Google’s
latest Internet revolution this week saw the web giant modify its
search algorithm to favour mobile-friendly sites, in a bid to upstage
Apple that US media branded a “mobilegeddon”.
US technology website WIRED described Tuesday’s algorithm switch as “likely the biggest change of the past three years.
“And
it’s reminder of the wonderfully magnanimous yet deeply selfish way
that Google uses its market power to accelerate changes across the rest
of the Internet,” it added.
The
change comes in the same week as a Google announcement it will launch
its own US mobile wireless service, with considerable potential savings
for customers using their devices at home and for international travel.
Google argues its algorithm revolution is good for users.
“We
want to make sure they can find content that’s not only relevant and
timely, but also easy to read and interact with on smaller mobile
screens,” Google said in a statement to WIRED.
More
than half of Internet searches worldwide are made on mobile phones, a
trend that is driven by figures out of developing countries where
smartphone penetration is higher than computers.
In
2011, a change to Google’s search algorithm affected 10% of
English-language websites, while the 2012 change impacted some four
percent, according to WIRED.
But
the recent change, the extent of whose impact cannot yet be fully
measured, has also sent shockwaves among brand owners and marketers, for
whom online visibility is hugely important.
“Google
has the power of life or death over some websites. A drop in Google
ranking can mean a 60 to 80% loss in turnover,” e-marketing firm JVWEB’s
president Jonathan Vidor told AFP. Even if mobile phones bring in only a
small proportion of revenues, “everyone is scared Google might do
something drastic”, Vidor added.
Contested impact
While
it threatens to throw websites that have not been adapted to smartphone
technology to the bottom of search rankings, the change introduced
Tuesday has yet to cause the major impact experts had predicted.
“I
observed absolutely no impact” on Tuesday said Benoit Sillard, director
of leading French publisher CCM Benchmark, 40% of whose finance,
women’s and news magazines online visits are via mobile.
“It
will take at least a week before we see an initial impact, as the
algorithm is going through a learning phase,” said Paul Amsellem, who
heads a marketing, technology and mobile phone advertising firm, the
Mobile Network Group.
Amsellem
believes “Google has just lost its mobile search bet” by placing
unrealistic — and ultimately unfulfilled — hopes in websites shifting
over to mobile platforms en masse.
Mobile phone applications pioneered by Apple are still coming out on top in the race for the Internet throne.
Apple
had placed its bets very early in the game on mobile phone downloads,
Amsellem said, giving the technology icon the lead by taking control of
applications, content and graphics, making users’ experience “the best
it can be”.
Google’s Android apps are also hugely popular, but they tend to be less user-friendly than their Apple competitors.
Google
risks losing users if its search results are not adequately adapted. It
may even lose out in revenues from advertising and sponsored links —
the company’s main source of money.
And
Google earns less anyway if users go straight to apps, rather than use
the search engine to get where they want to go. Ultimately, Google’s
drastic move may mean users simply cannot find the site they’re looking
for.
According
to US magazine Techcrunch, 44 percent of Fortune 500 websites failed
the search test, and another four percent of sites did not produce a
result.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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