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Yahoo Edges out Google in Customer Satisfaction
athloi writes "The University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index shows some significant shifts this year in consumer satisfaction among several major online players: Google, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL. For one, Google no longer holds first place. 'The ACSI report notes that Yahoo's jump into first place was a 4 percent increase over its score from last year, while Google saw a 4 percent decrease during the same time period. ACSI says that to the untrained eye, Google's home page today looks almost identical to the way it looked years ago. This is where Google's simplicity is apparently hurting it in the long-term, as new users just aren't seeing Google's new offerings--such as increased storage options, additions to Google Maps, and tweaks to Google Image Search--right in front of their faces like they do with other sites.'"
I like the wild stab at blaming Google's "simplistic" homepage as being the cause of their lack of customer satisfaction. The quick-to-load, non-headache inducing simple Google homepage is one of the reasons that drew me in to Google, and is one of the reasons that keeps me coming back. But maybe I'm just a geek that way and other people want their homepages to look like a neon strip mall.
It's not their simplicity that's hurting them, it's that they've failed to follow through on their success. The search engine was an amazing tool, and GMail was absolutely wonderful. But after that they had quite a few missteps. Maps was initially less useful than, say, MapQuest due to poor directions. This was eventually improved upon, but now Google is fighting the first-impression syndrome. Similarly, Google Video failed to appeal to most users. Google eventually gave up and bought their competitor: YouTube. Which sent the message that Google Video was as much of a failure as everyone thought it was.
Then you've got increasing complaints about their AdSense and AdWords services. Various webmasters complaining that they were kicked out of the program for no discernible reason. AdWords advertisers who say that they're getting charged for links they didn't get. Etc.
It all adds up to an age old problem: It's hard to maintain the top position. All the eyeballs are focused on you, and if you don't deliver you're going to get heavily criticized for it.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Hey, who are you calling largely?!
It's true we just sit around the house, and I mean literally *around the house,* and have no-one to talk to, but that doesn't give you the right to make fun of our weight!
(Ok I had 1 hour of sleep and I don't know how many coffees. Please excuse!)
I like basketball!!1!
who immediately opened a new tab and brought up yahoo.com to see a cluttered page (although less so than it used to be) and a Flash advertisement and sat there scratching my head with a "Huh?" look on my face?
Only speak when it improves the silence.
Done? Well, hardly! Yahoo Maps are junk, full stop. Take a look at this map of Boadilla del Monte, Spain, where I live:
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=calle+gre gorio+maranon%2C+boadilla+del+monte%2C+spain&trf=0 &lon=-3.892947&lat=40.406177&mag=2
(Please zoom to street level. Btw is there anything in Yahoo Maps similar to Google's "Link to this Page"? Can't find it anywhere, it's hard to believe such a basic functionality is missing, and yet it's... done!)
Now the same spot in Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=b oadilla+del+monte,+spain&ie=UTF8&ll=40.404657,-3.8 94675&spn=0.012876,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1
Can you spot the differences? And please note that Google Maps is a couple of years outdated! Yahoo must be 5 years old, M50 ring road isn't even there!
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=aeropuert o+de+madrid-barajas%2C+madrid%2C+spain&trf=0&lon=- 3.583539&lat=40.493698&mag=3
Please zoom to street level. This is Barajas, Madrid's Airport. That big building site you see is T4, the new terminal, the one that has been opened since February 2006.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=a venida+de+aragon,+madrid&sll=40.416706,-3.703269&s spn=0.205974,0.328217&ie=UTF8&ll=40.490843,-3.5920 79&spn=0.012859,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1
Similarly, Real Madrid's (David Beckham's former club) new training grounds:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=a venida+de+aragon,+madrid&sll=40.416706,-3.703269&s spn=0.205974,0.328217&ie=UTF8&ll=40.478439,-3.6132 36&spn=0.012862,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1
Nowhere to be seen on Yahoo Maps.
This is the Cuatro Torres (Four Towers) Business Area, named after the 4 skyscrapers that are being erected there for the past two years or so. Strangely enough, Yahoo still seems to think it's Real Madrid's old training grounds!
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=calle+man uel+caldeiro%2C+madrid%2C+spain&trf=0&lon=-3.68568 8&lat=40.476579&mag=2
Now contrast with Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl
I've said it many times before, but maybe this time people will stop and think before dismissing me as a troll.
Google does not know how to produce mature applications. They only hire brilliant people (or people who are good at passing themselves as brilliant; and yes I do have specific individuals in mind) and they let people work pretty much without supervision. Plus, they have a rule that all developers must spend a fixed percentage of time on unassigned projects!
So basically, their developers never have to do anything they don't really want to do. I've worked in organizations that fostered this kind of working environment (though usually not intentionally) and here's what happens: developers spend all their time finding intellectually challenging work to do, and just ignore all the boring stuff. So you get lots of kewl new features, but nobody's squashing bugs or polishing the GUI, or doing any of the other boring chores you need to polish the rough edges off a product.
You mention Yahoo maps versus Google maps. For a long time, the technology behind Google maps was way superior to Yahoo's. In some ways, it still is. (Yahoo doesn't let you change your route with a simple drag.) But Yahoo has always been ahead of Google in the boring-but-necessary stuff, like providing simple drop-down lists of your memorized locations. Google didn't even have memorized locations for a long time, and when they finally implemented it, they used a weird keyword system that's a pain to use.
Google really needs to hire some relatively stupid plodders to go in and clean up stuff. Hey, I'm available!
It used to be that google maps had the edge with its hybrid and satellite views, but yahoo has all that now too.
Fuck Yahoo and Google. As shitty as it is for me to say this, Microsoft's Live Maps' (in many areas) aerial photos (taken very recently from less than 100 yards and 360 degrees) blows Yahoo, Ask, Google, etc away.
I still use Google Maps/Earth, especially w/topo via GPSVisualizer, plotting shit for work, and viewing converted ARCView files (shapefiles) but when I'm researching a place to camp, a house to buy, or to quickly survey an area we will be visiting, it's Microsoft's Live Maps. I'm very disappointed that Google hasn't kept up and I'm not sure why.