Stan Schroeder from Mashable raised an interesting question of the frequency of visitors now to the main homepage of Google, i.e. Google.com ( etc. depending upon your geographical location). It is true that with browsers which have in-built search functionality in the address bars viz. Chrome and Opera, the middle layer of the Google homepage has been largely eliminated. Add to that, other browsers like Firefox, IE and Safari include a search bar. It’s pretty safe to state that the entire spectrum has been covered. So, is anyone really using Google homepage and why?

One of the major reasons for people still using the Google homepage is that fossilised browser that it still breathing. Yes, IE6. There are no search bars, and the only option to search is Google. Of course, users here would be able to install Google Toolbars and stuff. According to W3counter statistics, as of Sep 2009, IE6 still maintains the fourth position in browser usage share with 13.28%, behind IE7, Firefox and IE8. It is difficult to segment the share of people out of this percentage who use search solely through Google’s homepage. There were no Google toolbar statistics to help us out.

Secondly, mobile devices and gaming devices have their own apps to surf and search through the Google search engine. So no interference here from the homepage.

Having said that, we must not forget the technological knowledge of the common user which cannot be gauged properly by us who use Google 24X7 in our address bars and are very conversant even with the exact syntaxes of Google hacks. If I was to tell my mom to search for anything over the phone, I’d just say Google it. And the first thing she’d do is to go to Google.com. The percentage of users who go to Google.com by default is also not only influenced by the ease that Google’s homepage suggests, but also by habit. Of course, we by now are quite used to typing straight away in the addressbar. But who will install Chrome on my mom’s laptop?

And lastly, I don’t believe that people return to Google for the doodles. Those doodles are just buzz creating tributes to legends and historical figures, and in a way one of those brand marketing exercises which never fails. The blogosphere will never fail to mention them, and other bloggers who read them will surely give it a visit. [ Guilty as charged. See here, here, here, here and here].

So, did I give you enough reasons already? Shout it out in the comments.

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