I'm looking for faster there.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Early indications are that people are interacting with it more, learning about more things...and doing more [search] queries

- UGH, CAN'T FIND WHAT USED TO BE HERE ANYMORE, WHERE DID IT GO?!?
- What the, that's not what I wanted... let me try again.
- No, no, not Rob Ford the Toronto Canada Mayor, the car company please.

I hear that more people are getting frustrated with Google than I do of people who like the constant changing. The above are some examples that might explain the results. Also, Bing traffic has surged which discounts what Google is saying and reflects what I'm hearing.

[briggidere]

londrum, I think you may be on to something. Referring back to the AdWords impression information Google give us about instant is that an impression is counted when;

Person begins to type and then clicks anywhere on the page like a search result, ad, or related search

Person types a search and then clicks the "Search" button, presses Enter, or selects a predicted query from the drop-down menu

Person stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds

[mcneely]

I sure hope Bing is up to the task ..

[diberry]

I agree that more searches does not mean more user satisfaction. Another reason to doubt this interpretation:

The behavior Google is describing suggests that getting good search results makes people suddenly realize they have other topics they want to search. Now, when I have time on my hands, I do this (with Bing). I'll look up one topic and suddenly realize I need to know more about another topic, and I'll do 10-20 searches in no time. But it's not prompted by being happy with my search results; it's prompted by having time on my hands.

Why would people have time on their hands? Could it be because school just let out in the US? Could it be because there's a glimmer of hope in the job market, and some people who'd given up are starting to look again?

If people are searching more, it's either that they suddenly have lots more time to do it, or that their initial queries aren't finding what they want. Or both.

[backdraft7]

Let's take a vote...all those who love Google's "new" search engine, raise your hands...
hmmm, I didn't think so...

So much for "Google Love" Larry.

[bwnbwn]

Folks I have to believe the news. Using Bing doing a comparison of information on sites and my search on both. Google heee had to dig some but found some, but Bing 1st place had a good description of the search clicked it, up pops a threat block, were I am moving to. G and probably staying. Looks like Bing might be letting to many infected sites slip by. Don't know I just might have been lucky and got it before it was caught, either way I am moving.

[jmccormac]

What is really surprising about this thread is that the Google fanboys and fangirls have not shown up to defend Dear Leader Larry and Google.

Regards...jmcc

[blend27]

"Early indications are that people are interacting with it more, learning about more things...and doing more [search] queries," top Google search executive Amit Singhal told the Journal in an interview. "It's stoking people's curiosity."

All I see is 80/20 split between Preview bot/actual clicks(that rarely convert now days).

Main keyword phrase is on page 6, used to be #4.

Had a friend visit me from remote Russian city 2 weeks ago, blamed me of having a broke "komputer", said he was able to find all info on NY Metro area widgets form where he was, but not from my network PCs are. I tried to explain... Ended up using a proxy to get to the Data mention by him, that didn't work out well either :(.

Bing! I say, he replies Yahooooooooooo!(any body that speaks Russian could understand the emphasis on the H and OOOO combined).

How sad.....

[CainIV]

Its like asking Realtors if the local market is doing well.

[chetan]

Google is invaded by Spammers with AdSense + other Ad Mines with content refreshed at hourly rate thus gaining ranks over well Analysed Blog Contents which can't keep on producing Articles at the same rate as these guys do.

[bwakkie]

Is it not that while typing you already getting answers make the hits increase way more all alone?

[leadegroot]

The other way they are getting more searches out of me is all the javascript!
Firstly, Safari caches my page loads in History under the first url, so when I look back for 'that page I found', it isn't there, just junkie google urls.
Secondly, if I refine and refine a query until I eventually find something useful, that final, useful query isn't stored in my history, because its all one pageload - so I have to fiddle around again next time to try and find that result. grrr...
Yep, more searches mean we are 'exploring', Google. You go right on beleiving that!