13 May 2009 | Author: Yasmin Sulaiman

Recapping Google's Searchology revelations

Yesterday, Google broadcast Searchology 2009 - only the second event of its kind for the search giant - and once again rocked the foundations of the online world. In 2007, Searchology was the platform for unveiling Universal Search, now a vital part of Google's search offering, so this year's webcast had a lot to live up to. And, despite the anticipation, Mountain View certainly lived up to - and some might say exceeded - the expectations of many online analysts.

So what were the key points unveiled in this year's Searchology, and what impact are they likely to have on the search landscape in 2009 and beyond? Here's a potted recap.

Search Options

The premise behind Search Options is to let Google users generate different search results displays in order to make it simpler to view information. Users are now able to filter the type of results displayed (e.g., videos or reviews) and choose to view older or newer results (e.g., results from the past 24 hours or from the past year).

For example, a search for "Johnny Depp films" generates nearly five million results. However, clicking on "show options" lets users filter these results.












The list to left shows the several different search options that are then made available to let users change the types of search results they want to see. For instance, 'videos' reveals several different trailers for Johnny Depp films, while the 'reviews' filter shows reviews for his movies. There's also a timeline that displays information related to the phrase "Johnny Depp films" over time. What's more, the Wonder Wheel feature allows people to view a graphical illustration of related search terms, as shown below. Clicking on each phrase sends the user to a new set of results related to that particular search term.


















Of all the announcements revealed by Searchology, Search Options looks likely to be the one that most transforms the search experience for everyday users. The ability to filter results according to the time in which they were published is attracting particular attention, as sites like Twitter continue to bring real-time search to the forefront of the web.

Rich snippets

Also creating excitement following Searchology are Google's plans for "rich snippets" - a modification that could make online reviews more important than ever for retailers and service providers. Essentially, Google is hoping that websites will adopt microformats or RDFa standards in their HTML mark up to display structured data - like star ratings and price estimates for a restaurant - in search result snippets. To find out more, read a detailed article on rich snippets and microformats posted by a bigmouthmedia SEO expert earlier today.

Google Squared

This Searchology announcement is one that could have students across the world leaping with joy. Google Squared aims to collect details from several web pages and reorganise them on a single page in a spreadsheet-like display. Due to be released on Google Labs later this month, there are still few details out about this project but many experts are speculating that it could be just what Google needs to maintain their competitive edge against emerging players in the field of semantic search, like WolframAlpha.

Google Sky Map

Finally, Searchology also heralded the advent of Google Sky Map for Android, a feature that effectively turns a mobile phone screen into an interactive dictionary of astronomy. Android device users can download the Sky Map application from the Android Market; then, to find out the name of a particular star or constellation in the sky, they need only point their mobile device at the star in question and the application will point reveal its identity. While there's still only one Android mobile phone out there at the moment, it seems inevitable that this innovative feature will take-off later this year when other planned Android devices hit global markets.

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