Google has updated the way it presents its search results, in a bid to make the information more relevant and simpler. The new layout includes features that are already being employed by its rivals such as Bing Yahoo and Ask. The changes include a touched-up logo, and a navigation panel on the page to refine […]
Google has updated the way it presents its search results, in a bid to make the information more relevant and simpler. The new layout includes features that are already being employed by its rivals such as Bing Yahoo and Ask. The changes include a touched-up logo, and a navigation panel on the page to refine queries with options to search specific categories such as news, images, blogs and video.
The site will also include trending topics, pioneered by the likes of Twitter. So for a hot topic, such as the General Election results, users would be able to refine their search to content posted online within the past 24 hours or past few days. Similar lay-outs are already employed by Bing, Yahoo and Ask, making Google a relative latecomer to what has become a standard design for the search engines on the web.
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The left-hand panel will also include suggestions for “something different”. Unlike previous suggestions offered by Google, which, for example, refined a search for “Rolling Stones” to “Rolling Stones albums” or “Rolling Stones songs”, the new suggestions will offer terms such as “Pink Floyd” or “The Clash”.
Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, wrote in a blog post: “Today’s metamorphosis responds to the increasing richness of the web and the increasing power of search — revealing search tools on the left and updating the visual look and feel throughout.
“We’ve added contextually relevant, left-hand navigation to the page. This new side panel highlights the most relevant search tools and refinements for your query. Over the past three years, we’ve launched Universal Search, the Search Options panel and Google Squared, and it’s those three technologies that power the left-hand panel,” Mayer added.
Read the Google blog for more details on the updated search results.
