Not familiar with Google’s OneBox, Plus Box or direct answers? See our Meet The Google OneBox, Plus Box, Direct Answers & The 10-Pack article that explains them all, complete with illustrations.

Google Adds More Answers & Info To Search Results

Jan 22, 2010 at 2:59pm ET by Matt McGee

Google has announced a pair of changes to its search results pages that make its search results pages more informational and give searchers information they're looking for without having to click away from Google.com. Events In Rich Snippets Adding to last year's announcement of rich snippets for reviews and people, Google has created one for events, too. Using the hCalendar microformat, Google will show information and links to specific events as part of the snippet below a search result. If you offer event listings, check Google's documentation for more on how to use this. Note [...]

Google Music Search 2.0 Launches With Musical “OneBox”

Oct 28, 2009 at 7:00pm ET by Matt McGee

Saying that it wants to bring music fans "closer to your favorite artists," Google has added a new Music Search OneBox to its search results. The new OneBox includes content from partner sites such as MySpace, Pandora, Lala and others, and lets searchers listen to song clips right from Google's search results page. Searchers should begin to see the new OneBox in the next 24 hours. Google has had a music OneBox before, but it disappeared some time ago, perhaps in preparation for the launch of this new Music Search 2.0, as we're calling it. There's also a deeper search function that only surf [...]

Google Adds Visited Pages, Past Hour & Fewer Shopping Sites Filtering

Oct 1, 2009 at 12:01pm ET by Danny Sullivan

You like it! You really like it! It being the Google Search Options feature that Google added to its search pages back in May, the company says. So as a reward, Google is adding options to filter out (or highlight) pages you've visited before, pages that Google's found in the past hour and a toggle to show more or fewer "commercial" listings in its results. My companion piece, Up Close With Google Search Options, does exactly as the headline says. It will take you through ALL the Search Options that Google's offers in great depth, including the new ones. But for those who just want [...]

Take That, Twitter: Google Hot Trends Integrated Into Google Search

Sep 28, 2009 at 6:45pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Twitter and real time search continues to attract buzz, and Google's reacting by positioning its "Hot Trends" information in a place where more people will see it, within Google's regular search results. Starting around 3:45 Pacific Time today, those searching on topics that are spiking or "hot" in popularity should see a new Hot Trends OneBox near the bottom of the search results page and just above the related search area, similar to below: Here's another example: "The idea behind the [Hot Trends] OneBox is to not only provide you with search results as you'd want but al [...]

Meet The Google OneBox, Plus Box, Direct Answers & The 10-Pack

Sep 28, 2009 at 6:12pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google's "normal" listings show the title of a web page, a description of it (also called a "snippet") and the web page's URL. However, Google also has other listings that appear within search results that are designed to give access to some of its specialized search tools (such as news search), to allow more information to be shown than a standard answer provides or to show answers directly within the search page. Here's a short overview to these alternatives. OneBox Results OneBox results are when Google shows information within a special unit, often with images associated with [...]

Google Answers Your Health Questions With Health OneBox

Aug 27, 2009 at 12:00pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google launched Google Health back in February 2008. Today, Google is integrating Google Health content into the search results via the classic OneBox section of the page. You should be able to see the Google Health OneBox for medical related searches, such as for [asthma] or [diabetes]. Here is a screen capture of the OneBox result for Asthma: As you can see, Google provides a quick definition of the condition and then gives you a link to either Google Health, Mayo Clinic, Medline Plus or WebMD. Note, not all of these links will be available for all health-related queries. I [...]

Yahoo Search Adds Team Shortcuts & Google Adds Tennis One Box

May 28, 2009 at 8:36am ET by Barry Schwartz

Not do be outdone by Live Search adding sports scores, both Yahoo and Google added some of their own. Keep in mind, both Google and Yahoo have had sports scores in the search results, but both have made additions to theirs. Yahoo has added a way to search for your favorite sports team. For example, a search on Chicago Bulls returns this Yahoo Shortcut: Google has added Tennis stats and scores, according to [...]

Google Launches Public Data Search & Charts During Wolfram Alpha Demo

Apr 28, 2009 at 4:28pm ET by Barry Schwartz

During the Wolfram Alpha demonstration today, the Google Blog announced the launch of their own structured data search feature that allows you to find and compare public data. Searches such as [unemployment rate new york] will now bring up a quick answer that looks like this: Clicking on the result will take you to a more detailed graph with ways to plot other data on this charge. Below is me plotting Rockland County, New York, compared to New York State and also adding California: Google promises to add public data for answers on prices of cookies, CO2 emissions, asthma frequenc [...]

Hoping To Improve People Search, Google Launches “Profile Results”

Apr 21, 2009 at 4:00pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Ever searched for yourself on Google and come away dissatisfied, especially if someone else you share a name with seems to dominate the results? Ever looked for someone else and been disappointed that you couldn't find the person you wanted? Google's new "Profile Results" launching today aim to correct both problems. Since the end of 2007, Google has allowed people to create Google Profile pages for use with certain Google services. For example, if you created content in Google Maps, your Google Profile let you share who you were with others using that service. The same profile also [...]

Google Shakes Things Up By Adding Earthquake OneBox

Mar 4, 2009 at 11:42am ET by Barry Schwartz

About two years ago, Greg Sterling wrote a piece on Searching for Earthquakes. Since then, I believe Ask.com was the only search engine providing a "smart answer" for earthquake data. Ask.com continues to offer the smart answer, but recently, Google added their own. Google Operating System reports Google has added an Earthquake OneBox result for a search on earthquake. Here is a picture: The data Google uses for this OneBox is from U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program. Postscript: A day or so after, Google posted information about this new OneBox and titled their p [...]

