New Google Feature: A Tale of Two Searches

A couple weeks ago, I noticed Google experimenting with a new user interface pattern in their search results: another search input field.  The search within a search raises some questions from both usability and marketing points of view.  Is this unexpected UI pattern beneficial for end-users; does it help users more easily discover what they’re looking for; and what will be the effect on content owners whose sites Google is searching?

Search Within a Search User Experience Issues

When it comes to using an online search engine, Google has conditioned nearly every Internet user on what to expect.  Empty input field, submit, page with results ordered by relevance and some unobtrusive advertisements.  Not very complicated, and it gets the job done.  Over the past few years, Google has experimented with adding new features to the search results page including suggested search refinement terms, image and video results (viewable within the results page), maps, stock quotes and more.  For the most part, these features have enhanced the results page and user experience, unobtrusively providing users of the search engine with valuable disambiguation and helping them discover relevant data.

The latest enhancement, another search entry form, (which is nothing more than the “site:” advanced operator that Google has employed for years), may cause some confusion among less experienced users.  The presence of multiple search entry fields on the same page (who’s to say they will stop at two?) is bound to challenge those of us who don’t sit in front of a computer most of the day.  I’ll be very interested to learn more about usability test results of this feature among novice users.

Implications for Businesses

The potential UX issues are minor compared to what the search within search results means for businesses.  Google is wisely attempting to get users to spend more time on Google search results pages, looking at ads that earn Google money.  The down side for businesses is users are spending less time on their sites, looking at their products and clicking on their advertisements.

For example, consider this use case:

• User searches Google for Best Buy (likely a novice user since they did not just type bestbuy.com into their address bar)
• User, shopping for a Nintendo Wii, inputs “wii” into the search form on the results page.
• After the search, the user is presented with results from the Best Buy website as well as pay-per-click advertisements for the Wii from other retailers.

Clearly, this is good for Google and bad for Best Buy, and other businesses that make money selling products or online advertising.  Fortunately, Google honors requests to remove businesses from the search within search feature.  I am a little surprised that they’ve taken an opt out rather than an opt in approach.

What do you think?  Will the new feature stick?  Does the user benefit outweigh the downside for online retailers?

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