4 ms·

It used to be, when you clicked a link on Google, you left Google to go elsewhere. Now, you search for something like sushi, then go to Google Maps, then see th

It used to be, when you clicked a link on Google, you left Google to go elsewhere. Now, you search for something like sushi, then go to Google Maps, then see the phone number, then call. I'm not _necessarily_ saying this is bad or unwanted, but it's a vast philosophical and product shift for Google. And it has implications for the trustworthiness and long-term usefulness of Google. I do not welcome a future where Google invalidates the business models of businesses like Yelp by delivering their content in such a way that makes going to Yelp unnecessary. I don't want all of my websites to be subsumed by a corporate behemoth, so I get short term better products, but long term stifled innovation.

jonknee 13y ago
Or you can go to the restaurant's website through the link either on the SERP or Maps page... 8/10 though I don't want to see what Wordpress template a restaurant is using this week, I just want to know if it's open, what other people think about it and how to get there. I find this SERP to be vastly more useful than how it used to be. Restaurant owners should too, I no longer will skip visiting your place because your website sucks or is not mobile friendly.
- tripzilch 13y ago
  > Or you can go to the restaurant's website through the link either on the SERP or Maps page... There are no links to restaurant's websites on that SERP page. Except one link to a Facebook page nearly falling off the bottom of screen. If you click the photos or the red balloons on the map you won't go to the restaurant's webpage, but to another page on Google that presumably has more information. Sometimes the link to the restaurant's webpage isn't there either and I have to use yet another query (name of restaurant + location) to find the actual webpage. The point/complaint of the article is that Google's results seems to be less and less coming from the Web as their index and more and more from information sources that Google controls. Even though the change for the typical end-user might be small ("I can find the same stuff"), if continued, it signals a huge change in what Google is. It used to be a service to help you execute a text search over billions of documents, which I still think is a very neat thing to be able to do.
  - calebegg 13y ago
    That's simply not true. When I click one of the carousel results, I get a search result for the exact restaurant, with their page at the top: Initial search: http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-search.png http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-search.png After clicking an item: http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-result.png http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-result.png At least use the damn feature before you join in bashing it.
vacri 13y ago
Data mining? If they have your IP address, they have a decent way to generally locate you... and they obviously have your IP.
spankalee 13y ago
It's not really a philosophical shift at all, but a realization of the types of results Google has always wanted to give. People have this idea that Google always was, and always should be, intended to direct people to web sites, when all along the company has said they want to organize the world's _information_. Web sites just happened to be the easiest thing to do first, but the fact that they bought a mapping company very early on should have been a huge signal where they were going. From Google's point of view, the question is: If you search for "sushi" are you more likely to mean "nearby sushi restaurants" or "a website that lists nearby restaurants"? Which results get you closest to your goal the fastest? Depending on your answer showing local results is absolutely the right thing to do for the user.
- tripzilch 13y ago
  I would really like to see the websites of nearby restaurants. Not another website listing them, not dots on a map with phone and address (although that is also useful), I want the actual sites, so I can compare them, see their menus and whatever else they have decided to share with visitors. I don't think I ever got a result like that from Google when searching for <type of restaurant> + <place name>, it's always been just a few restaurants mixed with way more restaurant-listing-sites. But currently Google sort of tries to hide them, it takes you a few clicks before you get to a link to a restaurant site. So no quickly opening 5 of them in background tabs, for instance.

jonknee 13y ago

Or you can go to the restaurant's website through the link either on the SERP or Maps page... 8/10 though I don't want to see what Wordpress template a restaurant is using this week, I just want to know if it's open, what other people think about it and how to get there. I find this SERP to be vastly more useful than how it used to be. Restaurant owners should too, I no longer will skip visiting your place because your website sucks or is not mobile friendly.

tripzilch 13y ago
> Or you can go to the restaurant's website through the link either on the SERP or Maps page... There are no links to restaurant's websites on that SERP page. Except one link to a Facebook page nearly falling off the bottom of screen. If you click the photos or the red balloons on the map you won't go to the restaurant's webpage, but to another page on Google that presumably has more information. Sometimes the link to the restaurant's webpage isn't there either and I have to use yet another query (name of restaurant + location) to find the actual webpage. The point/complaint of the article is that Google's results seems to be less and less coming from the Web as their index and more and more from information sources that Google controls. Even though the change for the typical end-user might be small ("I can find the same stuff"), if continued, it signals a huge change in what Google is. It used to be a service to help you execute a text search over billions of documents, which I still think is a very neat thing to be able to do.
- calebegg 13y ago
  That's simply not true. When I click one of the carousel results, I get a search result for the exact restaurant, with their page at the top: Initial search: http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-search.png http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-search.png After clicking an item: http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-result.png http://files.calebegg.com/sushi-result.png At least use the damn feature before you join in bashing it.

vacri 13y ago

Data mining? If they have your IP address, they have a decent way to generally locate you... and they obviously have your IP.

spankalee 13y ago

It's not really a philosophical shift at all, but a realization of the types of results Google has always wanted to give. People have this idea that Google always was, and always should be, intended to direct people to web sites, when all along the company has said they want to organize the world's _information_. Web sites just happened to be the easiest thing to do first, but the fact that they bought a mapping company very early on should have been a huge signal where they were going. From Google's point of view, the question is: If you search for "sushi" are you more likely to mean "nearby sushi restaurants" or "a website that lists nearby restaurants"? Which results get you closest to your goal the fastest? Depending on your answer showing local results is absolutely the right thing to do for the user.

tripzilch 13y ago
I would really like to see the websites of nearby restaurants. Not another website listing them, not dots on a map with phone and address (although that is also useful), I want the actual sites, so I can compare them, see their menus and whatever else they have decided to share with visitors. I don't think I ever got a result like that from Google when searching for <type of restaurant> + <place name>, it's always been just a few restaurants mixed with way more restaurant-listing-sites. But currently Google sort of tries to hide them, it takes you a few clicks before you get to a link to a restaurant site. So no quickly opening 5 of them in background tabs, for instance.