On March 4, Google introduced a new feature that lets users stay on Google to find pages inside major sites. The search box appears when someone enters the name of certain Web addresses or company names rather than searching for specific terms (see screenshot above, courtesy of Techcrunch).
The feature is drawing the ire of many e-retailers, who raise two primary concerns:
- First, ads for competitors can be displayed on the Google results page of a site search. This could mean lost traffic and sales for the searched retailer!
- Second, performing a site search on Google does not take into account merchandising rules retailers create for their own in-site search tool.
The New York Times' take
Internet Retailer's take
