I'm Feeling Lucky !

How much Significance/Useful?

[ideavirus]

Hello,

Google is known for its innovative ideas in the search engine arena.Given that :
I'm feeling Lucky feature is been there for a long time now, might be since google started off ( since I am not sure )..!
Thing is :
How many or what percentage of searches /day/month are I'm feeling Lucky clicks...I guess, by clicking that button, google just takes the searcher to the first result in the corresponding SERP...!

If the usage of that feature is less, why wouldn't google conisder have a different feature in its place,which could be more useful..??

Or is it that, that feature still has a kind of charm amoung the users, just b'cos, no other search engine sport's such a feature ???

Cheers

[Grumpus]

I've had 1 hit that I can say for certain comes from the "Lucky" button. Granted, this absolutely provides no light into your question, but there are a few searches where I rank #1 (despite the fact that they aren't particularly popular search terms) and I get several hits a day on them. Based on some rough calculations I did for July, I got +/- 1200 visits from those searches where I ranked #1 and exactly one of them came in from an "I feel Lucky" hit. So, I'd guess that, while it might not be very accurate, it's as good as I can give you - about 1 in 1000 people use the Lucky button (?)

G.

[ideavirus]

I'd assume here that this feature is mostly used by newbies... again using 1 in 1000 ...could mean...the number of newbies that are using google everyday..??

Will that make sense ??

[deltakits]

I would bet that the majority of the Lucky clicks are from people doing the "Wonder what this button does" thing. Click on it, see that it goes to a site, and immediately go back to click the other button :)

[brotherhood of LAN]

I think the "I'm feeling lucky" button was "nice" for people who had never heard of Google (like most of us some moons ago) -

It sorta insinuates that you'll always be lucky and get led to a relevant site....something that was not taken for granted before the advent of Google :) IMO a PR type-trick

In regards to stats....can't say I've noticed anything myself...but then again my #1's are scarce :)

[Knowles]

I dont know if its for Newbies or not, my father the other day asked me what it was for. I he is not really a newbie but he does not overly use google. Most the time he is looking for music scores when he uses it. I dont think it would be used much at all.

[ideavirus]

deltakits : My experience with the Lucky button is exactly the same as you have described.. :)

But, If it not much useful, except serving some cosmetic purpose...wouldn't it be nice, if Google has a very useful feature in its place...

How many of you would like a change in its place, if yes, what would you like to see there ??

Any Ideas ??
Cheers

[c3oc3o]

I don't usually use that button either, but thinking about it, it would indeed be useful in many cases, when I know exactly what page I'm looking for, but have forgotten the URL (which I'm sure is the case for about a third of my searches).
One example is the CIA world factbook, I can never remember that URL, but entering "CIA factbook" and hitting "I'm feeling lucky" would bring me there quickly.
I'd never use it for normal topic searches, and I don't believe many people do, or that it was meant for that.

[dukeblue219]

I use the Lucky button occasionally, like if I were searching for McDonalds Hamburgars, I'd just hit I'm Feeling Lucky. It works best for big sites that will have high PR's, like searching for Ford Motor Company.

[JayC]

How many of you would like a change in its place, if yes, what would you like to see there ??

I'd like to see a button that takes you straight to one of my clients' sites!

I think, seriously, that c3oc3o and dukeblue219 called it right: the feature can be useful when you can be confident that the first site returned is the one you want. I think Google's users would be better served if they were to keep it but label it differently: "Take me to the first site," or "...to the most relevant site," or something similar -- so newbies or not, people would know what it does.

[Giacomo]

I use it on the Google toolbar for sites with long URLs (as WebmasterWorld.com) which I visit often: instead of typing the whole URL or opening my bookmarks, I simply type the site name and hit the magic button. A real time saver! ;)

[Giacomo]

keep it but label it differently: "Take me to the first site," or "...to the most relevant site," or something similar -- so newbies or not, people would know what it does.

Oh yeah, but then they wouldn't feel lucky! ;)

[Giacomo]

I'm feeling Lucky feature is been there for a long time now, might be since google started off ( since I am not sure )..!

I can tell you, the magic button's been there since November, 1998 at least (aah... the goog' ol' days [web.archive.org]! ;) ).

[ukgimp]

I know what you're thinking punk, you're thinking did Google give a PR6 or only PR5? Well, to tell you the truth I kinda forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this here's the Google , the most powerful search engine in the world and would blow your PC Processor clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?

Could not resist ;)

[SmallTime]

I think it would be a good spot for the news search - I think its main intial value was in promoting the idea of Googles relevancy, implying that Google was so good that you could go straight to what you want, and a bit of fun, rather than something they expected folks to actually use. But now it could give the option of searching news sites, and carry another implied message.

[ideavirus]

SmallTime : I guess what you have to say is quite close to the reality..i mean the initial reasons for having that feature.

rather than something they expected folks to actually use

I guess with that said..it defeats the whole idea of having an alternative feature in its place.

But yes a minor change in that would make a difference.

[shelleycat]

I always assumed it took me to an entirely random website. It never occured to me to combine it with an actual search phrase. So I think it could be labelled a bit better since I'm sure if I got confused, then other people have too. I might actually use it now I know what it does.

Shelley