Google is testing a new search feature, you can check it out at Yellowpipe News. It pulls content and images from sites in the search results, based on their relevance to the user’s query. Users can view this information within Google’s search results page (SERPs), never needing to visit website providing it. See the Yellowpipe article if my explanation didn’t cut it, they have screenshots.

My first reaction is that if Google implements this, they will eliminate the need to visit actual pages of a website (in many cases). If a user finds their answer within Google’s SERPs, why do they need to visit the site that provides the info? I have no doubt that with Google’s sophisticated algorithims, they could satisfy a very large percentage of queries in this “expanded description & images” section. This presents a potentially huge problem for website owners and other content providers. Consider this:

Sites like the Internet Movie Database rely on advertising revenue to support their operations. A large percentage of their traffic comes from search engines, Google in particular. If I can’t remember who played Doc Holiday in Tombstone, I Google “Doc Holiday Tombstone”. The second result is from the IMDB. Right now, the short description in Google’s SERPs does not tell me what actor played Holiday in the movie. So, I have to go into the IMDB’s Tombstone page to get the information. I get the answer I want, and the IMDB earns ad revenue from visitors. It’s a symbiotic relationship. If Google implements this “expandable results” tool, the information would probably be available directly from Google, even though the copyrighted material doesn’t belong to them.

With advertisements taking 30-50% of a Google query (depending on screen resolution and keyword), cynics might suggest that the goal of this new tool is to keep users on Google pages, viewing Google ads.

This expandable description tool would probably be great for end users. However, it could be viewed as tantamount to stealing content. Webmasters may soon find their referrals from Google steadily decreasing, as searchers find what they’re looking for without having to leave Google’s increasingly ad-crammed pages.

Maybe that’s a bit extreme, but I just don’t like where Google is going with this experiement. I have always scoffed at the copyright lawsuits targetting Google’s cache of websites, or sites who sue because their sites are on Google News. This case is different. Webmasters who agree should let Google know that they don’t like this idea.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing, Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.