Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer, stated recently that "we tend to make a change to our core search algorithms at least once a day." Yet for all that change behind the scenes, much of the Google interface that the public sees changes only very gradually and after a great deal of user testing. However, last week Google rolled out a major set of changes to search engine results pages and several smaller changes to its appearance. Left-hand navigational search facets are now turned on by default.

As Marissa Mayer (vice president of search products & user experience) writes in the blog post announcing the change, "Today's metamorphosis responds to the increasing richness of the web and the increasing power of search - revealing search tools on the left and updating the visual look and feel throughout. While we are constantly rolling out small changes and updates, today's changes showcase the latest evolutions in our search technology."

Google has been testing the new interface for months-at least as far back as Nov. 2009-rolling it out to a fraction of its users and evaluating how it has been used. The faceted searching options and limits that had previously been available to users who clicked on the "Show options" link are now always displayed in the left margin. The design is a bit different and not all the options show up right away. The left panel is typically divided into three sections:

1.      Databases

2.      Search Tools

3.      Alternate Suggestions

Of course, Google does not label the categories under those names. The databases section, now with a colorful little logo for each database is just listed under the heading of "Everything." Depending on the query some of the other Google databases such as Images or Books may appear underneath that followed by a "More" link that opens up the full list of linked databases. At this point, only nine of Google's databases will show up here: Blogs, Books, Discussions, Images, Maps, News, Shopping, Updates, and Videos. Other Google databases such as Scholar and Groups are not listed in the left panel but only in the top "more" drop-down menu. How many database links show up in the left panel depend on the query; however, once a searcher clicks the "More" link at the bottom to show all nine databases, they remain displayed on subsequent searches, and the order changes depending on the search terms.

The search tools section also displays just a few links by default, depending on the query. To see all the options, searchers need to click "More search tools." The heading at the top varies as well. For a narrow search, it may just be "Show search tools," while for other searches, one of the section headings such as "Any time," "All results," or "Standard view" may appear with one or two of the search options. According to Google spokesperson Nate Tyler, "There are three types of tools in that part of the left panel: Normal, date, and country/language (visible outside U.S. English). At most, we will show 3 normal tools, at most 2 date tools, and as many country/language tools as we feel are applicable." As with the databases section, expand to the full set of search tools and all will stay open on subsequent searches.

As Tyler notes, some search facets depend on the country or language version of Google being used. Previously, many country versions had an option beneath the main search box to limit to "Pages from" that country. Those options are gone and now show up as one more facet to choose in the left panel after a search is run rather than a limit that can be applied before the search.

The third left pane option for alternate suggestions is also country specific. It does not (yet) appear to be displayed in international versions of Google. This new "Something different" section only shows up at Google.com and only for some searches. More than just related searches, these alternate search suggestions are more likely to be words or phrases for topics within a similar group but that do not include the query words. For example, a search on "blue" gives "Something different" suggestions for five other colors. A search on "library of congress" produces suggestions such as white house, smithsonian, and oclc. This feature is built on technology developed for the Google Labs project Google Squared.

Going directly to some other Google databases will show a similar faceted left pane: Images, Videos, Shopping, Books, and Blogs. Others Google database have more of the old-style left hand facets: News and Finance. Still others have no left hand pane or even an option for such faceted searching: Scholar, Groups, and Directory.

On the visual side, the Google logo has changed, losing its drop shadow. The color palette was adjusted. Jon Wiley, senior user experience designer, blogs that "The new logo is lighter, brighter and simpler. . . . we lightened up the footer at the bottom of the page by removing the blue shading and the underlines on the links, lightening the color, and expanding the search box." Other visual changes include attaching the search button directly to the search box and moving the estimated number of results from the right to just below the search box.

With all these changes, it is not much of a surprise that some features are lost. Search terms used to show up after the estimated number of results but are now gone. Single word queries would also link to a dictionary definition. That is gone. The advanced search page has lost the links at the bottom to "Topic-specific search engines from Google." The "View Customizations" message that previously alerted searchers to when the ranking had been personalized is no longer visible. Tyler reports that "The view customizations link is still there. It is now located at the bottom of the page below the search box." Your mileage may vary. Tyler sent me a screen shot of what they see at Google (see screen); however, neither I nor any of several other people I checked with could get it to display. It may be that, as Chris Sherman, executive editor of Search Engine Land says, "The new interface doesn't seem to be working on all cylinders yet." If and when it does show up there more consistently, it will be even harder to notice when the results have been personalized, since fewer people scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.

