That little green URL
Sun, May 30, 2010
So I Googled something before, in fact it was ‘sumerian’ (I’d just seen Fourth Kind – those who’ve seen it will understand). Google dutifully served up results in their usual speedy way and I instantly clicked the top result – as you do. When taken to the page I was puzzled to see that it was not the page I was after.
Hitting back, it dawned on me that I had made my decision to visit this page, not on the title or description of the result (as perhaps a normal person may) but on the little green URL. I’d just seen en.wikipedia.org and clicked. The fact it was the top result probably helped too.
But, it’s interesting that when searching for stuff online, I’m making decisions to click based on the site where the info is hosted, before I even read the title or description of the result – if at all. I’m so expectant of Google to deliver the search results I expect, that my main concern is just which website the info is on. I’m happy to let Google do the thinking and leave me to make decisions as to whether I trust the site to provide me with reliable info.
This just shows how important it is to build a website which people will trust. Even with the bazillion of possible websites competing for your click – reputation matters a lot. In fact, it would appear it’s my first consideration.
Posted in: Google, Search Engines,
Have your say
Feel free to add your opinion :)
Sun, May 30, 2010
I have done this before. Completely agree with you about the importance of a site’s reputation being important.
However, just as interesting would be an investigation of domain name to ranking importance. Would Wikipedia have caught your eye had it been the 5th article? Is the experience you have documented actually just clicking the top link, regardless of its domain? Or is it actually domain driven?
Just a thought.
By GM Chicken