Google Reader Is Falling into Obscurity, Removed from the Navbar in Gmail

It seems that Google Reader is increasingly taking a back seat at Google. The RSS/Atom feed reader is the most popular tool of its kind, web-based or desktop app, but that's not enough for it to get too much attention from the giant search company.

The latest sign that Reader is falling into obscurity is its removal from the Google navbar in Gmail, as Google Operating System noticed. It used to sit between Photos and Web, but it has now been replaced by a link to Google Sites.

Reader is still accessible from the More drop-down menu. It's not the first time Reader has been dropped from the spot, but this time it's permanent.

"I wanted to give you more information on the changes to the links at the top of Gmail. Google is always working to improve our products, and that often results in changes such as the one you are seeing," explains a Gmail community manager.

"While the link to Reader has moved, you can continue to access Google Reader under the 'More' dropdown," she said.

Users who missed the link complained on Gmail's Help Forum, but it seems that it wasn't a mistake this time. While Google does sometime change things, even reverts them, based on feedback, that's probably not going to happen this time around.

"You can also set a specific bookmark to reader.google.com for one-click access," Google offered another solution.

"Depending your browser, try dragging http://reader.google.com right from this post onto the bookmark bar on your browser (usually below the URL bar)," it said.

Google Reader hasn't been getting much attention lately. While many have been saying that RSS is dead, for years, it's now increasingly beginning to look like it.

Reader hasn't received an updated design, part of the big redesign push that is sweeping across Google, while more obscure sites, such as Groups or even the help pages have been updated.