Google came out with a statement explaining the changes in the following way, “Today’s metamorphosis responds to the increasing richness of the web and the increasing power of search — revealing search tools on the left and updating the visual look and feel throughout. While we are constantly rolling out small changes and updates, today’s changes showcase the latest evolutions in our search technology, making it easier than ever to find exactly what you’re looking for.”

Now, I can’t help but wonder if their goal to “make it easier than ever to find exactly what you’re looking for” was truly accomplished. How great are these changes from a usability standpoint?

I’ll go through the changes and list how great they really are…

Change #1:  The addition of a left-hand navigation to the page

If you ask me, Google has always been the company obsessed with “less is more”, “the fewer, the better”. But this new addition seems contradictory to that. To be honest, I think it makes the overall page a bit weighty, creating anxiety from a usability perspective. Not to mention the fact that it’s a total copy cat of Bing! Notice the resemblance?

Aside for the similarity to their counterpart, what’s up with the redundant 2 navs? It [totally] does not make sense to have the same functionality on one page.  Did they forget online best practices?!? Nearly all the links along the top of the page are streamlined again on the left hand column. Doesn’t seem optimized from a usability standpoint!

Change #2: An updated look and feel of the logo color palette.

As you can see I’m not thrilled with change #1. But change #2 is well done. The logo changes are slight, continuing to keep the minimalistic theme. Most Google users wouldn’t even notice, I’m sure. But the new logo looks whimsical and more modern to me. Just my style. Two thumbs up on the fresh new logo, Google! We all can use a facelift every now and then.

What do you think of Google’s latest makeover?  Do these changes create a richer search experience for users?  Or just clutter the page with irrelevant information?

Sitting at the latest Search Insider Summit conference in Florida, I realized how many times I’ve heard that in the last year. Customers now expect everything online to simply work, but the expectation is more than mere function. Everything online also needs to be “easy” and “focused on my immediate need/mood” and “tailored to who I am.”

This intuitiveness is the expectation of the coming wave of digital natives. This expectation will influence the work of earlier generations and dethrone, if not outright destroy, companies that don’t build this into their DNA.

The challenge is that the client/agency discussion often leaves something out – the customer. This is what digital marketers can learn from Apple.

Three-Legged Stools:  Working Better than Two Since… Forever

All too often, clients and agencies get so engrossed in the conversation about customers that they forget that it’s the customers that know themselves best. Let’s take a look

• Clients

1. Customer Perception: We know the customers best, we talk to them and they buy our goods/services.
2. Posture: Look at all the things we do!
3. POV: “Business Unit”
4. Company Metaphor: Yahoo

• Agencies

1. Customer Perception: We know the customers best – we can measure behavior and improve efficiency metrics in how they engage with the goods/services!
2. Posture: Look at how we are moving the needle.
3. POV: “Distribution Channel”
4. Company Metaphor: Google

• Customers

1. Customer Perception: We know ourselves best – this is how we want to do it.
2. Posture: Wouldn’t it be cool if I could do it “this way.”
3. POV: “What I Want Now”
4. Company Metaphor: Apple

Don’t miss the boat on all three perspectives…

The Solution – Step Back and Re-Segment, Re-Energize and Re-Focus on Customers and User Intent

I think this is where Apple gets it right. They provide products that customers want, products that solve problems. Here are some ways to frame the dialogue on customers:

• Thematic Thinking
  • I will break out themes for clients and focus discussion and metrics within the theme.  For example:
    • Theme: Brand Search
    • Intent: People Looking for Company X
    • Best Message: “We are Company X”
    • Messaging Segments That Work: Registered Trademark Symbol, Official Site
    • Keyword Watchlist: Company X, Company X.com, etc.
    • The list goes on…
• Personas
  • Define a persona for a theme, who is that person, when are they searching, where are they searching, what is compelling on the SERP for those searches, etc.
• Positioning
  • If you are a marketer who hasn’t read the book Positioning by Trout and Ries, you are doing yourself a disservice.  There are only three positions that matter and the SERP is going to reflect this more and more. They are: Position 1 – market leader (We’re the biggest), Position 2 – often playing off the leader (We’re not the biggest but we try harder), Position 3 – reposition the category (We’re the biggest/best for this subsegment).  Know what position you are targeting within a theme.
• Cross-Channel Thinking
  • At SIS, Matt Kain referenced the Walk/Sit/Slouch paradigm where the computer is for sitting, the phone for walking, and the ipad targeting a new “slouch” area of the market. Know how customers are using different channels and how that changes the message or use-case. Speak clearly to one.
• Modes
  • Know what mode customers may be in for specific channels/queries. Speak clearly to one. For example:
    • Browse – Options for a Friday night at home.
    • Research – Which is the best pizza?
    • Purchase – I want to buy a pizza.
    • Feedback – I thought this pizza was great.
    • Share – I want to recommend this pizza.
• Pointed Questions
  • If intent is unclear, then ask. Customers like this. Search engines are doing more for us – “did you mean…?” but we can do it too. We regularly use SEM creative testing to define intent – asking pointed questions in headlines and measuring results – “Looking for a Plumber?”
• Strategic Alliances
  • Lori Weiman from the Search Monitor spoke to this again at SIS. Can you partner with a super affiliate for providing research or some other intent bucket in order to represent multiple customer intents in unclear themes?
• Solutions
  • Ben Hanna spoke to a Current, Better, Winning hierarchy at SIS:
    • Current: Content
    • Better: Interactive Content
    • Winning: Solution
    • Companies should be investing in solutions to specific problems – speak clearly to one.

The Takeaway: Learn from Apple and start paying real attention to customers.

Do the things that work but also start investing in “real testing” in defining your customers and bringing the best content and the best solution to the front of the user experience.

Although modern, attractive, cool, hip, funky with a touch of drop shadow obsession, the site lacked a basic component of any successful online presence. Usability.

Fortunately, my colleague is not a designer with hyper-stimulated maternal instincts who tend to snap as soon as you mention that their labor of love is actually an ugly stepchild.

Luckily he was open to some constructive critique and took the book I offered him, a classic, not so modern, cool, hip, funky read (with no drop shadows what-so-ever) “The Big Red Fez”

Though certainly dated, the book’s main premise, that every site should have an easy to find “banana” and not a whole bunch of fruity choices, resonated with my colleague who popped his head back around the door jam after 5 minutes to say “I learned a helluva lot just from the first page!”

Though accused of being a Seth Godin groupie, I have to recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has a website. It’ll make it better.

Final word. SEO may drive visitors to your site, but if they can’t find the banana you might as well be targeting monkeys!