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The 110 Million Dollar Button
Reservoir Hill writes "The 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button on Google's search page may cost the company up to $110 million in lost ad revenue every year according to a report on American Public Media's Marketplace. Tom Chavez says that since the company makes money selling ads on its search results page, the 1% of users who use the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button never see Google's ads - the button automatically directs them to their first search result. So why does Google keep the button? Marisa Mayer, Google's vice president responsible for everything on the search page, says that 'it's possible just to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money' and the 'I'm Feeling Lucky,' button reminds you that 'people here have personality.' Web usability expert Jacob Nielsen says the whimsy serves another business purpose: 'Oh we're just two kind of grad students hanging out and having a beer and having a grand old time,' not you know, 'We are 16,000 people working on undermining your privacy.'"
Has anyone here ever used the "I'm feeling lucky" button. I think I did once in 1999. Usually it's the second or third result that's the most relevant.
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
They know that the first result is pretty unlikely to be what you want, so you'll have to come back and do a real search anyway...
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
Have they accounted for the image benefit of the "I'm feeling lucky" button? Would Google have as many users for normal searches if that button were not there? Accounting will make everything look bad if you tell them to.
Google has a database of "I'm feeling lucky" users for special purposes.
I bet their logo is too rainbow colored too, must offend homophobes into using a more straight looking site like yahoo. I bet they're losing at least $40 million as a result.
MABASPLOOM!
Every time you open the page Google tell you, you're feeling lucky.
They'd add a button for "I'm feeling smart" or "I'm feeling sexy" if they found a way of justifying such a button's presence.
Google easily found out that one hardly ever uses the button. They removed it. Then users began complaining, where did it go?
Users don't use it, but they simply feel happier, more secure, having it around.
Personally I'm missing the "I feel lucky" capability from Firefox search bar. Say, enter a text - a partial URL, a set of 100% sure keywords etc and press shift-enter, or shift-click the magnifying glass. Quite often I KNOW the result will be first, sometimes because I used this search before, sometimes because there's no way anything else could have beaten it. Sometimes I don't remember if the domain was com, org, us, de, net, eu, etc.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Nah, it doesn't cost them anything like that. That's probably what it would cost if every one of those "feeling lucky" people had instead clicked on an ad, but let's be honest here, that would never have happened.
Those people who use it are
(a) people who already know that the result they want is the first one and wouldn't click anything else anyway.
(b) people doing silly google-hacks, like "miserable failure", or whatever.
(c) people who will come back any use google's regular search anyway for more results once they've seen the "lucky" one.
For all these people, using the "feeling lucky" button isn't stopping them clicking on any ads, because they wouldn't click them anyway. In fact, it is actually likely to be adding to their brand awareness of google, and thus making them more likely to come back to google for other searches where they might click on ads.
So yes, it might lose them a *few* ad clicks on the *actual* search involved, but long term, those people will be back and will click on other ads. Google isn't losing anything from this.
I've always thought they should add some AJAX so that you know where this button will take you before you actually click it.
eg if you type in "oxford" the button should change to say "Take me to www.ox.ac.uk"
Pretty silly. How do the losses translate to $110 million ?
So they're counting the entire bandwidth of the people clicking that button would naturally click all the ads ?
The article quotes Marissa as loosing revenue to tune of less than 1% ??
0.001, 0.0001 ?? what ?
See for example: http://www.google.nl/firefox doesn't have the 'i'm feeling lucky'
they loose even more money by not having flash ads that slide into your screen on the front page.
And my capcha was confide, spooky...
Out of all the people that use that button, they probably already knew the first search result anyway, and wouldn't have even bothered to look at the ad on the first page. If anything, it saves Google on bandwidth (not that I think they have a problem with bandwidth). I use the button when I search for things like "windows xp sp2 it professionals" because I know exactly where it goes without me having to go to an extra page (where I would have skipped right over the ads and clicked on the first link).
