* More pictures, information summaries in search results
* Revamp only for U.S.-based English language users
* Product rolling out starting Wednesday
* Affects desktop, mobile, tablet
* “We are not magicians”
SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 (Reuters) – Google is
revamping the way it handles searches in the United States to
give users quick access to answers without leaving the page, the
company said.
The new search process is based on what Google calls the
“knowledge graph” — meaning that it tries to pinpoint faster
the context surrounding its users’ keyword searches.
“Over the years, as search has improved, people expect
more,” said Amit Singhal, vice president of engineering at
Google and the head of search, in an interview. “We see this as
the next big improvement in search relevance.”
The redesign, which for now affects only U.S.-based English
language users, is gradually being rolled starting Wednesday on
desktop, mobile and tablet platforms. Google plans to eventually
expand the new search features outside the U.S., Singhal said,
without specifying when.
Many of the results will carry more graphical elements,
compared to standard lists of search results, such as maps and
pictures of related results, often in separate pop-ups. The idea
is to let users easily discover what related material interests
them and click through to it, Singhal said.
The offering is the latest example of search companies
moving away from offering a list of text-based links as search
results. Last week, Microsoft’s Bing unveiled a
redesign that includes a “snapshot” column. Last year, Yahoo
rolled out its “search direct box.”
Google is by far the leader in search, with 66 percent of
the U.S. market, according to comScore. But it sees other sites
such as Facebook as competition, as users there can poll
their friends and acquaintances for information on various
topics without leaving the Facebook ecosystem.
Under Google’s existing algorithm, a search for “kings”
might pull up results for the ice hockey team, the basketball
team, and the TV series, all on the first results page.
On the revamped Google, a box will pop up in the top
right-hand corner of the screen, giving users the option right
away to limit their search to the desired meaning of “kings.”
For some searches, such as on prominent people, Google will
automatically pull up a summary box with key information on that
topic. The summary box will also appear on the top right of the
page.
A search for architect Frank Lloyd Wright, for example,
pulls up the first line of his Wikipedia entry, plus dates of
birth and death, thumbnail pictures of his best-known buildings,
and thumbnail pictures of other architects people commonly
search for.
The upshot is that many users will end their Internet search
without leaving Google’s pages, when in the past they might have
continued to a site such as Wikipedia, which is collaborating
with Google on the new search features.
Google said it could actually drive more traffic to
Wikipedia, which will be prominently linked to in the summary
boxes. A Wikipedia spokesman said Google is using Wikipedia
information in an appropriate way.
The new techniques are based in large part on work done at
online data collection Freebase, Singhal said. Freebase was
developed by Metaweb, a company Google acquired in 2010.
Google is also working on being able to better answer more
complex questions such as “What are the ten deepest lakes in
Africa?” that require its algorithms to factor in several
different criteria.
But it may never be able to crack some users’ toughest
questions, such as “Does my hairstyle make me look fat?” which
Singhal said was a real user query.
“We are not magicians,” he said. “We are just computer
science geeks.”
