Google Quick View will make Website Design more Important…

Rolled out to the UK today, Google Quick View lets you see a glimpse of a webpage before you click on it. It’s just a little tweak to the Google search results page, but some web gurus are saying it could have a serious impact. Particularly in the area of web design.

Previously, factors like the name of your website and the blurb under the title were the key factors in whether people clicked on your site rather than another. Now your web design could have a role to play too.

If your site looks busy and confusing in the quick view, readers may be put off and choose another site that looks better.

Let’s also bear in mind that it’s not just whether it looks better in general, it’s whether it looks better in the thumbnail view of the Google Preview, where you’ll only be able to see the general shape.

So in the battle to get precious hits, design is no longer just a thing to consider.

CEO of web marketing company Greenlight says that the new feature could spell the end of link aggregation sites which could see traffic plummeting. Jim Warren explains the scenario:

“For example, a good quality site ranks 3rd for a search term and a low quality affiliate site ranks 1st. The affiliate site uses dynamic templates with content pulled from elsewhere on the web and no design considerations whatsoever. The high quality site has been tailor made to reflect the type of users it attracts and provides a unique service. To the average searcher using Google’s preview ‘Quick View’, it is clear the affiliate site does not provide what they need or at least does not catch their attention. However, the page ranking in 3rd seems to be of much higher quality and may actually be what they are looking for. Google sees time and time again that previews of both results are viewed but the site in 3rd gets 90% of clicks – a clear sign it is what users are looking for.”