May 20, 2013 at 9:38am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has quietly dropped the "Translated Foreign Pages" search filter from the Google search options menu. Google tells us the option was removed due to lack of use, but they say they are still committed to making the Web available to as many people, in as many languages, as possible. The translated foreign pages search option enabled searchers to restrict the search results to specific languages only. So, if you want to search for something in English and then show results for that search result in French, you could have used this search option for that. Dan Russell, Google's Search R [...]

The Real Reason Google Wonder Wheel Died: It Was A Pain To Maintain

Aug 15, 2011 at 8:30am ET by Gary Price

Several weeks ago we reported that Google had taken the Wonder Wheel service offline. Its removal was a surprise to all its users including the many K-12 educators. A Google spokesperson old us that Wonder Wheel was removed due to the "initial stage" of the Google website redesign but did not share any info when we asked if and/or when Wonder Wheel would return. Now, let's jump to the other day when I came across (by accident) a Google Help Forum post by a Google employee that was posted only two days after our Search Engine Land item. It provides a different explanation than Googl [...]

Official: The Google Wonder Wheel Is Gone

Jul 3, 2011 at 1:20pm ET by Gary Price

A Google spokesperson has informed Search Engine Land that the Google Wonder Wheel feature has been taken offline. The spokesperson said that the search tool was removed due to the "initial stage" of the Google site redesign announced earlier this week. The Google Wonder Wheel along with a number of other search refinements were formally introduced at the 2009 Searchology event but actually became available as part of a test a couple of months earlier. Wonder Wheel was used by SEOs, SEMs, and advertisers as a way to visually identify relationships between a search term(s) and related [...]

Google Instant, Meet Yahoo Instant – Er, Yahoo Rich Search Assist

Nov 17, 2010 at 1:26pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Yahoo is following Google by rolling out its own version of Google Instant, with a twist. Called "Rich Search Assist," the feature automatically shows results as you type, though only in the top half of the page. Meet Rich Search Assist The screenshot below shows an example of this: As you type, Yahoo suggests search topics using its preexisting Yahoo Search Assist service. But now, next to the suggestions, Yahoo flashes up a closer look at the first result you'd get for each topic. As you move down through the other suggestions, the preview changes to match those. The short vid [...]

Yahoo Offers Handwritten Searching In Taiwan, Hong Kong

Sep 9, 2010 at 12:22pm ET by Matt McGee

If you thought instant search suggestions and results was fun, get a load of this: At Yahoo Taiwan and Yahoo Hong Kong, searchers can handwrite their search queries and Yahoo will try to match the handwriting to letters, and then show suggested searches. It's all described in this Yahoo blog post, complete with screenshots showing how users can begin their search by using a "handwriting panel" next to the search button. Yahoo says that's the Chinese language character for the first letter of Lady Gaga's name. To the left of what the user has drawn, Yahoo shows six possible character [...]

Test: Google Updating Search Results As You Type

Aug 23, 2010 at 9:21am ET by Barry Schwartz

Rob Ousbey documented on video how Google is testing a feature where the search results on the page are updating as you type your search query. This is a form of search query refinement and Google Suggest that dynamically modifies the search results on the page as you type. Here is his video: The internet was buzzing about this feature over the weekend. I personally find this to be just a bit overboard. It makes the page jump around, I feel it can lead to confusion and other issues. Google sent TechCrunch a confirmation, calling this one of their many "search experiments." [...]

Google Disables Some Nationality-Based Search Suggestions

May 5, 2010 at 3:00pm ET by Matt McGee

Google has crippled its search suggestions tool for some search terms that refer to particular races and/or nationalities of people. The company says it's a deliberate move based on Google's policy against violence and hate speech, and not a technical bug like the one that led the phrase "islam is" to be disabled earlier this year. More on that in a moment; first, here's what's happening. Searches for some queries that combine a race/nationality and the word "are" are no longer showing any Google search suggestions. You can see below that typing "muslims are" into Google's search box shows [...]

Bing Adds Search History To Auto-Suggest

Mar 1, 2010 at 1:43pm ET by Matt McGee

Bing has announced that it's using your search history in its auto-suggest feature. In a post on its Search Blog, Bing says that "44% of non-navigational search sessions last longer than 1 week," meaning the inclusion of previous searches in auto-suggest adds to the convenience factor of searching similar topics/queries over time. Queries from your search history will appear in purple, while other queries will show in blue. The auto-suggest box offers options like "Manage History" and "History Off" for searchers who don't this feature enabled. [...]

Google Maps’ Search Suggestions Get Personal

Jan 28, 2010 at 12:34am ET by Matt McGee

Google has announced that it's now personalizing search suggestions that appear on Google Maps. It's an odd announcement to me, because I'm almost sure my maps search suggestions have been personalized for some time now. One thing that I haven't seen before, though, is the explicit notice beneath the suggestions that things have been personalized. You have to be signed in to your Google account and have Web History enabled for this to work. Mike Blumenthal raises the good point that having actual personalization in Google Maps would be a bigger improvement. [...]

