Searchology is a periodic state of the union for Google search (here’s the last one), and we’re here on the ground to see the announcements live.
Less than a month ago the company rolled out major new News and Image search products at a similar press event in San Francisco.
My live notes are below:
First up is Vice President of Core Search, Udi Manber.
He says the 20th century dream was to conquer nature (dams, roads, airplanes, rockets). The 21st centure will be about understanding people (health, communication, education, knowledge). Search is a big part of it, possibly leading the way, he says.
Whatever the user problem, Google needs to fix it. Connection speed, language, etc. Manber is talking about fine tuning search more than anything, including things like bringing weather, sports, flight information, maps and other information into search appropriately to answer questions. Translation of information on the fly is also a key issue.
We’ve made a lot of progress, and you’ll see some more today,” he says.
Next up: Pat Riley, senior search quality engineer. His presentation is called “Making “Did you mean?” even better. He’s talking about the did you mean link at Google and how they’ve improved it.
Example: query for “labor” could mean work, department of labor or childbirth.
Adding spelling to the product to help users. Someone types ipodd, for example. Google suggest ipod instead. In the background Google is sending the incorrect and correct query to the back end to process queries. An alternative solution is to ask the user first and make them click a link, which results in less stress on Google.
Next up is Scott Huffman, Director of Engineering, talking about Mobile Search. Search needs to be fast, relevant, comprehensive and fresh, he says. You should expect all these things on your mobile device too, he says.
Mobile search is growing faster than PC search, he says. It’s the primary way some people access the Internet. And it is inherently local, knows where you are and is with you wherever you are. But there is a challenge with devices – there are hundreds of them with widely varying capabilities. Search is generally difficult to use. Keys are small, or no keys at all.
Mobile search needs to be Complete (all of Google, on the device), Easy (effortless to search and get answers), and local (knows where you are).
Users need to search the whole web and the mobile web (sites optimized for mobile devices).
One thing the mobile team is doing is taking recent logged in searches from a user and making them available on a mobile device (not yet launched, couple of weeks he says). Less typing.
For local search, Google will access your location and will consider than when returning queries. And Google Suggest will actually bring back results for local places (the demo is a local sushi place) even before you hit enter. Click the phone number and call them.
Next up is Marissa Mayer, Vice President Search and User Experience.
Talking about progress Google has made. blogs, images, maps, books, news, video and product search are all now brought into Google universal search to make search better, she says. When it launched two years ago it was brought into only about 2% of search. Now its used much more. 1 in 4 search results have universal search results, she says.
They attempt to layout results in a way that is organized and compact, she says, calling the results page a Bento Box-like interface.
Now she’s talking about (the dreaded) Search Wiki. 40% of searches on any day are repeat searches for a user. The ability to mark them up has proven to be really useful for users. Today they are collecting hundreds of thousands of search wiki annotations per day.
What are the hard unsolved problems in search, Marissa asks:
- Finding the most recent information
- Expressing that you want just one type of result
- Assessing which results are best
- Knowing what you’re looking for
- Expressing your searches in keywords
Launching Google Search Options. Go to home page, do a search on something with recent activity. Get a result page that looks normal. Click show options at the top, which has date based filters, types of results filters and other filters.
Search Options also highlights a timeline that shows the number of results for queries over time. Google extracts date information from web pages and shows the number of results. A different way to visualize results.
Also, Wonderwheel, a quick visual way to explore a topic. You can also use it to refine, filter and view results.
Google Squared is launching later this month in labs. Google Squared returns search results in a spreadsheet format. It structures the unstructured data on web pages. So a search for Small Dogs returns results with names, description, size, weight, origin, etc., in columns and rows.
Google is looking for data structures on the web that imply facts, and then grabbing it for Squared results. “It takes an incredible amount of compute power to create one of those squares,” she says.
Next up is Rich Snippets, which appears to be similar to Yahoo Search Monkey. It brings, for example, review data from CNET Reviews directly into search results (along with date of review). Yelp data is also brought in. For people, LinkedIn data showing location, company and title is presented directly in search results.
Like Yahoo Search Monkey, third party websites can supply Google with structured data that is inserted directly into search results (should Google choose to display it). RDFa and Microformats are both supported.
Next up – an Android application built in John Taylor’s 20% time. Developed in Pittsburg. Star map for Android phone. Shows several thousand of the brightest stars in the sky, as well as the planets. You can enable constellations and drag them around with your finger. Zoom in and out. And since the G1 has GPS, it knows where you are and can show you the night sky exactly from your location. It also knows which direction you are holding the phone. That means as you move the phone over the sky it moves the image to show you what you are looking at. Users can also search for things in the sky and will direct you which way to move the phone so that you are looking at it.
It brings together android, search, and maps and is a 20% project. really impressive. Called SkyMap, launching today on Android market.
wow.
FIRST
autos: quick fix fail
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How very true!
Google does not represent the people they represent themselves and present search results as they interpret it. Google is a corporation promoting other conglomerate corporation partners. The small business owner trying to promote his website or receive high rank search placements is non existent.
