Google seems to be putting out one surprise after another lately. First, they get us with with the personalised search, and now it’s a fresh new look with added features. If you haven’t taken the time to read more about the new changes, and why Google made them, here’s a video to help you along:
Basically, the team at Google took some of the features (the search options across the top of the page), expanded them and made them better. The search options are now available on the left-hand side of the page, with the Universal Search options being the default view. This option shows all results for a search item like you normally would. The options under, however, let you receive more specific results.
For example, you can now limit your searches to just books or blog posts, or even blog posts in the past 24 hours. It is quite handy to those wanting to get only the most recent news and results, or even for those trying to compare changes between certain periods of time.
But, for people interested in seeing changes over time, there is also the additional feature of the “Timeline”. This gives the user a visual graph of the search results over time, also with a play by play (year to year) breakdown of what was popular. This new feature can quickly and easily show the popularity of that keyword or phrase over time, which is helpful for individuals conducting market research, or even for SEO purposes.
The “wonder wheel” is another interesting addition to the new Google. By clicking on this option, the user is brought to an image laying out the related searches spawning from this first search term. Click on a related search from the image, and the user is brought to yet another wheel (off the first wheel) with its own related searches. Being only a visual representation of Google’s standard related search ideas, it is noteworthy to be able to see on one screen the interlinking web of terms.
Cosmetically, Google has also updated the look of the site and the logo in order to appear more modern.
In terms of SEO, will this affect me?
It’s hard to say at this point.
With the removal of the radio buttons that previously allowed the selection of “the web” OR “pages from Australia” from the google.com.au homepage, search results now appear to be defaulting to “the web” results.
Google’s Old Look
Google’s New Look
After a search has been conducted a user can then select the “pages from Australia” option from the left hand side menu and then toggle between “The Web” and “Pages from Australia” as required using these links.
There seems to be mixed emotions on many Australian websites about Google’s new changes.
How do you feel about it? and more importantly, have you experienced any changes in website traffic?
Let us know by dropping a comment below.
