Google has launched a major project to improve how its search works. It now has a “more human” understanding of particular searches to get more relevant results. For example, if you search for “Taj Mahal”, Google will ask whether you mean the monument, the musician or a local restaurant. Called the knowledge graph, this new way of ordering results sets out to understand the nuances in your searches.
Google is also changing how it displays results, by showing extra information alongside links. For ex, in a panel beside search results for “Taj Mahal”, Google will show a map, key facts and photos, so you don’t have to click to a website to get information.
To do this, Google has created a database, which currently holds 3.5 billion facts about 500 million objects, by pulling in information from Wikipedia, “social database” Freebase and CIA’s World Factbook, as well as its social network Google+.
The knowledge Graph search has only appeared in the US so far, but you can try it at Google.com. Google said there’s more to come in the future: “We’re proud of our first baby step, the Knowledge Graph, which will enable us to make seach more intelligent, moving us closer to the “Star Trek computer” that I’ve always dreamt of building,” said Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president of engineering. For more information, read Google’s official blog:
How will it afect you ?
You search results page will start to include more information, rahter than merely links to pages that may contain what your’re loooking for. Fore example, if you’re searching for Leonardo da Vinci’s birthdate, you’ll see it displayed on a sidebar, alongside other information about him, reproductions of his artworks, and other artists of the same style and era, so you won’t have to click other sites to find what you’re looking for. This should help speed up your searching, although it may lead to you getting distracted, as you take in more getting distracted, as you take in more information beyond what you initially searched for.
What do we think ?
It’s about time that searches took a leap forward. This is a small but important step in the right direction, retooling the engine to make it a more instant and intuitive source of information. So, what do you think .. will this change in search will be good for everybody?