Instead of garnering appreciation, Google’s ‘Search within Search’ feature came under intense criticism since the day of its launch.
According to a New York Times report, some retailers and publishers were especially not too enthusiastic about this feature because of the growing concern, that Google’s SERP (Search engine result page) display PPC (pay-per click) advertisements from rival companies. Insinuating, that while it might be beneficial for a person using Google for a comprehensive search, the host site would be losing traffic due to the additional search box embedded in the Google search page.
For example: While searching for employment opportunities in Washington Post, the search results yield additional PPC links from Monster.com and CareerBuilders.com. Both these sites are in direct competition with the Washington Post’s employment site. This creates contradictory and a hostile environment for the host site.
However, at present these paid advertisements or the PPC links aren’t showing on these sites. One reason can be that, Google could have pulled out these particular advertisements on the grievances put forward by the website owners. Or the other reason being, that the website owners have themselves taken a stand and opted out of the ‘Search-within-Search’ maze like feature.
For those users who applied the Apple Software’s auto-updater and were forced to install the Safari browser, this post could be an eyeopener. Proving the fact, that, if users are not vigilant enough while working online, they might end up installing softwares which they do not need, or which could seriously compromise their computers’ safety and security.
Just a word of caution. “Be careful, what you wish for’.
