Others Articles in 'Articles and Resources':
Is Google Instant Amazing... Or A Big Mistake?
On 8th September 2010, Google happily announced the launch of their newest technology: Google Instant. And it's clear to see why they were so happy: it's a potentially amazing technology.
Google Instant automatically fetches search results for the user whilst they are typing in their search query, based on estimates of what the user will be searching for. And so (at least in theory) it is possible for a user to see the search results they are interested in, before they have even finished typing their query!
Google were quick to point out that their early tests have shown that a typical searcher can save as much as 5 seconds per search due to this new technology.
Or to put it another way: "If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That's 11 hours saved every second." (Source: Google).
Clearly this is an exciting technology: it is a strangely amazing experience to see your search results appear before you have even finished typing!
But unfortunately it seems as though Google Instant has a couple of problems which could stop this technology from being massively revolutionary. For one, it isn't great from a usability point-of-view (it might be confusing to the average searcher). Also - and this is the most important of the two problems - Google Instant tends to guess incorrectly what you are searching for (and as a result, irrelevant search results show up). This can be pretty annoying.
In many ways this reminds me of a popular sketch from the UK (aired in 1976). It's from The Two Ronnies and you can watch it below. It is over 6 minutes long, although you'll get the gist of it (and how it relates to Google Instant) within 50 seconds.
Problem 1) Results aren't always relevant
As the video suggests, it's easy for people (and in today's World, search engines/computers) to misunderstand what we are looking for. And whilst Google have always been brilliant at providing accurate search results to its users, Google Instant seems to have taken a step backwards and it now seems to guess what a user is searching for incorrectly, and thus show irrelevant results.
As an example, imagine that a user was searching for the word "Tau" (i.e. the Greek alphabet letter, the Warhammer 40k army, or even the Tel Aviv University). This is the search results I seen as I typed my query into Google:
And then I press the Delete key* and I finally see the results for "Tau". I can fully understand that when you have only typed in a couple of letters, Google's chances of guessing what you are looking for correctly are very low. This is understandable (albeit annoying considering that the page changes around loads everytime I type in a new letter!)
However I find it odd that after I had typed my query, Google then guessed I was looking for information about "Taunton" (which is a country town in Somerset, England, UK, I now know!). This is despite the fact that - according to Google's own figures - 110,000 people per month search for "Tau", compared to just 49,500 people per month searching for "Taunton".
Now I'll give another quick example; one which highlights a possible danger that arises from using Google Instant. The fact that it is now so easy to see additional search results within seconds simply by pressing the keyboard's down arrow when searching using Google Instant gives rise to another potential problem. Please note that Computer Lover isn't suggesting that you look at any of the following search results (suggested by Google Instant), by the way.
When searching for "Adobe Photoshop CS5" (a very popular graphics design software), Google Instant suggests the following alternate search results:
And by the user simply pressing the down arrow on their keyword, they can easily see results suggesting ways to get Photoshop CS5 illegally. It's worth pointing out that this has always been a problem with tools that suggest keywords you might be searching for (since unfortunately people do search for ways to get software illegally), although the fact remains that Google Instant does make it easier than ever to view these search results (simply by pressing one button on the keyword, in-fact).
* The reason I pressed the "Delete" key was because the search box had auto-filled "Taunton" and I was seeing results for "Taunton" hence I honestly thought that if I pressed "Enter" I would just get these "Taunton" results - despite the fact that I had only typed in "Tau". This is a bit confusing and not great usability. I honestly think that most users will think this way too (although instead of thinking to press the "Delete" key, surely they'll just get confused?). This leads us nicely onto number two...
Problem 2) Google Instant is bad for usability
Usability is all about creating an interface and system (such as Google Instant) in a way that is intuitively easy for the user to use. And I think that Google Instant fails in this regard.
I think this because Google Instant is a little distracting. When typing, having the entire page transform and shift around you is a very weird to get used to, and it can be confusing/distracting. And whilst I appreciate that we as users might get used to it, from a usability stand-point the entire point is that users shouldn't have to get used to confusing interfaces! Interfaces and systems should be designed so that they are easy to use.
However I unfortunately think that Google Instant might be a little too confusing for the average user, based on the fact that as they type, the entire page (well, the entire search results!) will be constantly changing.
And of course, the fact that Google guesses what you are typing (usually - as described above - incorrectly) and then automatically shows search results for these (usually wrong) guesses doesn't help usability either.
How To Solve These Problems
To be honest, I don't think that either of these problems are major issues. The second one can even be solved simply by adding a little tagline such as "When you are finished typing your query, press enter. Or scroll down the drop-down list to select alternate search results." (well, something like that but in a more succinct manner!)
And the irrelevant results is a little trickier to solve, however Google have a great reputation for providing relevant search results, so I assume that over time they can tweak Google Instant to provide relevant keyword suggestions, too!
Overall - despite the negativity presented in this article (sorry Google!), we honestly think that Google Instant is a very good idea. The idea of being able to view your search results before you have finished typing is fascinating, and so we definitely support the concept of Google Instant. We just think that it needs a little bit of tweaking to make it a little more useful and user friendly.
Thanks for reading!
We hope that you found this article useful. If you did, please feel free to share this article with others.
If you have a website or a blog you can link to this page using the following code:
Is Google Instant Amazing... Or A Big Mistake?: A look at what Google Instant is, and whether it's truly amazing or whether it might be a big mistake
Alternatively, you can use the white "SHARE" icon in the blue footer below to share this with your friends and family on various other websites.
Home | Link To Us | Contact Us | Sitemap | Privacy Policy |