Kernel Krunch - Part of a Complete OS
The phrase "I'm feeling lucky" is part of the Google brand, as has been since their search engine was incepted.
Notice the phrase is also prominent (and useful!) in Picasa.
The point is, losing it would be a big change to the brand, like making Coke cans with no red on them.
Who actually uses that button? I can say that most of my searches, I don't end up going to the first result. If I were to use that button, odds are that I would get to the page, determine it's not what I want... click back, then click the regular search button. The odds just don't play out.
It's that little snippet of text in the search result that shows you the context of your search term- that's what really helps my searching. Now that I think about, I wish I could set that blurb to be longer...
And please... I'm pretty sure that button isn't fooling anyone into thinking Google is still just a friendly, underdog, basement project.
Her name's spelled Marissa, not Marisa.
The "I'm feeling lucky" button is there to remind us that the Google execs are really the ones feeling lucky with those fat wallets.
So lucky they can even afford to loose those big 110...
Onda Technology Institute
How can you forget the french military victories in "I'm Feeling Lucky" ?
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
It's not really a huge gamble that the first result will be relevant. "I feel a vague sense of mild positivity" is probably more appropriate.
In order to generate a real, winner-takes-all atmosphere of living on the edge, an element of risk should be introduced. For instance, a 60% chance of going to the first search result, a 30% chance of going to tubgirl, a 9% chance of having your identity stolen and a 1% chance of having bomb-making instructions downloaded to your machine and a tip-off email sent to the relevant authorities.
I never even noticed there was an "I'm feeling lucky" button until I read about it in an article a couple of years ago and went and checked to see if they were having me on. And I'd been using google for years. Probably because I always press return with things like that rather than clicking on buttons with the mouse.
It can be pretty easy to foil, as this post on Shoemoney demonstrates.
And yes, you too can have fun in /. with Google queries for goatse.cx, tubgirl and 2girls1cup.
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
I never click on any ads, so Google should forbid me to use its search engine?
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
I always wanted vending machines to have a "Double or Nothing" button. If you push that one, 50% of the time you get your product AND your money back, and the other 50% of the time, you get nothing (lose your money). Revenue neutral, but more fun.
Computers obey me.
the History Eraser button!!!
Karnal
Maybe it's because I'm a control freak or because I'm a pessimist or something else, but I've never used the Lucky Button. I'd love to see a psychological profile of the people who use the Lucky Button regularly.
Someone, quick, call Jakob Nielsen! We need an exhaustive study!
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
Ahhh Jakob, lol. Web usability evangelist is more like it. "I'm feeling lucky" (as some have mentioned) is sometimes actually a pretty nice shortcut, it's also a fun way to spend an evening. I never would have discovered there was a band called "Johnny Uterus and the Philopean Tubes" without it.
until moneygrubbing investors pressure Google into ditching the button?
The 'maximize profit at the expense of everything including customer experience' really gets to me sometimes.
Hold on a minute. So is he saying that they put the "I'm feeling lucky" feature in just so we don't notice that google is really "16,000 people working on undermining your privacy?" So they make us think they are "just two kind of grad students hanging out and having a beer and having a grand old time" so we don't notice that the true purpose of google is to undermine our privacy?
Time to put on the tin foil hat -- I am on to you now google! You just made my list!
Next they'll replace it with "I'm feeling gullible" and make sure it only ever links through to a page that already contains Google ads ;o)
Is it just me, or does the story title make you think of audiophiles?
"My system has a lot more 'sizzle' when I use buttons made of a cobalt-platinum-titanium alloy."
Change the name to the "I'm feeling stupid button". Link it to a trojan, and problem solved. ~:-)
They should count up all the 'lucky clicks' and write off the lost revenue.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Undermining my privacy? The only information Google is able to get abut me is what I do online -- and not much of that. I wipe cookies once in a while, and that's the only reliable way they have to track me on other sites. Take off the tinfoil hat, Nielsen.
Of course, to throw them off the scent, I randomly view Oprah's website, NASCAR videos, and horse porn once in a while.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
and that defaults to "Google Search" button.
