"Reaction [beta]"
Google introduces search within search 12 Mar 2008
Looks like Google is experimenting with "search within search"...These secondary seach boxes have now started to appear whenever you search for the brand names of a number of UK newspaper sites and major retailers. The Official Google Blog describes the rationale behind the feature's introduction:
"One of the trends we noticed...was that there were lots of searchers who would type the name of a specific website as if they wanted to [go to its homepage], but would then immediately issue another more a refined search within [the same] site.
"For example, if someone is looking for official information about the Hubble Space Telescope on the NASA website, one might first search for 'NASA' and then 'NASA Hubble Telescope'...Through experimentation, we found that presenting users with a [second] search box as part of the result increases their likelihood of finding the exact page they are looking for."
So there you have it. What do you think? Useful or useless?
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4 comments so far
Davo 12 Mar 2008 03:16 PM
Given that this feature was added in response to user research, you have to brand it as useful, I reckon.
Jaks 12 Mar 2008 05:03 PM
i'm not sure about this. the example given above suggests that people are happy to just extend their original search query (i.e. to amend "NASA" to make it "NASA Hubble Telescope"). i wonder if they will even notice the second box.
Paul Margerison 13 Apr 2008 06:16 PM
I have to say as a designer I like this interaction; unquestionably it makes the search feel that bit easier, faster, less risky. But it is another small example of chipping away the identity of individual publishers, in favour a homogeneous, website-less Internet. I have to wonder how it will be possible for trust to develop in such a landscape. Or is there hidden message? "The information sources you can trust are the information sources that Google offers search-within-search for. You better not trust the others."
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