Comments on: Skip Intro: Does Google Have The Right?

By: Vijay Chand

Vijay Chand — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:35:49 +0000

Flash intros were never my favorites. There are some ad agencies (interactive Ad agencies) who have their entire website in Flash……phooooooo!…Very irritating sites indeed. But come to think about it – its those people doing it who should be already in the know about the subject matter in this blog post!!

Cheers!

By: Jeff Baas -- web marketing

Jeff Baas -- web marketing — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:47:46 +0000

Some people use Flash purposefully. Many seem to use it simply because it makes them feel cool.

One time on a forum, someone asked if there was a way they could force visitors to enter the site through his Flash intro. It seems that Google was directing searchers directly to the content they were looking for and Google was “depriving” them of seeing the Flash intro he was so proud of.

About a half dozen of us told him that Google directing his visitors to his content was a GOOD thing. A couple of them mentioned that it was possible to redirect all traffic like he wanted and how to do it, but they again urged him to leave his site the way Google, and his visitors, liked it and not try to force them all to view his intro.

The guy dumbfounded us all when he then replied, “I’m glad to see you all agree with me that all my traffic should go through my intro. Thanks for telling me how to do it. I’ll set up the redirects right away.” Then he disappeared, never to view that thread again.

A large majority of the Flash intros that I see seem to fall into the category of this person’s intro — done simply to satisfy the site owner’s ego, with no regard for what the visitors want or need.

I’m all for Google directing searchers straight to what is relevant to them. It’s a case where Google proves to be more customer focused than many site owners are.

By: Caroline Melberg

Caroline Melberg — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:40:54 +0000

Thanks, Paul. Google’s primary revenue may be from the paid search ads they show, but it’s interesting to note that those paid searchers, like the unpaid organic listings, are a great deal responsible for their own rankings. That ensures that Google is not beholden to them. In the print world, advertisers are subject to editorial decisions with regard to placement of their ads and publications are subject to their advertisers to maintain a particular editorial “stance.” Google doesn’t have that problem and that makes these types of decisions so much easier for them.

By: Paul Keetch

Paul Keetch — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:41:09 +0000

Hi Caroline;

Interesting post. And I agree.

In my experience with website development (particularly from a marketing perspective for small business owners) the “skip intro” link is probably the most clicked link on the internet.

I personally usually click away (not deeper into the site) when I am confronted with a flash intro, unless I am specifically interested in the site I am visiting.

I further agree that Google’s responsibility is more to the searcher, than it is to the “found”.

That being said, Google’s primary revenue source is from advertiser’s (the “found”), but their value proposition is to the people looking.

They (google) seem to have withstood the potential negative impact of the “google slap” to advertisers and site owners and by focusing on providing quality results to the people who use their search engine, they are inherently benefiting the “white-hat” website owners as well, by ensuring quality, focused site traffic.

Thanks for this (and all your other) article(s)!

– Paul