I use this feature all the time without ever hitting the button. When you type a search query in the Firefox location bar it does a very similar thing. I'm not sure if this is counted in this statistic, but I don't have a chance to click any ads when I use it. Which is all the time, because it's way easier to remember the site name or what it was about than remember the exact domain.
I had an idea for a simple browser feature that would have cost Google significantly more, improved the browsing experience and made Internet Explorer the most convenient browser ever by a wide margin.
I wrote this in an email and asked for a meeting, but they conveniently ignored it.
Hence, I shall refrain from revolutionising the world of browsing and you may all enjoy things as they are. Carry on, brave people.
Quite frequently, I see that my Google searches start with a sponsored link as the first link.
What does Google earn when a sponsored link is used? If the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button drives some searches to the sponsored links, does this make up for the revenue lost by not showing a search results page with individual ads? Maybe the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button encourages advertisers to buy sponsored links, making up for the lost ad revenue from the search results page.
Just some thoughts...
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
"16,000 people working on undermining your privacy".. Hail the paranoid king. Like if there were anything similar to privacy in the world after 10+ years of Micro$oft ruling the desktop computer segment. Worrying about Google's Apps now kinda lands a wee bit to late, doesn't it?
And by the way, Gmail was the best thing that ever happend to me, was glad to throw away Qmail and all the crap that comes along with managing a mail server. If all you think about is privacy you simply shouldn't use e-mail, and keep all your documents stored in a non networked computer.
Better to die on your feet rather than living on your knees
Type I'm Feeling Unlucky
into the google search box and click I'm feeling lucky
I can believe that you view Oprah's site and NASCAR videos randomly, but no one views horse porn "randomly". :D
Google will never remove the 'I'm feeling lucky button' just because it
is so much a big part of the 'Google mystique'
How many emails have we received over the years asking us to type
'miserable failure' and press 'I'm feeling lucky' to be confronted
with G.W.Bush's bio page
or
"French military victories" etc etc
the fun factor of this should never be lost
...all the extra money they make as businesses clamor to get their weblink on top of the list?
Click the "I'm feeling lucky" button when searching for:
"Google Klingon"
elgoog
There's lots more.
Compare this with Google's 'Billion dollar line of JavaScript'
I guess the two cancel each other out?
Planet MiniBox - Home to the world's leading shoutbox
Why don't they just serve up contextual ads as the the user types in the query via AJAX (or whatever)?
I should go patent that...
There are "open redirectors" on many major sites, including Google, AOL, eBay, and Microsoft Live. (Yahoo plugged their hole by giving their open redirector its own, easily blockable, domain.) We mentioned this on Slashdot a few days ago, and someone immediately followed up by using the Google exploit to get through Slashdot's filters.
These open redirectors are regularly exploited by phishing scams. People report them to PhishTank, and over at SiteTruth, we tie them back to the domain responsible and fix blame. PhishTank is too nice about this. They just blacklist the phishing URL. That stopped working a few months back, when phishers started generating random URLs and subdomains for each e-mail. We down-rate the whole base domain.
It's time to take a hard line on this. The Internet used to tolerate open mail relays, which were a nice feature until spammers started exploiting them. Now they're routinely blocked. Open redirectors now need similar treatment.
Beyond simple URL redirectors are exploits of JavaScript redirectors. Efforts are underway to detect and block those.
"I have it on good authority that if you type I'm feeling lucky in the search bar and then click the I'm feeling lucky button, You will, in fact, destroy the internet."
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
These are the kinds of fringe things that people remember and talk about. There was a discount brokerage firm back in the tech times (won't name it) that had an option to hear a duck quack. After word got out it crashed the phone system from volume of calls - people who otherwise wouldn't have a need to call just called and heard a duck quack.
Not that I think it was a great business move - it is fun, refreshing and i'm sure people loved the humor that the company showed and opened an account.
Torontoman.