One additional facet added shortly after the new interface launched is a search tool under the "Standard results" section: "Sites with images." That facet will limit the search results to pages that have a fair number of images on the page. The results page starts with a collection of results from Google's Image database. Then it displays regular website results, limited to those deemed to have a sufficient quantity of images, and has a line of thumbnails images from each page.

Some searchers are complaining about the new look and all of the changes, but overall there seems to be less hue and cry about these changes than there was about SearchWiki (launched in Dec. 2008 and retired in March 2010). Google has no plans to let searchers opt out of the new look. Whether or not it will last longer than SearchWiki or will go through more substantial changes remains to be seen. In the meantime, the left-hand pane of facet options should foster much more use of these powerful search features.

About the Author

Greg R. Notess is the internet columnist for ONLINE and the author of Teaching Web Search Skills (www.notess.com/teaching) and SearchEngineShowdown.com.

Quintura has released Version 2.0 of Quintura Site Search for Web publishers and Webmasters. Quintura indexes Web sites and creates a cloud of keywords (tags) of the most important words and phrases from the site. The service includes search statistics, options to display ads and links in search results, as well as related links.

The updated version features a new control panel for creating and editing a site search, giving Webmasters a tool for configuring and customizing the search. Search options settings are grouped within tabs provided with hints.

New site search and tag cloud (keywords) settings include:

Search box and results—Quintura offers search results pages using the search box and results list, without tag clouds.

Tag cloud management—Editors and administrators can add to the tag cloud the most popular themes and words from the site.

New view modes of the tag cloud—In the "alphabet" cloud, the words are sorted alphabetically. In a cloud with "falling" words, words are poured into a cloud, like into a glass. In the "peeping" words mode, words are "following" after the movements of the mouse cursor.

Uniting search clouds using tabs—Users can combine several site search clouds using tabs, enabling them to create a unified search through several Web sites on a common theme or belonging to a single publisher. That provides users with a choice of where to search and find the articles they are interested in. Search requests can be redirected from one site to the other with one click.

MuseGlobal announced a new release of its Muse Content Machine, including support for interoperability with the SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search application. The new Muse Content Machine allows users to use Muse Smart Connectors as a means of gathering information from enterprise applications and commercial content sources.

MuseGlobal supports multiple platforms and offers a wide range of interoperability options and in order to cultivate a wide search network.

(www.museglobal.com)

Enterprise text analytics software provider TEMIS announced the release of the latest version of its flagship product, Luxid. Luxid 5.2 enables content networking by linking extracted information to existing or external knowledge bases for navigation and analytic purposes.

The latest release incorporates the new Events Skill Cartridge, which extracts targeted information pertaining to terrorism, armed conflict, and criminal activities. Luxid 5.2 also incorporates updated taxonomy support, updated integration features, and a redesigned toolbar.

(www.temis.com)

To reduce the costs of hosting an annual three-day sales event that drew thousands of sales and marketing personnel and partners from around the world, Oracle wanted to find a new format for the meeting. The company decided to stage an on-demand event that could be rolled out at the same time, but didn’t require everyone in its geographically dispersed sales team to be online at the same moment.

Sending employees and partners to a single geographic location had cost the company more than $10 million each year. Oracle turned to Altus Learning and its software as a service (SaaS)-based product vSearch, which enables users to capture, share and search video content down to the spoken word. vSearch combines digitally recorded video with synchronized slides and scrolling transcripts, enabling users to see and hear the content being presented. Because every word spoken during a presentation can be transcribed, all of the content of the slides and notes becomes searchable data, according to Altus.

Paul Salinger, VP of marketing at Oracle, says, "Altus extends the shelf life of our content, making it easy to find information and create new assets from it. That’s the advantage their tool provides to the Oracle sales force." According to Altus, the virtual sales event solution has resulted in the following benefits:

• cost savings of more than $10 million;
• knowledge available on demand from any location at any time and through a variety of mediums;
• the ability to view content live or download audio or video files for remote learning;
• delivery of familiar search technology to find the exact information users need, eliminating time lost in searching for knowledge; and
• a systematic, repeatable and cost-effective way to capture and share knowledge.

Muse Global, recognized for its content integration platforms, has announced a new release of its Muse Content Machine.The company reports this new version includes support for SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search, which allows users to employ Muse Smart Connectors as a means of gathering information from a wide array of enterprise applications and commercial content sources. As a result, claims Muse Global, customers are provided with a quick and cost-effective means to extend the reach of their SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search.

Muse Global says its Content Machine and Smart Connectors harvest content and information well beyond what is typically held within an organization’s applications to include the whole of their enterprise’s information landscape.

