Google 2.0

When they're not busy trying to figure out why China periodically blocks YouTube, the good folks at Google are working hard to improve search results, whose accuracy have been diluted by time, keyword-based algorithms, and search engine optimization experts trying to game the system and push their clients' Web pages to the top of the rankings. Yesterday, Google announced important changes to its search results, changes that will ideally match what you ask for with what you get. The first change involves the list of related searches that pops up at the bottom of the page. From now on, Google announced in a blog post, the search results will be considerably expanded, employing the admittedly abstruse technique of "semantic search," in which Google tries to understand the gist of what you're looking for, not merely the cumulative interplay of keywords you've typed into the search field.

Take the search "principles of physics," for example. Now, Google claims, its algorithms have the capacity to figure out that you are looking for physics principles, not merely Web pages that have those words in them. Accordingly, the related search results will include such notions as the Big Bang and quantum mechanics. Not bad, eh?

The second innovation, which is less algorithmy and more of a design issue, involves "snippets," the lines of text beneath the title of each search result. From now on, the snippet will be expanded to several lines, with important terms printed in bold, so users can more accurately understand what the Web page covers. Think of it as a nut graf.

Search Engine Land editor Greg Sterling has guarded hopes for the new system, as he told the Los Angeles Times: "It remains to be seen whether these improvements will alter user behavior, Sterling said. The changes could keep people on Google longer because they won't click on pages that aren't relevant. Sterling also said users might begin to enter more specific search terms, knowing that the words they're looking for will show up in the results and potentially save them time." Meanwhile, PC World's David Coursey claims that Google is playing catch-up to other Web players that have made considerable advances in semantic search. Nonetheless, he thinks, this is a significant advance. "It is beginning to look like the next Google could be, well, Google," he writes.