Google have recently declared that they have dropped the instant preview feature on their search engine, as of immediate effect.

If you are not familiar as to what instant previews are, next to each listing you could hover over an arrow and it would display a “preview” of the website to which that link is linking to.

It also gave information such as date of last cache. This is still available but on a drop down link at the end of the URL in green text.

Why has the instant preview feature been abandoned by Google?

In short Google have come to the conclusion to no longer include this feature on the search engine because of the very low usage. It has been started at the end of 2010, and in that time they have monitored and tracked the usage of that specific function, coming to the conclusion it is no longer benefit which is used by the majority.

They have also stated that their intention is to make the page more “streamline” and this will help with that.

Why Do Google Keep Making Changes

Its a good question really. Often Google makes changes to their search engine and to their analytics or adwords accounts much to the annoyance of the user. Most people get used to the way a system works and then Google changes it, so they have to almost- re-learn it all over again.

From Googles perspective however they are constantly evolving and chancing what they do to improve it, enhance it and make it better.

So although it can be a pain having to readjust to the beat of what Google sets, in the long run it is in the best interest of the user (generally speaking) and they go off information which dictates certain decisions, just like they have with preview instants.