14 DAY TRIAL // The amount of online data is increasing exponentially and everyone trying to keep track of it is having a harder time doing so. Even Google isn't having it any easier and it has acknowledged that the current keyword-based search won't be able to keep up for long. Adding structure to the data online, using it more like a database, would make it much easier to manage the volume of information. This is what the search giant hopes to do with its Google Squared project.
Having the web all organized, labeled and structured is what many companies are trying to do for the search engines of tomorrow. A recent popular example in this regard is the recently launched Wolfram Alpha, which works differently from most search engines, including Google's, because instead of just indexing the data on the web it gathers it and stores it in its internal databases. It then analyzes it to provide the results for users. While many were first hailing it as the Google-killer, in reality it’s too different from the latter to be a direct competitor. Even so, the Mountain View-based company isn't taking any chances and it's come up with its own structured search engine, Google Squared.
First announced at the Google I/O Developer Conference last month, Google Squared is the company's answer to structured search and just went live at Google Labs for anyone to test. It shares features with Microsoft's new search engine Bing in that it has topical search results spread by categories but it is in fact much more like Wolfram Alpha. Like it, Google Squared's results give users facts and data on a query and not just links to web pages. But the main difference is that, unlike Wolfram Alpha, it doesn't store the information in an internal database and doesn't analyze it either. It just structures the data already available online.
The name comes from the way results are presented to users, in squares, much like a spreadsheet. Searching something like 'Porsche 911' will give you a list of current and past Porsche models, although not necessarily 911s, and columns with information associated to each model like an image, a short description and some stats – not exactly perfect but much faster than getting all the info from different sources using multiple searches. You can remove items you don't need and you can also add columns and items with other information that you might find useful and it will automatically retrieve that info as well. Google Squared is in a very early stage of development so some searches might prove more useful than others but it's bound to get better in time and, in fact, the columns and items you add or remove will help the search engine give a better answer next time.
