Is ‘Natural Search’ still Natural?

Google’s latest amendment to the display of search results places a box of scrolling entries in a prominent position on page one. Enter 'climate change', for example, and you’ll find an example of the tool.

Scroll through the real time results and you’ll find Twitter-esque snippets, a high percentage of which originate from Twitter. This function undoubtedly provides a lot of users with information that matches their search needs.
But is it right to give so much prominence to Twitter and other ‘real time’ publishing devices? Is their content more relevant just because it’s more recent? It also feels like another step away from ‘natural search’, a concept that was so fundamental to Google’s proposition back when the battle for search domination was raging.

Over recent years we’ve seen images and video clips dropped into our page 1 results in tandem with the launch of Google images and their acquisition of YouTube. Why not tease out the multi-media capabilities of the web instead of just listing links and summaries?

One argument is that it leads us away from the ideal of meritocracy that distinguished Google from its competitors and continues to play a major role in the way producers for the web conduct their business and develop content.
At the same time it does support a richer experience.

But is there another way?

Google continues to update the search results format because competition for search market share remains fierce. Bing.com is an emerging force, although it currently holds 3.26% of the market compared to Google’s 84.91% according to MarketShare. A key factor in the display of their results is that they provide the full array of media while preserving the ‘natural’ element of the results. Main results remain in the centre of the page and can be elaborated on upon hover.

It’s neater, it’s organised, and it’s fair - a clear example of how competition continues to benefit users.

Associated Link: UX-Press, the UX blog

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