May 9, 2012 at 1:38pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Last November, Google tested a new "Sources" section in its search results, in the third column where ads normally appear. It seems the testing is underway again, showing extended information about actors, films, musicians, people and more. It also seems likely everyone may see this extended information soon, and that it's the "search refresh" the Wall Street Journal wrote about in March finally arriving. Experiment Confirmed I noticed these appearing yesterday in my own search results, and Google has confirmed that there's an experiment happening: We're always experimenting with ways to im [...]

WSJ Says Big Google Search Changes Coming? Reality Check Time!

Mar 15, 2012 at 4:26am ET by Danny Sullivan

The Wall Street Journal is out with a story saying that Google is about to make one of the biggest changes in its history of offering web search, providing more direct answers and gaining "semantic" smarts to understand more about what words mean. I'm scratching my head, since Google already does this. Methinks Google's PR has exploded in ways it didn't expect. Beyond Blue Links! From the story, we learn things such as: Over the next few months, Google's search engine will begin spitting out more than a list of blue Web links. It will also present more facts and direct answers to queries at [...]

Google: No Longer Guessing About Celebrity Sexual Orientation

Sep 29, 2011 at 8:49pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Wondering if some celebrity is Gay, Lesbian, Straight or Bisexual? Plenty of people do and turn to Google to find out. But the search engine just stopped offering direct answers about these questions, after they became more noticeable. Google's "Best Guess" About Sexual Orientations Here's an example of one of the answers that were being shown, in response to a search for is anna paquin gay: You can see that Google provided a direct answer: "Best guess for Anna Paquin Sexual orientation is Bisexual." This worked for Paquin and other some other celebrities up until a few hours ago, when [...]

Bing “Action Buttons” Lets You Book Flights, Rent Cars & More

Sep 21, 2011 at 4:02pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Bing announced a new feature in the search results named "Action Buttons." Action buttons give you quick links to perform specific actions on specific web sites. IF you are searching for an airline, the Bing action buttons may include items like check flight status, book a flight or check in to a flight. If you are searching for a car rental company, Bing may offer you action links to rent a car, find locations or contact the company. If you are searching for a hotel, Bing may offer you action links to book a room, locations and their reward program. Here are some pictures: [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Bing | Search Features: Shortcuts

Slashtag.it: This Is What Google, Bing & Yahoo Should’ve Done To Speed Up Search

Apr 25, 2011 at 10:09am ET by Matt McGee

There are lots of different ways to speed up searching. Google, Bing and Yahoo all offer browser toolbars -- no need to visit their home pages, just search wherever you are. Google and Yahoo both have their own versions of "instant search," where search results appear as you type. Google's Chrome web browser lets you search right from the browser address bar. And they all fall short of my new favorite search tool: Slashtag.it. If you're really looking to search faster, this is the way to do it. Slashtag.it isn't a search engine; it's an interface that lets you access several dozen se [...]

Related Topics: Features: General | Firefox | Search Features: Shortcuts

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