Google results page just gets messier!

Once upon a time Google provided a nice straightforward page of results that you could quickly scroll through to find the information that you wanted. However, other search engines started to provide blended results, such as the late unlamented Ask with their 3D view, so Google decided to add Universal search, and combine results from different places. Then it decided to get clever and suggest results for the search that it thought you wanted. Then of course there were related searches, blog postings and so on.

This has left Google with a real headache, and they've no real idea on how to approach the problem. The advertising on the right hand side which has been there forever means that they can't really encroach the right side. Putting content onto the left hand side is possible, but that's pretty much reserved for more menus, despite the fact that there's menus already at the top of the screen. Oh yes, and menus at the bottom of the screen as well. So the only approach they have left is to go across the screen. And this tends to merge content together.

Let's look at a example page from Google UK for a Gordon Brown search:
So going down the page we have some top results; it's nice to see that the UK version does put the #10 Downing Street above the Wikipedia entry, unlike the .com version. Next we have a link to some suggested results for Gordon Brown estate agents, then a bunch of other results. Then some video results, and some news results. Then back to 'normal' results. Then some blog post results. Then some searches related to Gordon Brown, links to the next pages, another search box, then another menu.

Just how messy do they intend on getting? Results are all over the shop, searchers have to scroll down the entire page hunting for the information that they're interested in; the whole thing is a disaster area!

Comments

[Lisa]

For a company that has a policy of 28 words ONLY on their start page, the subsequent pages are a bit of a mess. They need to embrace what has made them so popular, in my opinion, simplicity.

[Sandra Beebe-Prevost]

I am currently using one of
Google's Experimental searches, 'My preferred sites'. This makes the results a little less messy. I'm loving this because I am able to add sites that I trust for the information I need.