Feature

Google Suggest Helps Refine Search Queries

Four years in development, Google Suggest can better formulate queries, cut spelling errors.

August 27, 2008 — Computerworld — After more than four years in development, a new feature that suggests queries as letters and words are typed into Google Inc.'s search engine is being rolled out over the next week.

Google Suggest, which the company began developing in 2004, aims to help users better formulate queries, reduce spelling errors and save keystrokes, Google noted in a blog post yesterday.

"We find that by providing suggestions upfront, we can help people search more efficiently and conveniently," noted Jennifer Liu, a product manager at Google. "Instead of just typing 'hotels in Washington' did you want 'hotels in Washington, D.C.' or 'hotels in Washington state'? Don't remember that song title or person's name? Let Google help you search."

The new feature, created by developers at Google Labs, will also automatically correct typos and misspelled words ahead of time, eliminating the need for Google's "Did you mean?" feature. The feature will also save time by eliminating keystrokes because Google Suggest starts searching for likely query terms before a person finishes typing the words, Liu added.

While Google Suggest is now being made available on Google.com, it had also been available earlier via Google Labs, Toolbar, Maps and Web Search, the Firefox search bar, the iPhone, the BlackBerry and YouTube.

Google Suggest does not base its suggestions on the personal searches of users, although it does use information about the relative popularity of common searches to rank its suggestions, Google noted. Google Suggest searches are covered under Google's privacy policy, the company added.

Danny Sullivan, a blogger at Search Engine Land, noted that the new tool's suggestions come from looking in aggregate at Google searches. Next to each suggestion, he noted, Google provides the number of Google results that match the suggestion.

"I've always found that odd -- I'd rather Google show some metric related to how popular that suggested query is, since that's the basis of why you're being shown these words," he noted. He also urged users to also peruse Yahoo Inc.'s similar Search Assist tool, which rolled out in October.

"It offers a more sophisticated query suggestion tool," Sullivan added. "Over at [Microsoft's] Live Search, you don't get query suggestions when typing in the search box. But they will show 'Related Searches' links in the top right-hand corner of search results, in some cases."

To use Google Suggest, users must use Internet Explorer 6.0 (or newer), Netscape 7.1 (or newer), Mozilla 1.4 (or newer), Firefox 0.8 (or newer), Opera 7.54 (or newer), or Safari 1.2.2 (or newer) and have JavaScript and cookies enabled.

Comments

Share [+]

TOOLS

Comments

Digg This

SlashDot

CONNECTIONS

Google

Microsoft

Search Engine Labs

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Infrastructure

» Outbound Email and Data Loss Prevention
This report shows the findings of a recent Proofpoint and Forrester Consulting study on e-mail security, data loss prevention, and includes statistics on electronic risks.

» A Modern Approach to On-Demand Email and Data Security
Learn how Proofpoint delivers a dedicated, hosted e-mail security solution that combines state-of-the-art anti-spam and virus control.

» A Proactive Approach to e-Discovery
Learn about the key e-discovery challenges facing legal and IT departments today and how businesses can develop an e-mail archiving strategy to deal with e-discovery requests.

» The Advantages of Identity Based Encryption
Download this paper to learn why e-mail encyrption is critical to an organization's overall security architecture and the advantages of identity-based encryption.

» Global Best Practices in Email Security, Privacy and Compliance
This whitepaper discusses the latest global regulations that impact the e-mail security policies and strategies of today's enterprises, universities and government organizations.

Center sponsored by