{"id":19774,"date":"2022-11-30T01:56:03","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T01:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/30\/google-is-more-hesitant-to-send-users-out-into-the-web\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T01:56:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T01:56:03","slug":"google-is-more-hesitant-to-send-users-out-into-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/30\/google-is-more-hesitant-to-send-users-out-into-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Google is More Hesitant To Send Users Out Into The Web"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ex-Googler Marissa Mayer in a podcast on the topic of why Google search is so bad explained that it wasn\u2019t Google that was bad it was the Internet. Then she opined that one of the reasons for keeping users on Google is because the web isn\u2019t always a good experience.<\/p>\n

Ex-Googler Marissa Mayer<\/h2>\n

Marissa Mayer was employee #20 at Google. She played key roles in virtually all of Google\u2019s major products, including Google search, local, images, and AdWords, to name a few.<\/p>\n

She left Google to become president and CEO of Yahoo! for five years.<\/p>\n

Mayer was not only there at the beginning of Google but played a role in shaping the company, which gives her a unique perspective on the company and its thinking, to some extent.<\/p>\n

What is the Reason for Zero-Click SERPs?<\/h2>\n

Marissa Mayer appeared on a recent Freakonomics podcast that was on the the topic of, Is Google Getting Worse?<\/p>\n

In one part of the podcast she insisted that Google search is only a mirror and does not create the low quality of the search results.<\/p>\n

She asserted that if the search results are worse that\u2019s only because the Internet is worse.<\/p>\n

The podcast then moves on to discuss featured snippets, what some in the search marketing community call zero-click search results.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re called zero-click because Google shows the information a user needs on the search results page so that the users receive their answer without having to click through to a website.<\/p>\n

Google officially says that these search features are designed to be helpful.<\/p>\n

Marissa Mayer opined that another motivation to keep people from clicking to a website is because the quality of the Internet is so bad.<\/p>\n

The podcast host started the conversation with his interpretation of what featured snippets are:<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne way Google has tried to fight the overall decline in quality is by supplementing its index of a trillion web pages with some content of its own.<\/p>\n

If you ask a simple question about cooking or the age of some politician or actor, or even what\u2019s the best podcast, you may see what Mayer calls an \u2018inline result,\u2019 or what Google calls a \u2018featured<\/p>\n

snippet.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit of text that answers your question right there on the search-results page, with no need to click on a link.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mayer offered her opinion that Google may be \u201chesitant\u201d to refer users to websites.<\/p>\n

She explained:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that Google is more hesitant to send users out into the web.<\/p>\n

And to me, you know, that points to a natural tension where they\u2019re saying, \u2018Wait, we see that the web sometimes isn\u2019t a great experience for our searchers to continue onto.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re keeping them on our page.\u2019<\/p>\n

People might perceive that and say, \u2018Well, they\u2019re keeping them on the page because that helps them make more money, gives them more control.\u2019<\/p>\n

But my sense is that recent uptick in the number of inline results is because they are concerned about some of the low-quality experiences out on the web.<\/p>\n

I think that the problem is really hard.<\/p>\n

You might not like the way that Google\u2019s solving it at the moment, but given how the web is changing and evolving, I\u2019m not sure that the old approach, if reapplied, would do as well as you\u2019d like it to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What Is the Motivation Behind Featured Snippets?<\/h2>\n

The reason Google gives for providing featured snippets in the search results is that they are convenient for users.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s help documents explai<\/a>n:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe display featured snippets when our systems determine this format will help people more easily discover what they\u2019re seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. They\u2019re especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Marissa Mayer\u2019s opinion matters because she played a key role in shaping Google, from Search to AdWords to Gmail.<\/p>\n

Obviously she\u2019s only offering her opinion and not stating a fact that Google is hesitant to send traffic to websites because the Internet is that bad.<\/p>\n

But could there be something to her observation that websites are not very good?<\/p>\n

Consider that in 2022, there were 8 officially acknowledged Google updates.<\/p>\n

Of those eight updates, six of them updates were spam updates, helpful content updates and product review updates.<\/p>\n

The majority of Google\u2019s updates in 2022 were designed to remove low quality internet content from the search results.<\/p>\n

That focus on weeding out low quality websites aligns with Marissa Mayer\u2019s view that the Internet today is full of low quality content.<\/p>\n

So the history of 2022 Updates kind of confirms Marissa Mayer\u2019s view that web content is bad and that the only way to improve search is by improving web content.<\/p>\n

Given what Marissa Mayer says she gets a sense of, that Google might be \u201cconcerned about some of the low-quality experiences out on the web,\u201d could that play a small role in some of the decisions that Google makes with regard to featured snippets?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that this may be a motivation for featured snippets.<\/p>\n

But maybe Mayer is saying out loud what Googlers say in private.<\/p>\n

Citation<\/h2>\n

Listen to the Freakonomics podcast here<\/p>\n

Is Google Getting Worse?<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured image by Shutterstock\/Koldunov<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n