Google has always prided itself on its lovely, simple search page. Without clutter, and free from annoying banner ads or status updates. It’s just you, the search bar and whatever delightful logo Google has decided to feature on the day.
Pretty soon you’ll be able to choose any photo or image taken from your hard drive or Picasa account to give you a more colourful search experience. When it goes live (the rollout begins in the US over the next few days, with the Middle East and UAE sites to follow soon after) you’ll spot a little link on the bottom left corner of Google. Give that a click, and let the picture-hunting begin.
Microsoft’s Bing had a similar idea for simple search, but included an array of dazzling photos on its search page that changed each morning. We loved it. And now Google is offering the same service to its own search page.
Of course, Google’s hardly new to the notion of custom search pages. Check out iGoogle or Gmail and you’ll find a host of themes and widgets. But this is the first time the Search supremo has eyed its uncluttered search homepage for some custom work.
Is it a bit like Bing? Of course it is, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It might even lure some photo-loving searchers back from Microsoft’s search site. What do you think? Will you stick a shot on your Google homepage?
