Tuesday 25 March 2008

Google's search-within-search feature could be bad for publishers

Google's new tool to help users search within particular sites could mean bad news for other sites, and for publishers in particular.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, retailers and publishers are not happy about Google's new search-within-search feature, unveiled this month, that lets users stay with the search engine to find pages on popular sites.

It is thought that while the service may help increase traffic for publishers, some users could be siphoned away by Google.

Alan Rimm-Kaufman, an internet consultant, said: "Google is showing a level of aggressiveness with this that's just not needed."

He added that the feature diminished a web publisher's role in helping users find useful content.

"You may want to editorialise differently when someone searches, and maybe put a premium on certain reporters or content. This moves you further out of the loop."

Pinny Gniwisch, vice president for marketing for online jeweller Ice.com, said that Google's feature was "essentially giving the customer a way to leave a search for your site".

Category: SEO

Technorati tags: seo google search within search feature could publishers