PaperThin has released CommonSpot 6.0, which combines a new user interface with a suite of powerful marketing and development solutions that increase Web site effectiveness, improve productivity and help organizations easily adapt to changing demands for better business results.

Also new is a community site called The Commons, where customers and partners can leverage the shared knowledge, expertise and open source code developed by PaperThin and members of the CommonSpot community.

Highlights of the release include:

• brand management, campaign optimization and community-building capabilities that help marketers increase Web site effectiveness and achieve a tangible return on marketing investments;
• an open source Application Development Framework (ADF) and hundreds of APIs that help IT shorten development time by as much as 60 percent, enabling organizations to adapt more quickly to change;
• an intuitive, dynamic user interface and dozens of enhancements that dramatically improve efficiency and productivity for users at every desk, including a customizable personal dashboard, My Content views, saved searches, saved shortcuts, favorites, advanced search, in-context info panes, WYSIWYG pasting, drag and drop, integration with the PaperThin community site, etc.; and
• a new suite of free applications that can be downloaded from the community site, including: Article Editing, Blog, Calendar, Content Import, Facebook, Forum, Multimedia, Photo Gallery, Portal, Profile and Navigation and more.

Recommind has introduced MindServer Search 7.0, the latest version of its flagship enterprise search product. With the launch, the company says it enables enterprises to deliver more relevant search results to their information workers and maximize investments in tools such as Microsoft SharePoint.

Built on Recommind's powerful CORE (Context Optimized Relevancy Engine) platform, MindServer Search 7.0 adds powerful new Web 2.0 collaborative features such as social tagging, delivery of content via RSS, a new Web-based administration client designed to simplify maintenance and accelerate deployments, and an intuitive and more easily customizable user interface. MindServer Search 7.0 supports search for content in SharePoint 2003, 2007 and 2010, enabling greater ROI out of current and planned SharePoint investments.

When implemented independently of each other, both SharePoint and MindServer Search provide significant benefits to the enterprise from a collaboration and information-access perspective. When the solutions are combined--MindServer Search integrates seamlessly with every leading content management system--enterprises can make all their data sources, regardless of location, language or file type, searchable and shareable from one central location.

Yippy, Inc., announced the completed acquisition of Clusty.com, a metasearch engine developed by Vivisimo. Yippy, formerly known as Cinnabar Ventures, Inc., is a Fort Myers, Fla.-based company that develops technologies and application services environments for both consumer and commercial market segments in the cloud computing sector.

Clusty.com receives approximately 100,000 visitors per month and services millions of inquiries. The total price for the acquisition of the 6-year-old site is approximately $5.55 million.

(www.yippy.com; www.clusty.com; www.vivisimo.com)

Access Innovations, Inc., lifted the curtain on version 3.7 of its Data Harmony data management software suite. Data Harmony 3.7 contains taxonomy management, automatic categorization, and metadata management tools. For the latest version, Access Innovations solicited user input and incorporated those suggestions into the software.

The new version of Data Harmony incorporates three modules: Thesaurus Master, M.A.I. (Machine Aided Indexer), and XIS (XML Intranet System). All of these are completely Unicode UTF-8. Therefore, they support all languages, all character sets, and integrated multi-lingual applications.

(www.accessinn.com)

Google and Global IP Solutions (GIPS) announced that they have entered into a transaction agreement under which Google Acquisition Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, will make a recommended voluntary public cash offer to acquire all the issued and to be issued shares of GIPS. Based on the offered stock price and standing capital of GIPS, this will amount to an aggregate offer of $68.2 million.

An offer document setting forth in detail the terms of the offer is expected to be published and distributed to all GIPS shareholders on or about May 20, following review and approval by the Oslo Stock Exchange. GIPS is a developer of real-time voice and video software built to run on IP networks, and has been responsible for the development of several codecs. The company was founded in Stockholm in 1999.

(www.gipscorp.com)

DocuLex, creators of content management software, announced the addition of customized business process and collaborative workflow capability to DocuLex Archive Studio's just released WebSearch version 4.2. The program features a new, intelligent "decision engine" that organizes project information, and orchestrates flow to each staffer involved. WebSearch will store metadata in the SQL database and update the database when metadata is edited, providing backup of workflow content throughout each project.

WebSearch is browser-based, document management software for collaboration, email archiving and compliance, knowledge management, and records retention. The program was developed for use throughout a business's operations to enable secure content access from any location. Searches may be performed using document specific metadata descriptions, full text content, as well as date ranges, search history, search lists and saved searches.

(www.doculex.com)