Google has now unveiled a new search feature, whereby a new search box appears in its Search Engine Results Page below a search result. This allows one to search within that particular website. This usually happens when you search for an extensive website, and the search results return large sites with many web pages. As such, Google deems it appropriate to search further within that site, potentially expanding your search experience.
Not everyone is happy with the feature – not least the ownesr of very large websites such as newspapers like New York Times. This search feature is perceived as threatening the website owners’ interests, as the potential search experience is being taken away from a newspaper and instead spent at Google’s website. This may actually serve to reduce time spent at the website in question, as the user spends more time using Google to search for the site’s contents.
The New York Times actually ran a story on the issue, about how webmasters are complaining that Google is advertising competitors in a company’s own search results. This has the potential of taking customers away from the website in question, not to mention totally confusing them. It is highly probable that Google will rethink this search function in light of the potentially detrimental functionality that it entails.
