Search the Web feature is distracting

There’s a lingering, cliched feature out here on the interweb that I still don’t understand. The feature in question is the ’search the web’ widget - and I argue that it is distracting and harms usability.

You know the feature I’m referring to - some site will have a search widget powered by one of the big name search engines. A lot of times, the search engines will even have a copy/paste code generator that will allow you to embed the search form into your page.

Along with the standard text input and submit button for the search, you’ll see something like ‘this site’ or ‘the web’ radio buttons.

The Problem

The problem with this feature is that it’s unnecessary. Unfortunately, I haven’t done the usability studies to prove it, but I feel confident that most users don’t use this feature.

Example: Rotten Tomatoes

Here’s an example of a ‘web search’ feature from Rotten Tomatoes

(Not to pick on Rotten Tomatoes, but I wanted to show just how pervasive this particular usability problem is.)

The problem with unnecessary features is that they’re distracting. The 1/2 second I spent staring at the ‘web’ text and radio button, I could have spent enjoying the site. Instead I spent it a little confused, and obviously distracted enough to write a blog entry on how silly the idea is.

Here’s the key: users don’t go to Rotten Tomatoes to search Google.

Also, aside from the fact that this feature harms usability, it also kind of ‘cheapens’ the site. It makes clear the lack of integration between the site and the search engine they’ve utilized. But that’s a topic for another day…

The Fix

Luckily there’s an easy solution to the problem - remove the undesirable ’search the web’ feature from your site!

Conclusion

So, am I wrong here? Does someone out there use this feature?