Inside Search
The official Google Search blog
The +1 button for Images: See it. Share it.
November 9, 2011
Recommendations from your friends help making decisions on everything easier, from where to eat, to what movies to watch and where to go for your next trip -- and pictures can really help you decide. In March, we introduced the
+1 button
to let you make recommendations right from your search results page. Now, we’re extending this ability to Google Images.
Let’s say you’re looking to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and want to inspire a few of your climbing buddies to join you. You search for [mount kilimanjaro summit] and switch to Images mode to find rows and rows of photos testifying that this peak can indeed be conquered. By hovering over one of the images, you can quickly recommend this photo to your friends by clicking the +1 button.
Once they’re on board with the trip and start searching too, you’ll be able to quickly spot images they’ve recommended -- you’ll see annotations on the images they’ve +1’d on your search results page.
As with the other +1’s, you’ll need to create a Google+ profile before you can start +1’ing images. Your image +1’s will appear in the +1 tab of your profile, where you can see all of your recommendations in one place and delete those you no longer feel strongly about. To see +1’s on the image results page you’ll need to be logged into your
Google Account
.
Posted by Xiaorui Gan, Software Engineer
Powering a new job search engine for military veterans
November 7, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
and the
Public Policy blog
)
Earlier today, President Obama spoke about the importance of
helping returning military veterans find work
. Thousands of businesses have committed to hiring military veterans and families and as part of this nationwide effort, starting today, job seekers can visit the
National Resource Directory
(NRD) to search more than 500,000 job openings from employers around the country.
We have been working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a customized job search engine for the NRD, using
Google Custom Search
technology. This custom search engine uses the power and scale of Google search to constantly crawl the web, looking for
JobPosting markup
from
Schema.org
on sites like
simplyhired.com
to identify veteran-committed job openings. An employer can easily add a job posting to NRD simply by adding that markup to their own web page. As pages are updated or removed from the web, they’re automatically updated and removed from the system, keeping the available job postings on NRD fresh and up to date.
If you’re an employer, you can find
more information
on how to participate on
nationalresourcedirectory.gov
. In addition, organizations such as local veterans' groups can help people find jobs by adding a veteran-committed jobs
search box
to their websites.
We’re happy to contribute to this important initiative and hope businesses use this opportunity to connect with veterans seeking employment.
Posted by
Christina Chen
, Product Manager, Search
Giving you fresher, more recent search results
November 3, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
)
Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh. Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.
If I search for [
olympics
], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport,
cricket, was played
). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [
olympics
] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for.
Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.
We completed our
Caffeine web indexing system
last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we’re making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness.
Recent events or hot topics.
For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [
occupy oakland protest
], or for the latest news about the [
nba lockout
], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old.
Regularly recurring events.
Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [
ICALP
] or an event like the [
presidential election
]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [
NFL scores
], [
dancing with the stars
] results or [
exxon earnings
], you’ll see the latest information.
Frequent updates.
There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [
best slr cameras
], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [
subaru impreza reviews
], you probably want the most up to date information.
There are plenty of cases where results that are a few years old might still be useful for you. [
fast tomato sauce recipe
] certainly saved me after a call from my wife reminded me I had volunteered to make dinner! On the other hand, when I search for the [
49ers score
], a result that is a week old might be too old.
Different searches have different freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up to the minute answers.
Update
11/7/11:
To clarify, when we say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, we mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when we've said
noticeably
impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change
noticeably
impacts 6 - 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you're searching on.
Posted by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow
Highlighting journalists on Google News
November 2, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Google News Blog
)
Great journalism takes more than facts and figures -- it takes skilled reporters to knit together compelling stories. Knowing who wrote an article can help readers understand the article's context and quality, see more articles by that person, and even interact directly with them. Whole communities can form around prominent contributors, which is why we started showing
information about content creators
next to their material in Google Search.
Accordingly, Google News is rolling out more information about journalists over the next several weeks, starting with English-language editions. When reporters link their Google profile with their articles, Google News now shows the writer’s name and how many Google+ users have that person in their circles. For the lead article for each story, Google News also shows that reporter’s profile picture and enables readers to add them to their Google+ circles right from the Google News homepage.
If you are a journalist and would like to participate, please follow the instructions in our
Help Center
. If you are a reader, we hope you enjoy learning more about the faces behind the news.
Posted by Eric Weigle, Software Engineer, Google News team
A new way to get information about real-world places
November 1, 2011
I love eating out with my friends and trying new places, but one of the most difficult questions you can ask me is "Where do you want to eat?" Today, we’re making a few improvements to Google search that will make it a lot easier and faster to answer this question. For example, I mentioned to a friend that I’ll be visiting Boston, and he suggested that I check out a barbecue place called Redbones BBQ in Davis Square. Since I don't know that restaurant, I do a quick search for [redbones bbq] to see if it’s a place I’d like.
