Google is announcing a number of new search-related products at its second annual Searchology event in Silicon Valley today. Among them is a souped-up search option called “Google Squared.”
Understanding Google Squared
Google Squared goes beyond tracking down Web pages about any given topic. Rather, it puts together a virtual dossier of facts from numerous sources based on your search query.
Search for “small dogs,” for example, and Google Squared would give you a table on various small dog breeds. Data ranging from the animals’ heights to weights would be included in (what’s designed to be) an easy-to-digest, organized format. From there, you could click onto any section of the table to get more information from its specific source. You could even save the custom table for later use.
“It is something that pushes search in an entirely new direction,” stated Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of search products and user experience. “It is a hard, computer science problem to take this unstructured information and present it in a structured way.”
Google Squared is expected to be made widely available within Google Labs before the end of May.
Google Search Options
Google is also previewing an upcoming feature called Search Options that lets you customize queries in greater detail than what’s currently available. The Search Options panel will allow you to set search filters based on time or type of site.
You can see more about Google Search Options in the video below.
