Underlining Google’s focus on search as a shopping tool, the company has pushed its Froogle shopping site link off its home page in a move to emphasize Internet search over site search and navigation, the company says. And by replacing Froogle on the home page with Google Video, it has substantially increased traffic to its video marketplace site, according to Hitwise.
“When someone comes to Google.com to search for a digital camera, we want them to find a merchant through Google search rather than taking the extra step to go into Froogle,” a Google spokeswoman says, adding: I’m not sure what that means for Froogle, but it’s all about helping merchants get their products found.”
On Froogle.com, a comparison shopping site which until last week could be reached by one of the few direct links on the Google.com home page, consumers can find products with a site search tool and browse by seller, product and category links. Froogle, which can now be reached by clicking the “more” link on the Google.com home page, also presents sponsored links from paid-search advertisers.
But without commenting on how successful Froogle has been as a comparison shopping site, Google says it wants to focus more on Internet search as a more effective way to match product-seeking consumers with merchants. “Froogle is not going away,” the spokeswoman says, adding that paid-search advertisers should continue to get the same overall results on Google-owned sites. “If we make the search experience good for users, it will be a good experience for advertisers too.”
But the focus on search over site search and navigation doesn’t hold the same for its video site. Moving Google Video front and center on the Google.com home page, meanwhile, is helping Google to take advantage of the rising popularity of video-sharing sites. After replacing Froogle with Google Video on Aug. 9, visits to Google Video doubled within a single day, moving it above Froogle in the ranking of all Google sites by traffic volume, according to Hitwise.
“Google shows its home page has the power to take something like a Google Video and significantly increase its volume of visits overnight,” says Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer. He adds that this is the first time he’s noticed a change in links on the Google home page since Froogle was launched in 2002.
Google Video is designed to let users search, view and in some cases purchase video content including TV shows, Hollywood movies and personal videos.
Overall traffic to video web sites, including Youtube.com and Yahoo Video and Myspace Videos, is on a strong growth curve, reports comScore Media Metrix.
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