In case you missed it, Google have launched their own web browser called Google Chrome. Chrome is based off the same engine that runs Apple’s Safari browser and has created quite a stir amongst users and webmasters alike.

My understanding is that Google’s entry in the browser wars has one core goal: increase internet usage. If people use and like the internet more, that’s eventually going to be a positive thing for Google, because people will be doing more searches.

So Google took it upon themselves to create a browser that makes searching easier, faster and more secure. Some of the core changes you might notice are:

• One box for everything – Chrome uses a single box for the address bar, searching, history and search suggestions.

• New tab layout – tabs are located on top of the window in the address bar creating a larger viewing area.
• Thumbnails of your sites – The default homepage shows thumbnail versions of your most popular pages for instant access.
• Security warnings – Chrome will display a warning screen before visiting any sites containing malware of phishing scam.

Google have shown they are serious about gaining market share with Chrome, by giving the browser prime real estate on their homepage. So far, based on our Hitslink stats, Chrome is currently being used by 2.03% of our visitors, not bad for a browser that’s only been live for a few days.

One thing’s for sure though, the introduction of Chrome means the value of a number one Google ranking just went up, as Google suggests the number 1 ranked search result for any term you enter. See the example below for ‘cars’:

Here you can see Google gives you a chance to visit the website cars.com even before seeing any search results. This means number one rankings are going to receive even more traffic than before, because there are no other sites on the search results page to steal your traffic.

If you want to give the browser a test run, you can download it here. We would also love to hear from any webmasters regarding the browser usage of their visitors. If you’ve got higher usage than 2% let us know!

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