I know what you're thinking. Did he get a pagerank of six or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is Google, the most powerful search engine in the world, and would find a needle in a haystack, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?
(With apologies, and lost karma.)
Am I alone here? I honestly have never clicked a Google ad, and I've used Google exclusively for searches since it first grew in popularity. I also use GMail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and occasionally use my iGoogle homepage and the Google Reader. I've downloaded Google Pack (to get StarOffice 8 for free), but I've never actually clicked one of those fancy targeted ads.
I don't avoid the ads on purpose, and I'm not one of those people who routinely argues "ads don't work on me!". I'm fully aware of the power of advertising, and my own susceptibility to a very convincing advertisement - I've clicked plenty on nytimes.com.
Honestly, the GMail ads are never relevant. Perhaps it's because I'm in academia and not the business world, but they just seem like desperate attempts to find something in my life that Google can market to.
Given this, I find it hard to believe that a small thing like 1% of users using "I feel lucky" occasionally actually has much of an opportunity cost for Google. Instead, I suspect it's one of those cute Google-y things that make so many of us web users so loyal to Google.
I wonder which button is costing Slashdot $110 million...
/setup
Is instead of guessing URL's. The correct way to get to Apple UK for example, ISN'T to type "apple.co.uk" into the URL bar, but to hit home (you know, get to the google homepage), type "apple uk", tab, tab, space. The correct way to get to mcdonald's web site is click home, type "McDonald's", tab, tab, space. This goes for everything. NEVER guess a company's home page. If you don't know, just enter their name and "tab tab space" your way to their site.
(Also, the first time you get to a consumer watchdog site as a result instead of the shell of a business you were looking for, you'll be more than lucky - this is money you would have been swindled out of)
I use "I'm feeling lucky" frequently. It prevents me from going to typo sites.
I mostly use the address bar to type in URLs. But if the URL is too long (where I might mis-type) or I'm not certain of the spelling, I use Google with the "I'm feeling lucky" button. It gets me the right URL every time.
Simple example:
I type "discovercrd.com" - I get a typo site.
I type "discover" into Google and hit "I'm feeling lucky" - I get the home page for discovercard.com.
And if you think that "I'm feeling lucky" is not the default behavior you want, configure it to do a normal Google search:
// Change to normal Google search:
Create (or edit) a file "user.js" in your Firefox profile directory and add the following:
user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");
Now unless you enter a valid URL the the location bar, it will perform a Google search for you and return the first page of Google results. It's a useability thing for me...makes life much easier to use one entry box with one keyboard command to get to it for either purpose. In fact at that point I reduce the size of the search bar to make more room for the location bar.
I customize it even further so that I can do quicker lookups for other search engines with keywords. Want to look up a wikipedia entry? I type "w " in the location bar. Dictionary lookup? I type "d " in the location bar. Much faster than navigating to the search bar and using a mouse to find the search engine I want in a dropdown.
How many users use Google *because* of the I'm Feeling Lucky button? How many users would Google lose if it removed the button?
My view is that this button differentiates Google from much of the competition and attracts a good number of users who otherwise would use another engine.
"Marisa Mayer, Google's vice president responsible for everything on the search page"
wow she must be really busy...How did they come up with such a sleek design? LOL..
http://www.vanillaafro.com - take me seriously and I will shoot you
I exclusively use POP3 to download my Gmail and therefore bypass all the adverts, and have been doing so for 2 years.
I wonder how much revenue Google is losing to people who don't read their mail in a web browser?
"'We are 16,000 people working on undermining your privacy.'""
SHUT THE FUCK UP. SERIOUSLY.
I am so FUCKING sick of shit like this. It has NO PLACE in a story. NONE. If commenters want commentary... hey, that solved itself NOW DIDN'T IT.
FUCK.
I'm pretty sure that google is my favourite monopoly in the world.
I always assumed that the button was primarily for low-bandwidth users. For those that would have to wait for the page to load, it saves them time (and bandwidth).