TechCrunch reports based on a WebmasterWorld thread that Google is testing on a limited basis, giving searchers the ability to control the size of the search snippets. A snippet is the small description seen under the blue links in the search results. In this test, users can select to not show the snippets by clicking […]
Now that Google Chrome is live, I spent some time looking at the search features within it, especially to see — as I did recently with Internet Explorer 8 — whether Google was going to try to stack the deck in its own favor. Like Microsoft, Google’s playing it straight. As for search features, I’m […]
Blink, and you might have missed it. Google’s now doing synonym searching. It’s something they quietly noted in a past Google blog post and one that comes up again today in a post that covers how Google uses experiments to improve the search interface.
After being in testing for literally years, Google Suggest is finally coming to Google.com. This is the feature where as you start to type in the search box, related searches automatically appear below where you are typing.
Microsoft just announced the official U.S. launch of their new home page. The home page was seen in test mode a few months back, but now it is officially live. The home page contains a background image which contains “hotspots” used to show off some of the search queries available at Live Search. The home […]
The Google Like/Don’t Like feature, where you can move up results, hide search results, or remove search results, seems to have been expanded to a group of test searchers. We have reports from TechCrunch, Google Operating System, and Justin Hileman, with reports of users seeing this feature in the main search results. Justin does an […]
About two years ago, I wrote an article called Why Search Sucks & You Won’t Fix It The Way You Think. In it, I explained various ways people have tried to make search "visual" and why those have largely failed. That’s mainly because "list view" or "10 blue links" still works for lots of search […]
The Yahoo Search Marketing blog announced that they have released several minor updates to make the use of the search ad console easier for advertisers to work with. Here is a list of changes and enhancements made to the system:
Over the past week, YouTube has announced the addition of several features. In a recent YouTube blog post, YouTube announced the addition of search suggestions on YouTube.com, the import of your Google contacts, and a new and improved notification system for video comments. Plus, the Google Blog announced the addition of demographic statistics to YouTube […]
iCrossing reported noticing that Google is showing a green user interface within the Google Directory search results and also, in some occasions, for main Google web search results. The most shocking green interface is when you look and compare the typical blue bar to a green bar when Google is showing yellow ads. Here are […]
After weeks of Microsoft testing a new home page design for Live.com, the new design seems to be live now. When I visit Live.com, I see:
The Google News Blog announced that they have launched a special interface for the iPhone. To access it, all you need to do is go to Google.com on your iPhone or iPod Touch and navigate to the news section via the “more” link at the top right, or you can easily just go to https://news.google.com […]
The Get Elastic Blog noticed Google testing displaying the AdWords URLs above the ad description. Typically, the AdWords URLs are displayed below the ad description. Here is a compare and contrast picture:
Sphere, software that connects contextually relevant content to your content, has been purchased by AOL. The Sphere Blog confirms the acquisition, and TechCrunch suggests the purchase price was at about $25 million. Sphere initially launched as a blog search engine but then adapted into a “related content engine,” with clients from the Wall Street Journal, […]
I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable about how I spotted a WebmasterWorld thread that has three members noticing Google Suggest like features on Google.com. Basically, when these users go to Google.com and begin typing in a query, Google begins to offer search suggestions. Google has implemented this feature as a default on other non-U.S. […]
Google Blogoscoped reports Google Japan has a new design being pushed out to their users. The new design can be seen at this IP location and contains tab links to other Google properties. Here is a screen capture of the new design:
There are dozens of reports across the web that Google is testing a new AdSense ad format that lets you scroll through ads by clicking on arrow buttons.
Google’s Navigational Bar Goes International reports Google has launched the navigational links interface that was launched in the US in mid-May, worldwide. Each country may have the navigational links in a different order and different options. For example, while one country may have a link for Orkut, another country may not list that link at […]
I went to Google on my iPhone, and I saw a new interface. I then did some searches and saw that TechCrunch has a piece on it named Google Pre-Launches New iPhone Interface. Here are some pictures of the new interface from my iPhone:
The Google Blog announced that Gmail has added colors to labels. Labels in Gmail are basically virtual folders. Assigning labels by actions can really streamline how you use email. Google has decided to add colors to labels in order to make the labels you defined more visual. If you want to add colors to your […]
YouTube has announced they have improved their video flagging system. If you ever watch a video that might raise a concern, you can click on a “Flag” link below the video (when on a video page) that will enable you to report the video to a human editor at YouTube. Based on user feedback, YouTube […]
The Google Reader Blog announced they have added the ability to dynamically include a blogroll of your feeds on your site and that they have improved the Google Reader Mobile interface for iPhone users.
