The search engine’s “Labs Group” tests three possible alternatives to the conventional format, designed to better organize search results…
“If you are tired of the way Google presents search results or think they could be shown in a more useful way, you can sign up for an experiment that should make a difference…”
Internet giant Google on Monday started promoting an Experimental Search page showcasing three alternatives to the traditional vertical list of web pages delivered as search results.
The latest additions, which people are free to try out if you have a Google account, are available through the Google Labs site, are intended as a means of providing users with an opportunity to test the search engine provider’s latest ideas.
“When you use Google to search the web in future, you will find your results presented in a new way.”
“For some searches you need more options and more control. That is why we have created our experimental search page to let you try out some of our newest ideas,” said Google’s Andrew Hogue.
One of the new features added by Google is a “Map View,” which focuses on results that include locations marked on a street map, which are grouped and displayed in a scrollable left pane.
“The ‘map view’ feature is intended to assist internet users looking for something in a particular geographical location.” Users also have the option of viewing the location on a satellite view.
The map view could be helpful, for example, the service enables people to search for jazz performances in their local town or technology conferences happening in a state by plotting the results found in a number of web pages on a single map.
“The right side features a map with referenced locations marked.”
Because traditional results are spread out over many sites and pages, they may be hard to visualize at once, so the map view is aimed at solving that problem by plotting some of the key locations.
“A second service being unfurled by the company is dubbed the “timeline view,” which is similar to the map view but involves dates found on the web.”
With this feature, a graph appears at the top of the page summarizing how dates in search results are spread through time.
Results on a search for “Thomas Jefferson,” the third U.S. president, would include a timeline on the top of the page with many dates related to Jefferson’s life. The dates would be drawn from search results, and clicking on a date would reveal the related results. There is also a filter on the top right-hand corner of the page for setting a range of years, months, or days.
“The ‘timeline view’ feature is designed for searches on historical figures or events.”
The third option, dubbed “Info View,” looks similar to the normal search results page, which is accessed through a control panel added to the right side of a traditional list of search results. The panel gives the option of rearranging results in order of importance related to dates, locations, measurements, or images.
For example, if “dates” is chosen in a search for “space exploration,” than the first result would be the date of Sputnik, the first successful orbital launch. The Soviet Union launched the satellite in 1957.
“If you run a search and find many of your results are looking similar, try using info view,” Hogue said in the company’s blog. “It may highlight the differences between results and help you select the best page for your needs.”
Google, however, is not alone in constantly upgrading its search capabilities helping people find what they want in search results that can sometimes include thousands of pages.
“Imaginestics’ VizSeek site, for example, lets a manufacturer draw the part it is looking for, as well as enter keywords, when looking for a supplier.”
“Swedish company Polar Rose is developing technology that can search actual images on the internet, as opposed to tags or text surrounding a photograph.”
“Hogue invited surfers to send their comments about the experimental search page to Google.”
“Send us feedback by clicking on the experiment name in the upper right part of the search page and selecting “Take our survey.” We would love to hear your thoughts!” he said.
Users can try the new features at Google Labs:
www.google.com/experimental/index.html