The seemingly successful Google Tips prompts that have been appearing at the top of organic search results will be retiring for the time being. While Google has not officially acknowledged these actions, the fact they are no longer appearing speaks for itself.

News of Google’s decision was first reported by TechCrunch and like they mention, the choice to remove these self-promoting prompts probably stemmed from the large amount of negative feedback Google’s been receiving. Focus on these reactions increased across the blogosphere when Blake Ross, a Firefox developer, expressed his displeasure with Google Tips.

Ross was not the only one who disagreed with these actions. Famed Google engineer/blogger Matt Cutts indicated he wasn’t impressed with some of the suggestions the tips function provided and if they continued to work in that manner, he wouldn’t mind seeing them go by the wayside. He does support tips if they are relevant… like queries that trigger a Google Image Search suggestion.

Google’s latest decision, even though it hasn’t been officially announced, should stem some of the negative press that’s been popping up about their “shameless self-promotion“.

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Tags: Google Tips, Blake Ross

Posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 5:32 pm. Permalink