Google’s New Search Features

Emily Creech - May 26, 2009

Google continuously strives to make certain that searchers have a positive experience, and recently further updates have been made to take personalized search results to the next level.

Earlier this month, an announcement was made regarding the release of “Show options…”   You can access these new options via the link positioned just above the search results.

When you click this link, additional selections are provided to the left of the search results, enabling you to further customize your search.
 
According to Google, this new feature is “a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?”

There are numerous ways for you to sort the data — by videos, forums, reviews, date, etc.   For example, if you are planning a Caribbean vacation, doing your homework before solidifying your plans is now a bit easier.   When searching for “Caribbean vacation”, you can easily view forums where people are discussing topics related to Caribbean vacations. You can also view related results from the past 24 hours, the past week, or even the past year.

Another great feature is Rich Snippets. “Rich Snippets give users convenient summary information about their search results at a glance”. Google looks for markup formats that can be added to pages of your website’s pages. More information on Rich Snippets can be found on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog.

One thing that still remains consistent is that even though searchers are able to customize how they want to sort the results (videos, reviews, forums, etc.), basic search engine optimization and social media tactics still hold true.   In order for your video to be found for keywords when someone selects the video link within these additional options, your video must be optimized with those keywords. If you want to appear for reviews, it will be beneficial to encourage customers to write reviews of your products or services.   As these constant changes are being made by the search engines, don’t forget to address the fundamentals of search engine optimization and even consider encouraging reviews and other user generated content that can help to propel your site upward in the search results.