Google has been doing a lot of tests on mobile. Really, it is a new world of usability and user experience that no one has 100% figured out yet. So you can expect a lot of innovation in the area. This week, Google started testing a feature for how they display their local Google My Business pages. Basically, it is a blue button with a down arrow. When you select it, it shows you more local results. You can see a picture of it here.
I actually really like this feature. I think it is even easier than the swipe feature they were testing for mobile local. When you click the drop-down, you immediately get a long list of local results. Clearly, if the user is clicking that option they want to see a range of results. With the swipe feature, you only get a few per swipe. With this feature, you get to see about 15 more results immediately. Amazing how big of a difference these little things make.
Who knows where this will go from here. But as we can see, Google is really pushing the envelope on mobile. Everyday they are trying new things and performing multiple tests. I love that they are experimenting with usability. I think it would be smart for all of us to watch the features Google is testing and apply them to our own websites. I have been doing that more and more lately. For example, I’ll look at some of the biggest players online such as Amazon, Pay Pal, Google or eBay and really study what they are doing for UX. By implementing some of the same features on your site, you can increase conversion rates and thus, make more money.
What do you think of Google’s new local mobile drop-down?
