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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 alwa
by 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 agoI 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.