New Google SERPs Layout Goes Into Effect

[londrum]

Continued from: [webmasterworld.com...]

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maybe i'm just a bit behind the times, but i noticed that the google UK page has changed.
when you do a search you get a result page with 3 columns. you've now got navigation along the top and the lefthand side too.

thing i noticed was the new 'page previews' option. it always winds me up when google use our content for their own purposes. and this page preview option just seems like more of that.
they have doubled the size of the usual snippet/description to about 10 lines. it's pretty much the entire opening paragraph from each site.

if you do a search for a question, then the chances are that those 10 lines (or 100 lines if you include all sites on the page) will include the answer.

... i mean, what is the point of an extra 'page preview'? the snippet is supposed to give you a preview, and if you want to see more you click through to the site. but now google are trying to capture those clicks. they are still giving you the snippet, but if you want to see more you can just click their preview instead and stay with them. they want to keep as many people at google for as long as possible, that's what it's all about.

they keep pushing the fence further back and back down our garden, until eventually they'll be camped out on our whole lawn.

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 7:20 pm (utc) on May 6, 2010]

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

maybe i'm just a bit behind the times, but i noticed that the google UK page has changed.

Not from where I am sitting?

[neildt]

Yep just started seeing this in UK SERPS today

[tedster]

Anything like this description? New Google Interface [webmasterworld.com]

[tigger]

same here started showing in spain when searching on G.co.uk

makes you wonder what idiot thought it would be a good idea to hide the UK only results in such a way - thank good bing is slowly pulling some traffic

[tedster]

Acch! I'm still not invited to the party (US based access to google.co.uk)

[tigger]

edit - just noticed I'm only getting this on Chrome, the "good" old radio buttons are still showing on IE & Firefox

[piatkow]

No change on the IE6 dinosaur in the office. Firefox was unchanged last night.

Anybody seeing this outside of Chrome?

[kd454]

I have seen this on the data center [209.85.225.103...] at times, don't see it right now. Was looking for a way to turn it off but there is not.

[blend27]

Just kicked in for me in US around noon. FF only.. IE, Opera and Safari same ol GORG-oily stuff...

[Brett_Tabke]

[googleblog.blogspot.com...]

Using Google today, you may have noticed that something feels slightly different — the look and feel of our search results have changed! Today’s metamorphosis responds to the increasing richness of the web and the increasing power of search — revealing search tools on the left and updating the visual look and feel throughout. While we are constantly rolling out small changes and updates, today’s changes showcase the latest evolutions in our search technology, making it easier than ever to find exactly what you're looking for.

[bits.blogs.nytimes.com...]

The search giant is adding a new left-handed navigation panel to most results pages, adding some visual clutter at the expense of offering users tools to help focus their query. What will show up on this new left panel depends what a person is looking for.

Search for a type of media — say the latest episode of “Gossip Girl” — and you will get the option to choose between different content types, like images, videos and books. Search for an event or news topic, like “Times Square bomb,” and the search engine will intuit that this is a news-related query and offer options to look at blogs, real time updates from sources like Twitter and Facebook, and links to news articles.

[piatkow]

Nothing for me on .uk with FF, Safari ir IE8.

[Atomic]

I see it in the US with IE 6, 7, and 8.

[tedster]

I tried every browser I have (US East Coast) with no luck. So I disabled cookies in FF and there it was - until I did a second search. Then the interface reverted, even with cookies turned off.

Some kind of complex tracking for this roll-out is going on. I also know that yesterday my FF browser was getting blocked as "appears to be automated". I only ever type, and I really don't do THAT many searches!

If I have more time, I might start playing with proxy access to add another data point.

[edited by: tedster at 10:32 pm (utc) on May 5, 2010]

[MrWumpus]

I'm getting it now. I did Start > Run > ipconfig /flushdns and opened up Safari browser (which I haven't used in a while) and it showed up. Wouldn't show up in FF for me. I'm on US West Coast.

We're scratching our heads over here. Does "show fewer shopping results" mean "show me just the top x shopping sites for this keyword"?

When we click "show more shopping results" our site drops from #1 for its top phrase which has never happened before...

Time to put on the crash helmet and brew a pot of coffee.

[mic089]

I'm seeing it now in Australia (using Firefox and IE).

[Tallon]

I'm seeing it now too but...but results don't include a snapshot of my webpage. Any ideas why? I don't allow google to cache my site, but I see other sites with snapshots that don't have cache enabled either (and sites with cache enabled don't have a snap).

[arizonadude]

LOL! Just saw the new layout in the US.

All they need is a picture in the background and they will look like Bing.

[Tallon]

All they need is a picture in the background and they will look like Bing.

ITA...exactly what I thought too.

btw...I saw results with IE 8, nothing in firefox yet.

[ken_b]

Using FF, I've been seeing this off and on all day in Minnesota, USA

But just on the first search, if I refine the search, the results always revert to the old style.

[dstiles]

My wife noticed something odd on her machine this morning and it seems to be consistent - she has cookies enabled but javascript off.

For some time I've had a Show Options link at the top left. Clicking on that shows some basic links headed All Results, Any Time etc. SOMETIMES today, after I've opened this column and submitted a search, I get a fancy left column with google icons in it. I can't recall the actual content now because this is very erratic and it ain't doing it right now. I have cookies and javascript off.

Firefox in both cases, in the UK.

I wonder if they are trying to force people not to use firefox. :(

[tedster]

Good observation. I turned off JavaScript and did a new search in Firefox. The new interface appeared!

[wolfadeus]

I don't like it. Didn't change much, so why was this necessary?

[wolfadeus]

It tricks my ad blocker, too.

[travelin cat]

Using FF on a Mac with JavaScript on I see it now as well.

[chicagohh]

Hiding the content in JavaScript will mess with the rank checkers.

[dstiles]

I just checked google cookies and found a single one named PREF. I deleted it.

I'm wondering if that was sufficient to kick up one or two instances only of the new column. Probably not.

I have javascript turned off and was wondering why the column opened when I hit the old style Show Options link. Turns out it reloads the page, not just opens a hidden div.

[graeme_p]

I can see it on Firefox, Opera and Arora, with and without Javascript, so failure to work in some browsers must be a glitch.

I can see it on all the regional sites.

The most interesting new thing I can see are the "more shopping sites" and "fewer shopping" sites options - some thing which I loved when Yahoo experimented with it, but they rolled it out to the main search engine.

The rest seems to be mostly options they always had, but with some images added to draw attention to them (probably a good idea because most people did not know those options existed).

[Reno]

I'll be interested to see how this new layout will impact clickthrough traffic. It may be just a coincidence, and hopefully it's short-lived, but today is off rather considerably.

...........................

[tedster]

There's even less real estate above the fold for organic results. I'd predict that click-through will be lower for the same rankings, and indeed that is what several members in the MAYDAY thread are reporting.

Here's an article [siliconangle.com] with screenshot analysis. The author adds very little commentary. He just says "the screenshots speak for themslves".

The era of depending on Google Search for website traffic is fading. If you have been focused ONLY on Google, it's definitely time to diversify. There are many other ways to generate traffic.