It’s been a while since Google came up with any innovation around their main search offerings (in fact, I can’t remember what has ever changed since I started using Google search other than some re-arrangement of the results page). On one hand it is a testament to how good Google Search is, on the other hand, you have to ask the question of whether they are playing safe and sticking with what has proven to be winning formula.
I am a firm believer that if you are not making mistakes, then you are not trying hard enough. Google has made plenty of mistakes around various parts of their products portfolios, (i.e Poor acceptance of the original Google Reader which has now become one of the RSS readers) but no one can say that they have made a wrong step when it comes to their main Search offering because they haven’t made any significant changes.
OK, OK, I know Search represent 95% (or is that 99% ?) of Google’s revenue which means it’s something you don’t want to mess around with. Hence the Google Innovation Dilemma, do you stick with the safe option of keeping what works, or do you innovate for the future and the goods of your customer but risk making a wrong step.
Full credits to Google for trying thought.The latest attempt being the Google experimental search views that is available at the moment.
Are they ground breaking innovations ? I personally don’t think so, are they worthwhile feature that help me as a Searcher ? I have reservation on that one as well.
- Alternate views for search results
“See results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google’s technology extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a different dimension.”
Other than the keywords that Google suggest us to try, I couldn’t get a results that I can see the value of this option.
- Keyword suggestions
“As you type your search, Google’s technology provides alternative suggestions to your queries in real time”
This feature has actually been around for a while via the Google toolbar, never found it to be of any value for me.
- Keyboard shortcuts
“Navigate search results quickly and easily, minimizing use of your mouse. Current keyboard”
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS AS AN INNOVATION ????!!!!!
- contextual search navigation
“contextual search navigation allows you to search deeper in a particular type of content or to search related terms”
This has the potential to be a killer innovation as Google try to cluster the main concepts and type of results and guide you through what you are searching for. For example “Python” can mean either the snake or a programming language and the search engine should recognise that and guide the user and try to understand the difference in concepts as well as the different type of content the user might be interested (code, book, etc.).
I would say these are good attempts by Google, but it still leaves me wanting more, particular around concept based navigation which cluster based search engine such as Clusty does extremely well. Try searching for “bass” and Clusty will suggest and try to work out wether you are searching for Bass (the fish) or Bass (the musical instrument).
I am disappointed with the innovation that Google has released, but I have no doubt they have more radical updates that they are working on. For example, I blogged about SearchMash which is actually Google testing various new Search offerings under a completely different brand. Whether they release these new features at a faster pace and integrate them into their offerings, is the key dilemma that I think Google faces.
What do you think ?
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Have to agree with the timeline feature, what’s the point of this unless you want to go back in time?
Google trends is obviously much more useful.
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