New Releases from Google

Earlier this week Google launched a wave of new search features as well as a sneak peek at the upcoming 'Google squared'. The much anticipated release reveals some fantastic tools that can be used by individuals and companies which can in fact make a significant change to search engine methodologies.

•1Show Options Feature- As of this week, users of Google.com will find a link at the top of the results page which will say "Show Options". Clicking on this link will open a sidebar that will include search filters such as images, video and date. This helps users quickly filter through results to find the most relevant for their search.

•2.      Rich Media Snippets- Answering Yahoo!'s Search Monkey, this feature allows web developers to imbed an HTML code that will be picked up by Googlebot and is presented in their results. For example, when searching for a person, the code snippet can reveal additional details of a person such as location, age or occupation, helping the user find the person they were looking for more easily and effectively. Or, if searching for a restaurant, a snippet can automatically pull up reviews in the search engine results; show a visual 5 star rating, again ensuring that searchers find the most relevant information directly and easily in search results.

The code can be easily embedded into any HTML document and the Google Algorithms pick it up to display the reviews, information or graphics embedded. The snippets can be used in both site search and custom search and are accessible to other search engines since they use open standard.

•3.      Sky Map- built specifically for G1 and other Android powered devices, Google now offers a map of the stars in the sky. The application uses GPS to determine user location and adjusts to show a map of the stars visible from that location.

The map displayed will change depending on the direction the phone is facing and users can search for constellations by looking them up on the phone and getting an indication of which way the constellation is in the night sky.

•4.      Google Squared- The most anticipated element is expected to be launched by the end of the month and is expected to become one of Google's most significant changes in recent times.

Searching through Google Squared will provide users with pure information since results will show up in a spreadsheet that can be edited and saved. The spreadsheet will include relevant data that will sort results to better identify the user's needs and find more specific information for search queries. So, in the example given by Google (see above image), if a user searches for the term "small dog" they will find the following table in their results:

The first column, stretching down the page, identifies the breeds of small dogs. Columns can be adjusted, added or deleted based on user preferences and relevance of information. While still in preliminary stages and only released to labs, Google Squared, which is based on the high probability of facts and how they relate to search queries, does create an issue around Google's ability to manipulate data and search results and presenting information without sending searchers to the sites that provided the information in the first place.

While this and other issues are still to be resolved, this new release from Google will take a step in providing users with an easy to use application which allows them to easily and effectively find the most relevant information. While the application is expected to be rolled out in the US only first, a wider release is expected and anticipated soon.