[…] Adwords services, they will continue to laugh all the way to the e-bank. Internet Marketing Monitor rightly notes that, “The article suggests that Google’s relatively unchanged interface and dismal marketing of […]

Good for Yahoo. I’ve regularly stated the web needs a counterbalance to Google, although I’m not sure whether it’s going to end up being Yahoo or Microsoft over the long haul. Google still leads in the area that counts most at the end of the day $$$$. That makes it a lot easier to fix things. The bigger you are though, the harder it is to change quickly as legacy concerns start to come into play.

You’re right in that the extreme simplicity of the primary interface which most people know Google (i.e., their search page) doesn’t really let the average joe know all the other great services they have to offer. In fact, the stark nature of Google’s results page is increasingly one of my biggest pet peeves with the service as a user. Even with the increasing integration of universal search, it just looks so dated IMO. You can still have clean design and make a more attractive page that’s easy to scan. Live.com’s results page is not that dissimilar, but I find it noticeably easier to scan. Likewise, Ask.com’s page is clearly a radical shift but also attractive and easy to scan (too bad their index is so weak.)

I think this study is yet another example of the skewed perspective by which those of us in the tech world view and report on things. For example, despite all the coverage we hear in the tech media, Yahoo still significantly outstrips Google when it comes to things like people signing up for new “email” accounts (which we know are essentially portal accounts which is what Yahoo/Google are really after.) We see the bleeding edge and a lot of what we see does trickle down. But other things are much more gradual and sometimes even fizzle out before they reach the mainstream.

I did get a chuckle out of the fact that AOL dropped a lot . . . in spite of the fact that they performed one of the most blatant pieces of design plagiarism I’ve ever seen when they ripped off Yahoo’s home page design.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/26/aol-one-step-behind-again-new-home-page-identical-to-yahoo/

Clearly the study goes beyond homepage design.

No doubt Yahoo! is going to revel in this news for a while. While it’s only one point difference, the bigger shift is what I found to be more important.

Will it impact search trends? I doubt the report itself will. If it’s an accurate representation of user satisfaction, though, it could be a sign of what’s to come. Yahoo! is doing some great things with their SERPs. And, like Microsoft, are moving toward integrating and streamlining more of their services.

Google is doing a pretty good job of this, too. But I think your average, everyday search user doesn’t care. They want the easiest information. And Yahoo! has a lot of that information to share from within its own walls. Google can’t match the ability to provide home-grown content the way Yahoo! can. So it’s not surprising that more folks are starting to rate the overall Yahoo! experience better. You can literally spend all day at Yahoo! properties and do just about anything!

You’re right about tech industry bias, too. I always have to remind myself that Gmail isn’t THE email service in the world (especially when I tell people my email address and they have to ask how to spell ‘gmail’). I have to remind myself that Google Reader isn’t how everyone in the world consumes the majority of the online content. It’s easy to lose sight of what your standard, home users consider a satisfying experience.

I got a chuckle out of AOL’s homepage redesign myself. They’re making a lot of changes over there - and more than one seem to be from other companies. Their SERPs are 100% Google’s last version (before the subtle changes made a couple of months ago). The new homepage is Yahoo!. Maybe their approach is to Frankenstein the best of different companies together and hope that it sticks?