Twenty-Five Areas Where Google Could Improve
By: Michael Gray
2009-12-01
While Im well known for being critical of many of the things Google does Im also a power user of site and many of their tools. Being a power user gives me a unique insight and see some areas these tools could be improved. This post is written in the spirit of constructive criticism, since I know my posts sometimes get around inside of the plex
 | | Copying Bing |
Goggle Apps for Domains- A lot of the cool and interesting things that happen in Gmail and Google Docs dont get released for Google Apps for domains. They have definitely gotten better about this in the past few months but its still happening. For example want the Google Chrome Gmail Checker extension to work on your domain, be prepared to do some hacking to make it happen.
GMail- Filters lets expand the number of filters you can have right now it maxes out somewhere between 20 to 30 (Ive hit the limit and had to delete and start from scratch creating multiple ones). Also let me forward a copy to more than one person. For example I wan to forward my travel receipts/itinerary to evernote and tripit.
- If Ive selected/highlighted the subject or body copy and click filter dont start with the from field filled in, start with the field I have selected filled in.
- Let me send scheduled emails, right now I use lettermelater, if I forget to BCC a copy to myself I forget it got sent.
Google Docs- With the announcement of Google Docs becoming publicly indexable if a link from an external website points to them a lot of people became worried. All users to see which documents are linked to, or even better give them a universal off switch to block indexing of all of their documents. Allow Google Apps for domains customers the ability to block all documents on the domain.
- Let me create and edit spreadsheets offline, I cant tell you the number of times Ive wanted to work on a spreadsheet flying from NY to Vegas or California and been unable to.
- How about the ability to export clean HTML, right now any exports are as bad as a Microsoft word HTML document with tons of unnecessary tags adding to the weight of a document.
- Let me specify a default font/size for my account. Maybe Im just a snob but anything other than arial or verdana irritates me, the fact that you force me to start with new times roman or some other serif font every time is like an annoying roommate who leaves the toilet seat up.
Google Reader- Allow Google reader to work with the Google apps for domains address book not just the Google contacts address book
- Allow me to temporarily suspend updating of all the feeds in a folder for a specified time. Maybe Im working on a big project or going away on vacation. Some feeds I need to keep up with others not so much.
- Allow me to connect more than one twitter account for sharing, I run multiple accounts and want to forward it to different places depending on subject matter.
Google Contacts- Allow Google contacts to work with Google Apps for domains, right now they are separate which means sometimes you have access to them in Google offerings sometimes you dont.
- If I have pictures tied to a contact and Im using Google Sync pull in the picture and match it to the account.
- Allow people to opt into a profile/contact sharing program. If someone changes emails, phone numbers, whatever and they change it in their centralized shared profile everyone who is one of their contacts has the information automatically updated
Google Chrome- Multi browser password sync " we need it. I know Im not the only one who has a laptop and netbook, and I need my passwords to travel with me. Lastpass kinda works and Roboform wants to make it work lets help move that forward.
- Multi browser extension sync " allow me to move extensions, setting and customizations between browsers.
- Copy and paste as plain text, so many things like wordpress and google docs will let the font, color, size, and style persist, Id like to be able paste with no formatting.
- Give me the ability to set the cache size to zero. I know you dont to speed things up, but my ISP gets a little wonky and Ive found that clearing the cache solves the problem 99% of the time.
Google Voice- OK I know you want this too, but lets figure out a way to get this thing on the iPhone, this buerocracy quagmire helps no one.
Feedburner- Let me specify an order for posts in the email if Im using it, Last out First in (lifo) isnt always optimal, give me the option for first in first out (fifo) in the email.
YouTube & Universal Search- I understand that you only show videos from sites that have a high reliability in universal search. However having the YouTube page rank doesnt do much for conversions. Why not have something like rel=canonical to allow us to point to the page we really want to rank with the YouTube video.
Google Search- Allow me to turn off any and all new things you introduce into search, the &PWS=0 flag works to turn off personalized search but everything else is hit or miss. I know that you think all of these things are youre POD, but sometimes Id like to not have to see them. In fact like Matt Id really just like clean URLs all the time
Google Tasks- Let me have recurring tasks, I have some things that need to get done every week or month, and this saves me the trouble of having to reschedule them
Google Alerts- For any notification thats not as it happens let me specify the time of day Id like to to come. Right now if I choose once a day it comes 24 hours from the time I created or last modified/updated the filter.
Picasa Web- You offer the right settings to share and protect pictures as needed, but the language/terminology used to explain it doesnt make it at all easy to understand. The only reason I figured it out was by trial and error. Pretend you are explaining it to your grandma who isnt at all computer savvy youll do everyone a favor.
Comments are open feel free to drop your suggestions in as well. Meander of topic and I will purge your comments without mercy.
Comments
About
the Author:
Michael Gray is SEO specialist and publishes a Search Engine Industry blog at www.Wolf-Howl.com. He has over 10 years experience in website development and internet marketing, helping both small and large companies increase their search engine visibility, traffic, and sales. Michael is a current member of Internet Marketing of New York ( IM-NY.org) and a guest speaker on Webmaster Radio. He is also an editor for the popular search engine new website Threadwatch.org.
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