Here’s an update to yesterday’s post, Google’s New SERP Page Design – Bad News for SEM?
I can’t login to Google Analytics this morning for some reason (see the reason here) and did a quick search on Google to see what the problem was. The initial results didn’t show anything, so I tried out the new “Latest” filter to show only the most recent results. Here’s the SERP:
This was a big help because I easily found other users having the exact same problem at the same time I was. That immediately ruled out my browser, computer, internet connection or anything else related to me.
So this is pretty useful for me as an individual, but again doesn’t help me as a SEM trying to sell products or gather leads.
Popularity: 15% [?]
I’ve been in the middle of a few PPC and SEO projects today and have been using Google almost every minute of the day. Around 4:30 CST today Google updated their page design.
Google’s old page design:
Google’s new page design:
I was still able to pull up the old design in Chrome. I was checking some cookie tracking, and right after I removed all cookie data from Firefox, I noticed the new design. And I’ve been clearing my cookies frequently the past couple of days to re-test tracking, so this is a very recent update from Google.
Search Filters
Google is now putting a column of filters on the left of the SERPs – but they are the same as the ones along the top-left. They have, however, added a “recommended tools” section below that that allows users to choose page images, or fewer or more shopping results. Users can then click “more options” and filter by timeframe, geo-location (you set your location just below the search box), standard view and timeline (very odd), or a few more standard page options.
Geolocation Filter
When I searched for “shoes” and used the “nearby” filter, Google pulled out the top results and replaced them with local listings – mostly superpages and citypages. But there were a few results from local stores in my area that would not have come up on page 1 without this filter. And after I chose “nearby”, options to refine my location filter even further appeared, including the ability to choose a custom location, or my default location. I could also choose to filter by city, region or state.
Timeline filter
The first thought I had was “useless”. Unless I’m doing some research for a mid-term or my thesis, I don’t want to get the complete history of shoes because I’m probably looking to buy some new ones. Here’s ascreenshot below, and let’s see how long this option lasts:
Recency Filter
Google’s options to filter by time looks like their big answer to integrate comments and social conversations.
More filter options
The other two filtering options of note are the Page Images (showing thumbnails of images on the page) and Page Preview (shows a preview of the page to the right of the Title & Description). Both of these features are not new for a search engine. I consulted with a startup-search engine that had a good implementation of the page preview feature in early 2007.
Google Page Images
Google Page Preview
The big picture for Search Engine Marketing
What I did notice is that each time I chose a new filter, the ads reloaded, meaning a new pageview for each advertiser on the page. And Ads were not filtered; they were either reloaded or removed on certain filters like the timeline. This means every advertiser received another impression each time, without further filtering the ads. Unfortunately, might mean lower Click Through Rates and lower Quality Scores. I’ll be watching my campaigns closely to see if there are any changes as more Google users are switched to the new interface.
Popularity: 20% [?]
