Google’s Searchology event was today, and Google used this to give kind of a “state of search” presentation, something the company often does in a variety of formats.
One of the highlights of the event was Marissa Mayer introducing some changes to Google’s search results. This is called “Search Options,” and allows users to “slice” and “dice” results in a number of ways.
Now when you perform a search on Google, you will see a link under the search box that says “show options.” Clicking this will bring up a left-side navigation menu allowing you to check out results for video, forums, and reviews, and view them from “any time,” “recent results,” “the past 24 hours,” “the past week,” and the “past year.”
The option to sort by date or relevance is there, similar to how Google News has let you organize your results in the past. There are options for “standard results,” “images from the page,” and “more text.”
There is also the option to switch between standard view, related searches, the “wonder wheel,” and a timeline. The wonder wheel is particularly interesting. It gives you different links related to your query. Look at this one for “Chinatown:”
This is certainly the next step from Google for personalized search. We’ve all been anticipating the addition of more personalization features, and this fits that bill. We saw the launch of SearchWiki late last year. Combine that with this, and users have the ability to manipulate their search results on Google more than ever before.
