Website previews in Google
I’ve been off work ill (with terrible things) for a couple of days so I might be horrifically late in seeing this and basically be adding to my long list of personal embarrassments, but I’ve just happened on Google site previews in the SERPs – a nifty little feature available from a new magnifying glass icon next to each result.
I’m normally quite sceptical of interface gimmicks like this, but for some reason I feel warm and squishy about this. So sue me. While there’s going to be no direct SEO knock-on, it could focus attention on design as a factor in clickthrough rates.
Do Google ever stand still these days?
15 Comments
Joe
I just started seeing this about 16:15 EST. To ‘activate’ it I had to click within the serps then I was able to see the previews.
Thanks!
Joe
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Darren
Have you noticed one thing though: They don’t display AdSense in the preview =) Which is a smart move in my opinion, I’ve already seen some increase in CTR, searchers don’t expect to see an ads above the fold and when they click they do so the ad has a bigger impact.
So I would say instant previews is also a good money-maker for Google as well (at least temporarily, not sure how it’s gonna go in the long run).
Jim Rudnick - http://www.canuckseo.com
yup….I note that on g.com, the little mag glass has replaced my own AVG shield notice icon — and it works fine…
but here on g.ca — no such mag glass as yet is installed…typically, g.ca lags behind g.com for rollouts…
but still wondering why the g.com mag glass “replaces” the AVG security icon?
AVG – lads, you listening?
🙁
Jim
Joe
Jim – that’s interesting that it replaces the AVG icon.
Another change that I noticed yesterday was the local results are showing up and blending with the SERPs. I’ve read about this but never actually saw it.
SEOinvasion - http://www.seoinvasion.com
Yea, just noticed this earlier today as well. Wrote a little blog post with screenshot as well. This will be interesting to see how it plays out, and to see the effect it has on some of the top dogs and ads in the SERPS.
Jim Rudnick - http://www.canuckseo.com
as of like minutes ago, g.ca NOW shows the mag glass AND the AVG icon too…
both work too btw….and I’d surmise that the instant rollouts are done here in NA…
anyone anywhere else yet to see same?
Roger Bert
Feature copy from Bing I say.
Paul Carpenter - http://www.itsafamilything.co.uk
🙂
Vince - http://www.hogareth.com
I think you’ll find that Ask/jeeves had this feature before other not Bing
Clicktrust - http://www.clicktrust-markering.be
The impact seems to be more on paid search: see how the magnifying glass nicely covers the ads?
Andy Dawson - http://www.bluesnapper.com/blog
As a user I like it but Instant Preview is not kind to Flash or Silverlight and replaces the former with white space and the latter with a ‘click to install’. Yet another reason to avoid using these technologies. It does render animated GIFs though.
Flash/Silverlight aside, as you point out it will likely impact design: web pages will need to grab attention and convey key messages quickly as they have always had to but now within a very small viewing area.
Its also possible that sites will actually see their bounce rates improve but at the expense of less visits.
Irene - http://www.personalinjurydefenders.com/
I first saw this preview feature on Bing but it is in text and links while Google’s is a screenshot.
Mathew - http://www.articlesubway.com
I was also surprised when I accidentally clicked on one of the SERP result and VOILA…there it was, a preview of the site I clicked.
As I am a web design I often have to see websites to get the idea of design, so I think this would save me lots of time: hehehe.
Thanks for sharing… Enjoy
Thomas Kupracz
My prediction: you’ll want to re-work sites to have a clear readable message ‘on preview’. It’s a great feature – but not if you’re all text 🙂 It might make #3 more cliackable than #1.