25 March 2009 | Author: Yasmin Sulaiman

Google tweaks to pre-empt competitors?

Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm, endeavouring to enhance the way in which its search engine returns results that are relevant and useful. Now, it's announced two new modifications that might seem minor to begin with, but could have far-reaching effects in future.

For starters, Google says it has deployed new technology that improves the search engine's knowledge of associated terms and concepts related to a query. This applies particularly to its "related searches" feature. So, for example, a search for "theory of evolution" should theoretically bring up a wider range of related searches, such as "evolution irreducible complexity", "Ernst Mayr evolution" and "the fossil record evolution". These changes haven't just been rolled out in English, however. According to an Official Google Blog post, the improvements to related searches will be available in 37 languages.

The second algorithm tweak Google has unveiled relates to snippets returned underneath search results titles. Google's is popularly associated with the dark blue titles it returns in its search results pages, each of which is accompanied by a two-line snippet, with components from the search phrase highlighted in bold. Now, these snippets will be longer for lengthier queries, in order to accommodate more information and display a greater number of keyphrase components in bold.

For instance, a search for "Lawrence Olivier stage film and directing work" now returns longer snippets in order to incorporate more of these keywords, as the screenshot below illustrates.



Although most industry experts have described the changes as minor, they could go a long way towards making Google results more relevant for users as new semantic search engines and social networks like Facebook and Twitter accelerate the rate at which users change their online habits. As Twitter attracts droves of new followers, many people are turning to tools like Twitter Search to find information in real time. A quick search for "Fred Goodwin', for instance, returns real-time Tweets that display a mix of news articles on the vandalism inflicted on his Edinburgh house last night and unsympathetic responses from Twitterers across the world.

What's more, the last few weeks have seen a flurry of speculation over Kumo.com, an internal domain that Microsoft is currently using to test its search developments. A recent article from bigmouthmedia speculated that, if Kumo.com should launch as a replacement for Live Search, it could see the semantic search technology pioneered by Powerset (purchased by Microsoft in 2008) come to the fore, creating a serious new contender to Google's dominance. And with new 'computational knowledge engine' WolframAlpha also making waves, these two tweaks to Google's results could be the first in a burst of new features to spring forth from Mountain View in an effort to safeguard the future of its search crown.

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