Actually they do NOT have corporate interests in mind, and viciously fight TM battles with many US corporations. The funny thing is they won legality to use competitors ads in Trademarked search phrases i.e. (honda can advertise on the search term toyota.)
Google is great because they do not succumb to U.S. corporations demands, which most are archaic and frightened of the internet. These companies would love for Google to not excist. But they are forced to use Google, without any special treatment, and that is why they are great. They don’t give a crap about anyone
“Actually they do NOT have corporate interests in mind…”
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Whoo stop…. that is hurting….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Google is a corporation and only care about themselves. (step away from the kool-aid) They are fighting others to benefit themselves (durrrr) I hope you do not think that they are here for the greater good????? Pure profit, more profit, and (oh yea) profit.
agree, sometimes you have to catch yourself and be Objective in a Subjective topic.
Sorry DS but you’re missing an important point…
If i’m searching for “toyota”, it is pretty clear that “honda”, “ford” or “GM” have very limited or no relevancy at all to my query.
This goes quite against Google’s claims to focus on understanding the user intend and providing the most relevant results.
We all know that the strongest benefitor from this strategy is Google itself, as accrued competition on TM/brand terms (which generally have a high search volume) seriously boost the CPC inflation, and therefore Google’s revenues.
Anotherpoint is that just like the corporation you point out which can tend to bully in their own industries, Google’s force in the world of online advertising has seriously hindered the competition and this is why Google now have the threat of potential Anti-Trust actions upon them.
How does this relate to twitter?
Exactly… I come here to read about twitter and these tech blogs get in the way.
Wait, you mean this post isn’t about twitter?
All slides are available here: http://yvoschaa...earchology2009/
Best domain name ever for any food or sensual related business: http://www.TasteTickle.com It’s on sale now on Ebay!
What about spam? Are you selling that? Because someone here might be buying?
Man this post rocks.
Come onnnnnn Google Voice!
Next week http://www.Qwiji.com will launch a smashing search concept that will change the way you’ll watch the results. keep tracking us.
How about you just keep us informed buy posting on other non-related blog topics?
Ouch… better camera next time?
iphone pictures are fast. it is what it is.
should have been called adsenseology and how that its all that really matters for G right now. if g cared about results it would have a standardized structure for discovery. keywords will not be used in 5 years. natural language keyword location channels will be the standard for all locationengines.
algorithm bulk spam garbled results will be a thing of the past. whom ever casts the greatest natural language digital media footprint first will forever dominate location based internet and mobile discovery.
whomever rolodex’s digital media first may win the search engine wars.
INDEX VIDEO LINK TO 6:05
http://www.ted....lks/view/id/484
IndexLocator.com – linked raw data
Google Squared is so cool. Looks very much like our vision at Cazoodle.
At Cazoodle, our goal is enable “data-aware” search, by understanding the structure of Web data. Try our current products in apartment rentals, local events, and online shopping.
http://www.cazoodle.com
A while back I wrote paper (surf’s up) describing a new type of front end to Google, Datafall. The approach is focused on navigation through visualization. To my mind it does quite a lot to solve the hard unsolved problems in search mentioned by Marissa.
See for yourself
http://ui-patte...11/surf-up.html
Jeez Im really getting tired of hearing about Google, I hope the DOJ takes them to court for something.
What a bunch of dweebs.. I gusess the days of Bill Gates and Steve jobs is over…now all we get is a company with an executive structure with the personalites of a wooden chair.
Next….
Not knocking the article, but I’m enjoying the comments far more.
I understand the grumbling about Google – I wonder how much direct contact Google engineers have with real people doing searches (and explaining what they’re looking for), rather than sifting through tons of search data while and assuming they can use the data to read searchers’ minds.
Google Squared appears to be similar to my patent application:
Frankly, I am getting a Déjà vu effect while going through the “Google Squared” application because it appears to be very similar in function to my United States patent application which was filed on April 12, 2007 and as publicly disclosed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 16, 2008, when the patent application was published.
My patent application is titled as “Method And System For Research Using Computer Based Simultaneous Comparison And Contrasting Of A Multiplicity Of Subjects Having Specific Attributes Within Specific Contexts” bearing Document Number “20080256023” and Inventor name “Nair Satheesh” which may be viewed at http://patft.uspto.gov/ upon Patent Applications: Quick Search.
Google Squared appears to be using at least some if not many of the same methods and systems as set forth by me more than two years ago in my patent application. In fact there are many more methods and systems disclosed in my patent application which I believe will help resolve certain inaccuracies found in current Google Squared application.
I have issued legal notices to Google through my Patent Attorney in the US but Google has not responded yet to any of my notices.
Nair- sorry to hear about your patent situation, and hopefully they get back to you.
BUT whether or not Google is self-serving, the data they’re generating really is very exciting. It’s completely user generated, time-stamped, and often categorizable by location, home or work environments, and even gender. The data set responds instantly to world events, and (at least for Google) is completely searchable and analyzable. Really, no data set comes close to this from a human interest perspective. Searchology indeed.