Google Tests New Maps In Search Results

Feb 9, 2009 at 9:03am ET by Barry Schwartz

Mike Blumenthal reports seeing Google test a new type of map within the search results listings. He said he is only able to trigger this map to show using Firefox with the Google Toolbar installed. So his theory is that Google is testing some geolocation technology in the Firefox toolbar. I personally cannot reproduce it, but I trust Mike is seeing this. Here is a screen capture of one such result: Others reportedly have seen this type of map embedded within specific listings a month or so ago. It would make sense for Google to show maps in some cases, when you are looking up a spe [...]

Google Testing Two Videos On One Web Search Result

Aug 28, 2008 at 8:32am ET by Barry Schwartz

Ever since the launch of Google Universal Search, Google has been showing videos in the web search results. But sometimes, there are more than one video shown in the web search results and, in many cases, those multiple videos will take up the space of 2 or more of the ten results shown. Philipp Lenssen reports that Google is now testing showing a second video result on the same search result as the first video result. For example, the search that triggered this test was for iphone in Google Canada. What I see are two video results beneath a news result, which is beneath a web result. In [...]

Google Adds Olympics One Box Results

Aug 5, 2008 at 5:17pm ET by Barry Schwartz

I was chatting with Danny about the Yahoo Olympics Shortcut on the Daily SearchCast and Danny noticed that a search for beach volleyball olympics on Google returns a Google OneBox result. But other searches also work and they all show special icons and results. For example, swimming olympics shows a blue swimming icon: Here are several more icons, representing searches in the flavor of basketball olympics, baseball olympics, gymnastics olympics, and so on: The following sports followed by the word "olympics," in theory, should all work: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, [...]

Google Gets Whois Answers In Search Results

Apr 18, 2008 at 6:26pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Looks like Google's gained a new direct answer service, whois information for domains. Enter a query like whois searchengineland.com, and you'll be told when the domain was registered and expires, along with a link to more information from the Domain Tools site. Here's a screenshot: Google's not done a formal announcement, but Matt Cutts just noted it on his blog here. As Google Operating System notes, back in 2004 Google rolled out a somewhat similar service that was quickly ended after Network Solutions blocked Google's requests. Postscript: Note, some people aren't seeing this featur [...]

New—And Unfortunate—Changes To Google Local Search

Feb 6, 2008 at 1:59pm ET by Daniel Bower

Google recently made some quite significant changes to the OneBox / Universal Search result that appears at the top of the result page when you do a query that Google determines has local intent. Previously, Google would display three local search results in the OneBox area, with a star rating and a review snippet. Now Google returns 10 local results listed A-J. Once I'd finished reeling from the potential impact this would have on our natural traffic, I began to run through all the potential implications. What I discovered was quite a naive system—one that feels more like something [...]

Google Universal Search Expands

Jan 30, 2008 at 10:32am ET by Danny Sullivan

It's just over a half-year since Google launched Universal Search, its method of blending results from its own various topically-focused or "vertical" search engines. Since that time, the system has evolved. In particular, Google Universal Search now fills more than just 10 spots on the page, while shopping and blog search results are among new resources being included. Below, a look at these and related changes. The Big Picture: Comparative Ranking & Blending With Universal Search, Google promised that two major things would happen: Comparative Ranking Blending [...]

Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest

Jan 10, 2008 at 8:03am ET by Greg Sterling

Mapquest arguably "owns" the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that "traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on year and is down 20% in the past 6 months. Google Maps traffic is up 135% year on year and is up 7% in the past 6 months." According to Hitwise, after Mapquest, Google is the number two mapping site, followed by Yahoo and then Microsoft's Live Local. Hitwise's Heather Hopkins argues that the traffic trend is based almost exclusively on Goog [...]

Need Flight Status? Google Now Provides Tracking

Dec 19, 2007 at 8:40am ET by Barry Schwartz

The Google Blog announced they have improved how they return flight status information in search results. Instead of just providing a link to get flight times, you get that information directly in the OneBox area at Google, without requiring a click to see it. Here is a screen capture of the Google results for a search on aa 123 before Google added schedule information to the result: Here are Google's new results: Notice how Google now tells you if your flight is on time or delayed, as well as the estimated departure and arrival times. Danny did a huge compare and contrast of how sea [...]

Google 2D? Google Tests Vertical Results In Right-Hand Column

Dec 13, 2007 at 11:15am ET by Barry Schwartz

Ask 3D was the name Ask gave to the "three pane" user interface rolled out earlier this year. Now Google seems to be copying Ask, at least to the second degree, with the right-most column being used to show vertical results similar to how Ask does it. Google Blogoscoped and Valleywag both have pictures of Google trying out the right-hand column as a location for Google's OneBox results. It would be interesting to see if this test turns out to be more than a test. Google has adopted Universal Search, but by placing these vertical results outside of the main web results, they no longer seem t [...]

Search 3.0: The Blended & Vertical Search Revolution

Nov 27, 2007 at 9:11am ET by Danny Sullivan

This has been a remarkable year. After years of no real dramatic evolution in search, the third generation finally arrived. Google calls it Universal Search, and I've been tending to say "blended search" as a generic name for the change that's now hit all the major search engines. But in doing the agenda for our upcoming SMX West conference, a better term for what's going on finally clicked: Search 3.0. In this article, I'll cover the why and what of Search 3.0, taking in Search 1.0 and 2.0 along the way and touch on how Search 4.0 -- personal and social refinement -- is on the way. [...]

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