14 DAY TRIAL // Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer might consider Microsoft a startup on the search market, a position that gives the Redmond company freedom and flexibility to experiment and innovate beyond its traditional model, but Google is no stranger to catalyzing the evolution of its search engine. The latest Searchology event was synonymous for Google with the introduction of new options and updates designed to enhance the quality of answers to complex user queries. In this regard, as of May 12, 2009, Google has grown with the addition of enhancements set up to connect people with the information they are looking for.
In this respect, Google grew with “a new set of features that we call Search Options, which are a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?” explained Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience, and Jack Menzel, group product manager.
Essentially the Search Options offer users a set of filters that enable them to narrow down the search in accordance with specific parameters. In this regard, if users want for example to search only for reviews of Windows 7 Release Candidate published in the past week, they will be able to set the filters of the Google Search Options accordingly. The Search Options are available via a link at the top of the search page, just above the results and it can be switched on or off.
In addition to the new options, Google also indicated that the snippets of information provided with each returned result would grow in volume in order to make it easier for users to identify the best results for the query. “Some of our snippets are going to get richer. These "rich snippets" extract and show more useful information from web pages than the preview text that you are used to seeing,” Mayer added.
In the video embedded at the bottom of this article you will be able to see a demonstration of the new Google options and updates in action. In addition to the Search Options and richer snippets, Google is also offering the Wonder Wheel and Timeline. With the Wonder Wheel users are free to explore the relationships between searches and to find new items of interest. The Timeline is designed to provide a deep perspective into a certain topic, allowing users to navigate search results in accordance with year and month metrics.
“We also showed a preview of a new tool that we're calling Google Squared. Unlike a normal search engine, Google Squared doesn't find webpages about your topic — instead, it automatically fetches and organizes facts from across the Internet. We'll be opening it up to users later this month on Google Labs. These features really explore search from a broad and entirely new perspective. Because we realize that when you can't quickly find just the exact information or content you need or want, it's our problem, not yours. And it's a problem with plenty of room left for innovation. Stay tuned,” Mayer added.