But the point is that no one's perfect. And actually Google in particular seem to have made a number of particularly noticeable mistakes that in some cases almost just seem sloppy. And it's not just me who's noticed them, a quick look around the web confirms that there are many others who agree with me. Read on then and see just what Google could be doing better…
The Option for Old Search
When Google makes the argument that their algorithms aren't designed to punish anyone, but rather to just make their search better at bringing up relevant results, many people point out that there are ways they could satisfy everyone and keep it 'fairer'. One example could be to include an element of 'randomness' in their search results so that everyone at the top had an equal chance of being seen. |
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Even more simple though - how about the option to just 'turn back' their updates and use the site the way it previously worked. That way the majority of users could stick with Google the way Google intended, but those of us who don't always appreciate the changes could stick with our older iterations. And it would be pleasingly transparent too as it would allow users to look at precisely what had changed between updates.
The Option for Old UIs
The same could also be useful in a number of other situations. For instance, a lot of people have recently been very unhappy with Google's switch to the new keyword tool, and this has had quite the backlash online. Give the option to return to the old UI though, and once again you could avoid alienating an existing userbase.Furthermore, Google could use this to identify whether or not their new products were successful - the best case scenario is that no one would use this feature because the updates would always be better… (As an Android developer I'm practically begging Google to give me back Google Checkout over Wallet…).
Fix Semantic Search
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How annoying is it when you search for a quote and Google tries to second guess what you're talking about and brings up a completely unrelated result? Here's a tip: it's highly annoying. Well this is Google's 'semantic' search which is supposed to be more intuitive and more useful to use, but as it is it's currently a nuisance more often than a help. I'm not saying get rid of it… just fix it.
Multiple Accounts on YouTube
Sure you can set up more than one user account on YouTube, but it's unfortunately not possible to have more than one channel under the same user name.This is pretty annoying if you run two websites and want to link them both to your Google Play account and your AdSense, and it just seems nuts that you wouldn't be able to have one channel for film reviews and another for fitness videos for instance. Come on Google, people have been asking for this for years!
Let Banned Accounts Back In
Another annoying thing about making money on YouTube? If you ever get a single warning then you'll never be invited to their partnership scheme. Ever. This is pretty annoying for yours truly as I once got a warning for a piece of music I had on one of my videos three years ago.The music was quiet and obscured in the background so I had no reason to suspect it would matter, but as a result I can now never get onto the partnership scheme. Even though some of my videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views…
Add Multi-Window Support to Android
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Google have expressly stated that they don't think Android should support the use of apps that run in multiple windows (like a desktop operating system). This is despite the clear success that Samsung has had with it, and the obvious demand for that kind of multitasking. Why not just give the people what they clearly want?
And this is just a few of the things that Google could be doing better. So join me in hoping that they get their act together on some of these issues in the future, as the current state of the web dictates that anyone working online kind of needs Google in order to be successful at the moment.
Dimitri Konchin