Sorry I don't come around here much these days. I hope I'm not late to this party. I use Google every day. First time I've noticed this "new one".
And of course this is not good for anyone who depends on organic traffic. Like the people who run a website.
Before that though, I've always seen Google's approach as being similar to the game Beach Head II. The enemy tried to land on the beach. In our Google's case, the enemy is the organic listing. Free traffic giveaways as it were. Must be avoided at all costs. How can we cut down the incoming enemy?
Google see the incoming troops on the beach. They lay down fire in hopes of snuffing out the troops headed for organic search listings.
But alas, some of those troops do make it through the fire and barricades and make it to the promised land. They make it to real organic results (somewhere below the fold)!
So today, when I'm typing into the navigation bar, the suggestions and Google "content" type "things" are part of the massive "box" that obliterates the things called search results that reside below. Like the video game, it's another barrier to block people from getting to the organic listings. Having these elements on the results page? Nope. These are part of the search box for what I saw. Takes up almost my entire 1080p display in fact.
I don't know how I triggered this monstrosity. Absolutely bizarre. It's like a blanket.
I know, I know. It's personalized. I'm only seeing this because it's me. I'm me. I'm a searcher and I'm not you. This experience is just me. Not everyone. It's all good. Sure the organic listings are covered up by a blanket of Google suggestions and links. If the goal was to divert, this will certainly do that. You didn't know you wanted to search for it, because Google is going to sway you into going elsewhere.
So like the video game? Try to snuff out the incoming searchers who are trying to get to organic results. So? You get shopping links. Then you get a row of ad links. Then you get rows of suggestions. What about news boxes? Then maybe you get that #1 top organic search result, down below the fold.
And don't you dare clutter your website with ads or clutter above the fold. Deliver what people came there for. The answers and important stuff at the top of the page! Or else? Rankings drop! What's good for us? It's good for us but you don't dare go there.
Hey, if the ad under the search bar doesn't divert traffic (new Pixel phone anyone?), then maybe this new "overlay" will. If not that, then maybe the affiliate ad product links will, or news block, or maybe the ad listings, or maybe, just maybe you can avoid the bullets in order to find that top, most trusted #1 sought out search result.
You may ask yourself why I use Google every day. It's because I love to see how an invasive thing behaves.
