Tuesday Google rolled out 2 new improvements to Googles search feature, both of which will help users to more effectively get the information they need. The first improvement has an expanded list of related searches. Google has implemented this technology to better understand associations and concepts related to your search. One of its first applications allows Google to offer better related searches.
Google says, ” For example, if you search for [principles of physics], our algorithms understand that “angular momentum,” “special relativity,” “big bang” and “quantum mechanic” are related terms that could help you find what you need.” Google search is now able to look at more queries and make suggestions more relevant to what you actually need.
Secondly, is the addition of longer search result descriptions, or as coders would say longer snippets.
When you search, each result gives you answers that start with a dark blue title and is followed by text. This text is called a snippet. Both of these together help you to know what each page is about. Furthermore, important words in the snippet that are related to your search appear bold.
Most queries over 3 words are to long to do you any good. Now with Googles enhancements they have been able to increase the number of lines in the snippet, which will allow for more information. Showing more of the words that you type in the text of the page.
Google states, “Suppose you were looking for information about Earth’s rotation around the sun, and specifically wanted to know about its tilt and distance from the sun. So you type all of that into Google: [earth's rotation axis tilt and distance from sun]. A normal-length snippet wouldn’t be able to show you the context for all of those words, but with longer snippets you can be sure that the first result covers all those topics. In addition, the extra line of snippets for the third result shows the word “sun” in context, suggesting that the page doesn’t talk about Earth’s distance from the sun”
What does this mean to the average person? Easier methods to find exactly what you need. As search items grow and become more refined, less time will be spent looking through irrelevant listings. Now for the website owner, this becomes more important. Search engine optimization will be increased through keyword recognition. Longer snippets allows for more exact search terms and keyword associated hits.
-Kimberly Veautour
Acknowledgments: Google Blog
Tags: browsers, google, Industry News, internet news, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, using google