Long Live Infinite Scroll!

I fell in like with infinite scroll ever since Bing added this nifty feature to it’s image search. Google soon followed suit and added this feature to their image search.  Infinite scroll allows a user to scroll down a seemingly endless webpage without having to click on a pesky page link once.  As one scrolls new images load quickly enough not to disrupt the scrolling experience.

Google Infinite Scrolling Feature

So I asked myself,  ”Why doesn’t Google add infinite scroll to their web search results?”

I doubt it’s because of performance since Google seems to be able to load hundreds of image thumbnails lightning quick.  My hunch tells me it’s for one main reason: monetization. Additional page views equals more text ads shown and ultimately more clicks from users.

Here’s a solution to how Google could implement infinite scroll on their web search AND integrate monetizing ads.

Infinite Scroll on Search

Benefits:

1. More user-friendly and more click-efficient
2. Lets users see more results and likely explore past the first page
3. With more choices users will be able to find better and more relevant content
4. The Top 10 results won’t maintain their advantage just because they got there earlier on or have best SEO. Better content will rise quicker.
5. Long Tail benefits for Content producers.
6. Google will benefit because users will have more Ad impressions (2x-3x) on a given search.
7. Seeing more ads a user may potentially click on an ad they find more relevant

This is just one humble UX designer’s hypothesis. I hope Google catches on and starts their A/B testing soon.