Google Search Results: List View vs Grid View?
Explore why google houses search results differently
Hello people of Medium!
Continuing the feature breakdown series that started out with the discussion of medium claps (check it out here), I’ve got another feature for you — Google Search Results.
In this series, I talk about various interesting features from popular apps and websites. These are my thoughts and they are completely open to discussion. So if you think I’m wrong, or if you have a different point of view, don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts in the comments.
So without wasting more time, let’s get to it.
Google Search Results
All of us are familiar with Google. It’s the first place we go to when we’re looking for something on the internet. A few of us in India also use Google to check if our internet connection is working. But have you noticed that Google represents the search results differently based on which tab you are on? For the tabs ‘All’, ‘News’ and ‘Videos’, it represents the search results using a list view. Whereas for the ‘Images’ tab, it uses a grid view.
But why?
If I give you a bowl of custard, you would ask for a spoon, but if I gave you a bowl of noodles, you’d ask for a fork (or chopsticks).
Similarly, users process different types of data in different ways. Google’s goal is to get the user to the search result they’re looking for as soon as possible, which can be done by understanding how users consume different types of data.
All Search Results — List View
The content, in this case, is a bunch of text (headings, the source of the result, a link and a small description). In order to consume it, a user would have to read through every line (or maybe a few) to finalize on one of the results. This bunch of text becomes the decision-making element in arriving at which result to pursue further. List view allows you to consume information in an organized order thus enhancing the readability. In addition to that, Google ensures that the most relevant results are on top which makes the list view even more useful. Similarly, for the tabs ‘Videos’ and ‘News’, the decision making element is the text. Not the thumbnail or picture. That’s why list view is suitable for such content.
Image Search Results — Grid View
The content, in this case, is only images. Unlike the other tabs, when looking at image results, the users do not want to read through the content. They just want to glance through the results to arrive at what they’re looking for. The decision-making element here is the image itself. Image resolution might also be a decisive element, but a user would get to that only after they’ve decided on the image. Grid view offers a perfect way to glance through a lot of images without scrolling too far. With a grid view, our eyes do not consume the content in a specific order (left-to-right or top-to-bottom). Instead, they’re free to roam around the entire screen in order to pick an image. And that’s why grid view is suitable for such content.
Conclusion
The layout you choose to house your content in should be derived from how the user would consume the content, and what is the user’s purpose behind consuming the content.
Now that we understand this, here’s something to think about. Even though YouTube & Pornhub both provide video content, one uses a list view to showcase search results while the other uses a grid view. What could be the reason behind it? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Check out some of my previous articles at the links below
