Google Raises Related Searches Links to Top of Search Result Pages

[potentialgeek]

Good or bad? I like it. Was the footer; it's now the header. Two lines, up to four links per line, or eight total. Very neat.

But it could siphon your traffic, if, for instance, you're in the top six (above the fold) for one search term, but now folks see the related search results, and click any or all those eight links. If you're not in the top results for those related searches, your traffic will suffer. Guaranteed.

Now you have to SEO-target those related search phrases--if you weren't already.

Is Google being too helpful? Should the extra links be at the top or stay at the bottom?

p/g

[tedster]

I used to see related searches at the top - but now I am still seeing them at the bottom. As usual, Google is experimenting to see what suits their average end-user best (and that's not you or me).

If I were designing something like this, I'd think that they belong at the top, especially for vague single word searches. Or maybe even down the margin, the way BlueLight used to do it.

[Crush]

screenshot please.

[Oliver Henniges]

Today I noticed this for the first time here in Germany at all: at the footer.

When has this been established?

Seems as if it only applies to competitive (one-word) search-phrases (> 2 million results). Is that tright?

[Robert Charlton]

Seems as if it only applies to competitive (one-word) search-phrases (> 2 million results). Is that right?

Yes and no.... Apart from some two-word city names, in the case of some geo searches, Google needs enough disambiguation to know that it's a placename. Using Bend, Oregon as an example...

[bend [google.com]] shows other than placename-related searches...

[bend oregon [google.com]] confines the search to the town of Bend, and also offers other searches related to Bend (an outdoor kind of place), as opposed to refinements, say, for [chicago [google.com]], a big city, which is much more frequently searched (and with standard tourist categories).

Geo refinements and related searches both appear to be showing at the bottom in all searches I've tried... which isn't to say that they aren't testing other placement as well.

I think we're going to have something akin to everflux with regard to serps layout. I'd call it "evermove."

Medical refinements (mostly for one-word searches) are always at the top... eg [malaria [google.com]]....

Also see:
"Searches related to:" - Where are these from?
[webmasterworld.com...]

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 1:00 am (utc) on June 21, 2007]