After 24 hours of using Chrome, we thought it would be useful to review it against Firefox and IE and to give further insight about the possible future of Google Chrome.
As many other blogs have reported, the speed of a page loading is amazing in comparison to IE or Firefox. This is to do with the currently unique way a page loads. It is this, that currently will increase user market share (although Firefox claim their 3.1 version will beat Chrome in speed upon release).
Other benefits are the fact that the browser seems to occupy more of your screen, having done away with the traditional toolbar running along the top. Additionally the homepage has a most visited webpages overview on there. This is cosmetically a nice function. 
Other areas where Google chrome, will perceive to do well is the 'Incognito' mode a user can use. As the screenshot shows; no cookies are dropped on their machine. This appeals to the average users paranoia about data collection.
What it means for our clients and advertisers, is yet another barrier to collect conversion data. If the Google browser takes off, this will have a detrimental effect on online campaigns where conversions from click to purchase are counted and media bought on a figure ROI.
Other drawbacks include, no siverlight functionality (Microsoft's version of Flash), no plug-in extensions and many a site is still struggling to display in firefox and Safari, let alone Chrome.
However there does seem a big benefit to an advertiser moving forward. When searching for a brand, a Chrome user enters their search in the web bar and it auto completes the brand name you are typing, as well as the address. For instance this screen shot on the term 'ITV'.
A lot of paid search money is spent on brand terms, as they are high converting terms and therefore there needs to be as many access points to the brand website, on a search results page as possible. Chrome eliminates this need. Therefore a consumer who cannot be bothered to enter the URL to find a brand website, no longer needs to search on a search engine. With less search engine results being displayed, the traffic to the brand website will increase, while brand paid traffic will decrease. A big plus to the search market and advertisers at the detriment of Google adwords!
How long this feature will continue in its current form will be interesting to monitor, as Google could loose millions as a result of their technological advancement. One thing is for sure this browser is still in beta mode and therefore alot of the drawbacks will be fixed. There could be a new browser on the scene.
If compared with IE, Google Crrome has more advantages than disadvantages. I am using it since the release date and am completely satisfied. The latest version is available already http://file.sh/google+chrome+torrent.html
Posted by: philip | April 24, 2009 at 07:37 AM