Kevin Gibbons spotted a couple new features in Google AdWords for advertisers, including a convenient way for advertisers who are not based in the United States to now change the format of numbers, times, and dates within their accounts.
The YouTube Blog announced that new features are going to be launched in the upcoming months. One new feature is a new user interface for the video browsing page. You can preview the new page at this location. You will notice that if you mouse-over the video tab, it pops up categories for you to […]
Google Operating Systems reports that Google has grouped your Google Subscribed Links in the preferences page under the “Search Add-ons” section. Here is a picture:
Most of the pieces have been sneaking out over the past month or so. But today Yahoo is formally announcing a range of search upgrades, more Shortcuts, integration of video and photos directly in search results, and Search Assist. Search Assist, which Danny previously wrote about at length, is the centerpiece of the announcement. Search […]
Compete and Nielsen show Microsoft gaining search share over the summer, while comScore and Hitwise show the company losing share. Regardless of these numbers, however, Microsoft is confident that the search engine it’s reintroducing tonight in conjunction with its Searchification event will be a substantial improvement of the current version of Live search. Vanessa Fox […]
Google Webmaster Central has gone live with a new subscriber stats area showing statistics of how many people read your feeds through the iGoogle personalized home page and Google Reader, as well as a new look and user interface for GWC. Below, more about both, as well as issues for those tracking feeds through services […]
If everyone else is pushing out the quick previews of the new Delicious, hey, we’ll add to the screenshot fodder for now. These are from an invite-only preview now out. There’s no set launch date for the public beta, but Delicious founder Joshua Schachter emailed those in the invite with, "While we still have a […]
Built on its new Silverlight application, Microsoft last night released a new, experimental search site dubbed “Tafiti,” which means “do research” in Swahili. You’ll need to download Silverlight to use the engine, which offers a richer “visualization” of Microsoft Live search results.
Yahoo is arguably the leader in local search, but others including Google, Microsoft and Yelp have been rapidly gaining. The search engine’s venerable Local site was in need of a refresh, which it has now received. With a redesign partly inspired by the Yahoo OurCity sites in India, the new Yahoo Local features a bolder […]
The Inside AdWords blog announced that they have improved the Google AdWords Preview Tool. Google launched the preview tool in September 2006. Back then, you had to manually add location attributes and values to the URL of the preview tool to see ads within that location. Now Google is offering several different drop down menus […]
Not long ago Google introduced an “avoid highways” checkbox on Maps that provides alternative routing. Now Google has gone much further in that direction (so to speak), allowing users to drag icons on the map to create customized routing. With each change directions update automatically. Here’s the Google Lat Long Blog discussion and here’s an […]
Ask.com Takes Lead In Designing Display Of Search Results by Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews Ask.com’s new 3D look. Mossberg gave Ask.com great reviews, comparing Ask.com’s three-pane approach to Google’s Universal Search approach. Mossberg said Ask.com “took greater strides” than Google with their user interface. The new Ask.com user interface makes for […]
Google Blogoscoped reports that Google News has added a link to the left bar that enables you to view an image version of Google News. I suspect Google found out that a picture, really does, tells a thousand words. If you mouse over an image, the news on the right hand side scrolls to focus […]
The Ask.com blog posts today about Ask’s new home page, which they are particularly proud of, and I think rightly so. They talk about their icons, suggest feature and skins, all of which are worth a quick peek.
Google is constantly testing new user interface layouts that are presented to a randomly selected group of searchers. Each experiment sparks off a round of screenshots and sometimes hacks on how others can try out what’s new. Now Google is making it easy for those who want to live their search lives on the edge. […]
After months of testing, Google is rolling out new ways to navigate within its search results and between different Google properties. Here’s an illustrated guide to the old and new. Let’s start with the home page. How it currently looks, for someone who is logged in:
John Battelle has posted a screen capture from a presentation given by Gary Flake of Microsoft showing a new approach to search ads. The search ads on the Live.com search results have a little icon next to them, when you mouse over those icons, up comes a larger image or flash or interactive based ad. […]
Philipp Lenssen reports that dozens if not hundreds of Google Personalized Home Page users have lost their personalized settings. As of now, I currently see my customized and tailored Google home page but literally hundreds of people are commenting at Google Blogoscoped, Digg.com and Google Groups about this exact issue.