Bing Updates Autosuggest With News & Trending Queries

Jan 19, 2010 at 7:16pm ET by Matt McGee

Bing's autosuggest feature now provides more current suggestions as you type a query. Bing says that it's added "breaking news and hot trending queries" into autosuggest, with updates being pushed out every 15 minutes. So, for example, start typing "orange county" into Bing and the autosuggest feature will show a couple terms related to today's extreme weather. Bing hopes to improve some of the 45% of queries that it says "result in either a user conducting an immediate re-query, or abandoning the page altogether." But this is somewhat of a catch-up move, at least where Google is [...]

Google Changes How It Handles Synonyms

Jan 19, 2010 at 5:58pm ET by Matt McGee

In a post on the Official Google Blog, Google opens up the curtains a bit on how it handles synonyms in search queries and results. It's a fairly detailed peek inside one aspect of Google's search algorithms -- an aspect that Google says affects a lot of searches: "...our measurements show that synonyms affect 70 percent of user searches across the more than 100 languages Google supports. We took a set of these queries and analyzed how precise the synonyms were, and were happy with the results: For every 50 queries where synonyms significantly improved the search results, we had only one trul [...]

Google Loses French Lawsuit Over Google Suggest

Jan 6, 2010 at 1:44pm ET by Matt McGee

A French appeals court has ruled against Google in a case about the appearance of negative words in Google Suggest. According to the French legal site Legalis.net, and reported by BigMouthMedia, Google has been ordered to remove the word arnaque -- which translates roughly as "scam" -- from appearing as a Google Suggest term on searches for the Centre National Privé de Formation a Distance (CNFDI). Google argued that its Suggest tool is automated and based on the use of an algorithm applied to actual search queries. Google won the original lawsuit, but the appeals court didn't agree. I [...]

Islam Is … Blocked By ‘Bug’ In Google Suggest

Jan 5, 2010 at 5:41pm ET by Matt McGee

Google says it's working to fix a bug in Google Suggest that is blocking search suggestions related to Islam. As The Next Web has reported, typing Islam is into Google shows no terms from Google Suggest. But replace Islam with a number of other major religions -- such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. -- and Google Suggest shows a variety of terms, including many negative ones like ... is a lie, is false, is a cult, etc. The discrepancy between how these religions are portrayed and the lack of suggested terms for Islam is led some to accuse Google of favoritism. Not so, Google [...]

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 [...]

Up Close With Google Search Options

Oct 1, 2009 at 12:00pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Now that Google Search Options has added new features, I thought it was a good time to revisit how everything works -- and in some cases, doesn't work. Let's get up close and personal with all the filtering options! NOTE: See Meet The New Google Look & Its Colorful, Useful "Search Options" Column for important updates on how Search Options described below now work. By the way, this is a long article. If you want a digest of what's new today, then see the much shorter companion piece, Google Adds Visited Pages, Past Hour & Fewer Shopping Sites Filtering. Using Search Options [...]

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 [...]

Ads & Links & More Coming To Google Suggest

May 21, 2009 at 3:50am ET by Matt McGee

Google has announced several changes that are coming soon to Google Suggest, the feature that suggests search queries as you type. The two most interesting to me are the inclusion of ads and direct links in the search suggestions. Let's take a look, starting with the suggested links. Navigation Links If Google is confident about what you're looking for, it may turn the first suggestion into a link. The example Google cites is a link to the official Kennedy Space Center web site as someone types "kennedy space cen." Users who already have access to the new feature have had fun [...]

The Google Wonder Wheel & Other Search Refinement Features Get Live Test

Mar 27, 2009 at 2:20pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google Blogoscoped spotted an interesting test at Google allowing searchers to refine their search results in various ways, including clicking through a "Wonder Wheel." There's nothing particularly game changing, but the test is interesting if only for demonstrating how Google will react when competitors suggest it is "behind" in the search space. My separate post, How Google Shot Microsoft After It Took A Knife To A Gunfight, gets into the competitive aspect. Here, I'll focus on what the new features offer, to those who have been randomly selected for the test. I'll also explain how [...]

Google Search Suggest Get Ads, Links & Answers

Dec 12, 2008 at 10:42pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Earlier this year, Google Suggest finally made it to the Google home page. The feature suggests queries as you begin typing in the search box. Now Google is testing providing links to web sites, direct answers and even ads that appear within the Google Suggest list. Not everyone will see these changes. Google's showing them to a small, randomly selected group of people in the US. The experiment might end at any time and not necessarily become a permanent feature. Below, you can see how when typing in the beginning letters of New York Times (new york t...), "regular" Google Suggest off [...]

Yahoo Launches Search Assist For Image Search

Dec 3, 2008 at 12:00pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo has rolled out the Search Assist feature to Image Search. For example, a search for images on barack obama will return images within the actual Search Assist bar. Here is a screen capture: To generate search assist image results, go to Yahoo Image Search and begin typing. If the query is popular enough and can be refined, Yahoo will show images within a different refinement category. So in the example above, the first image on the left, is a refinement option to see [barack obama family] pictures. In addition, after you search, you can click on the little up arrow under the [...]

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