New SERPs in Google
In May 2010 Google launched their new Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) – for the beginners who are not familiar with the terminology the SERPs are the page you see your results on after you perform a search in Google.
With the new design, Google is forcing users to notice all the options available to them.
It’s a common belief that this new layout will change how people interact with the search results and people will play with the various options now that they are more prominent.
Notice you can narrow your search for News, Images etc in the top left section. Then you can access various search tools and then they offer “Something Different” which gives you other options that they feel are related to your search.
Tip: To be sure you come up on top when people click for the “Latest” results, you want to be sure you are updating your site regularly.
WebProNews reports that Yahoo shared when they added features to their left-hand navigation bar, engagement increased. “We’ve been steadily adding more filtering options and relevant search suggestions to our left-hand navigation bar…and have seen engagement and click-throughs for those features double over the past seven months.” (Source: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/05/06/yahoo-weve-got-a-left-hand-navigation-bar-too)
The Take-Away:
It is going to be very important that you evaluate the related search queries and available options for phrases you want to rank for, to make sure you do well when users engage with the various options in the new results page.
Popularity: 16% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Definitely a huge change, although it just looks like a new design. I personally don’t like this sidebar alot and I think it’s pretty confusing for people that are only used to enter a search pharse and never care for any additional options…but it’s something everybody has to adapt to.