Most User-Friendly Search Engine
One of the most visited websites, and for a good reason, Google has been around since 1998 and has remained one of the most significant resources for information on the internet. As a result of technology evolving, Google has continued to grow by updating its website to improve its design, user interface, and usability. One of these improvements in recent years is continuous scrolling which aims to create a better navigation experience when skimming through different search results by automatically loading results as you scroll down. This feature will help ensure users will no longer have to click the following page on mobile to see more results and create a more user-friendly experience. Over the years of the internet being around, Google has had to undergo many changes to adapt to the difference in the number of websites and features that have come out.
Google's creation and Initial Look:
In 1995, two Stanford University computer science students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin began working on a computer program called BackRub. This search engine leveraged back-link analysis to track and record data. This was the first iteration of Google created by these two and used a data collection system called PageRank, which assigned a website's ranking importance by counting the number of pages, mixing in the relevancy of those pages, and linking back to the original web page. This technology led to the cresting of Google, which was self-funded by Page and Brin, who were working out of their dormitory rooms on a shoestring budget. When Google was first registered on September 15th, 1997, it had a fundamental design with no unique styling and just essential text boxes to enter keywords for searching the web or the Stanford database. In 1998, Google created its branding with the logo we know today with an exclamation point at the end and each letter of the word Google being a different color; however, it was later redesigned by Ruth Kedar and removed the exclamation mark at the end.
How Google changed the internet
Google has revolutionized the way the internet is used today. Google was the first company to realize the potential of building a business model around online ad revenue. Other companies would later follow Google's footsteps of utilizing online advertising in their business model. During the nascent era of the internet, Hotmail and Yahoo mail both competed for email traffic, and virtual calendars were unconnected on different platforms. Mapquest, essentially the GPS Navigation app of the nascent era of the internet, wasn't tailored for changing road conditions. However, Google would go on to create services of the sort with Google Maps, Gmail, Google Hangouts, and google docs and sheets. This made it arguably the most centralized hub on the internet to get types of services in one place.
Google's Evolution
With Google being a big part of shaping the internet and the services it provides, it comes as no surprise that the company has continued to evolve its services and website features to adapt to the ever-changing ways of the internet. In 2006, Google began adding map previews from its Google Maps service when displaying search results for addresses. A year later, Google added YouTube Videos so that any keyword matching a Youtube Video title would show up in the results, and a link to the video would be provided. In May 2016, Google launched its first AI personal assistant to compete with other competitors such as Amazon's Alexa. This was a significant stepping stone as many other companies had begun launching their assistants to allow users to perform tasks on their devices using just their voice.
Continuous Scrolling's Implementation
In hopes of further enhancing the user experience on their search engine, Google has decided to work towards rolling out continuous scrolling. This feature aims to make skimming through search results on Google more efficient and intuitive. Rather than having to click the "see more" button at the bottom of the page to go to the next page of results, users can simply scroll down on their mobile device to access relevant information regarding their search. This makes looking through search results more efficient. It also helps users on mobile devices sort through different search results with ease rather than wait for another page to load to see more search results.
What This Means for The Beloved Website
Continuous scrolling could allow for an improvement in incorporating ads into the website. Rather than having all of the ads at the top of the page, Google can place ads in between when new results are loaded when scrolling down. This means Google now has a lot more flexibility in advertising, which will help the company's revenue earned from online advertising. It shows that implementing continuous scrolling benefits the users by improving the user interface's look and efficiency. It allows Google more flexibility with advertising and provides a better format for adding advertisements on mobile devices. All in all, this feature proves both beneficial for the users and the company.
