08 Oct 10

Google starts showing full page previews in search results

By Vik Kathuria

Google is testing a new search feature which generates full page previews when users roll over links on the search engine results page (SERP). This preview function will also highlight sections of the target page and enlarge text to show bits of information related to the original search query, while clicking anywhere on the preview will take users to the site.

Additionally, the SERP is now showing multiple results from the same site without indenting the additional iterations…it’s hard to know what kind of impact this would have on monetisation, but just looking at the screenshots, it’s obvious that CTRs on paid ads to the right of the page would be negatively impacted as a result of the information panels. While this is only a test, it is possible that content owners will be uncomfortable with this product feature due to the fact that Google is essentially piggybacking on their assets for their own benefit. Conversely, it could be of significant benefit to publishers who continue to rely on Google for a high proportion of their traffic!

Read the full article on BlogStorm