When I do, I see the same familiar search results page but I notice that there's now a new panel to the right of the results -- where previously only a map appeared -- with much more information than before. I see two images with
pegman
, the Street View mascot, below the map so I click on the first one. This instantly takes me to an immersive
360-degree interior view
of the restaurant, as if I were virtually teleported to Redbones.
I pan around and see that it's a cool colorful restaurant with a nice, comfy feel. What's more, when I go back to the search results panel and click on the second image, I’m able to look around the outside of the restaurant and get a sense for the neighborhood via the familiar Street View experience. I’m beginning to really like this place! Further down the panel, I see the price range indicating it won’t be too expensive and an “at a glance” summary that tells me Redbones has great beer and pulled pork sandwiches -- and menu links if I want to see more. Thanks to this helpful information right on the search results page, I’ve quickly been able to make my decision: I’m going to Redbones for a pulled pork sandwich.
Even if I’m not looking for a particular place by name, I can learn about places and quickly decide which ones are right for me. If I want to find a bar near Redbones for a few drinks after dinner, I can just search for [bars davis square] and get a familiar list of results. Only now, scanning the list and comparing places is easier than ever, since the
instant preview feature
will show the same detailed information about the various bars when I hover over the “>>” symbol to the right of each result. After just a few seconds perusing the additional local information for different places, I know that Joshua Tree has a great beer selection and that the Orleans has live music but is a bit farther away.
This new type of layout may appear on the search results page for a range of real-world places -- restaurants, hotels, local businesses, landmarks, museums and more. Of course, the local information that appears will vary depending on what’s available online. So the next time you plan your visit to the
New England Aquarium
or
Fenway Park
, you might be able to check out their opening hours, get directions, and find the nearest transit stops, all from a simple Google search.
In the coming weeks, you’ll start seeing the improved local search experience in more than 40 languages. Give it a try and start discovering new local favorites, near and far!
Posted by Jim Müller, Tech Lead
A prima ballerina vs. some very angry birds: this year’s Halloween search trends
October 28, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
)
The pumpkins are carved, the spiderwebs are hanging,
Kids and their pets are door-to-door banging,
Witches on their brooms and owls on their perches,
Let’s take a look at some Halloween searches.
Halloween searches are some of our favorite trends to look at all year. Using
Insights for Search
and some internal data, we took a peek at which costumes and candies are on top in the United States.
This year seems to be about the battle of the birds. Searches for [angry birds costume], based on the game phenomenon that has so many of us addicted, have been steadily rising in 2011, and we’re seeing
10 times more search volume
this year than last. But as of mid-October, the Angry Birds were overtaken in search by [black swan costume]. The Darren Aronofsky ballet drama seems poised to be the most popular costume idea by All Hallows Eve, with related searches for everything from [black tutu] to [black corset]. Some are even looking to be the alter ego [white swan].
Meanwhile, search data doesn’t seem to show that anyone is too anxious to be the object of the Angry Birds’ rage—at least not independently from their sworn enemies. Although [angry birds costume] is one of the top 10 fastest-rising searches related to [pig costume] over the last 90 days, another three are focused on a much sweeter piglet, the
cartoon favorite Olivia
.
Birds aside, this year’s fastest rising costumes in the U.S. overall are inspired by a variety of sources from pop culture over the past year, including TV shows—[pan am], [wilfred]—movies—[smurfette], [tron], [captain america]—pop music—[nicki minaj]—and more [monster high].
In fact, we may have a battle of the pop goddesses on our hands as well as a battle of the birds. During
2009
and
2010
, homegrown Lady Gagas were trick-or-treating throughout the country, but while Lady Gaga still rules the music charts, she’s a far
less popular costume choice
this year than in 2010:
And although overall in 2011 [lady gaga costume] leads [nicki minaj costume] in search volume, right now they’re
neck and neck
:
We’d be lying if we weren’t hoping that at least a few Minaj fans out there choose to pay tribute to her by dressing up as uberfans eight-year-old Sophia Grace and her cousin, the two little girls who blew away YouTube viewers with their
performance
of “Super Bass.”
Speaking of YouTube, Halloween doesn’t fall on a
Friday
this year, but that’s not stopping people from dressing up as
Rebecca Black
:
Even if you don’t want dress up as a YouTube star, YouTube can still help you create your Halloween costume. Head on over to the
YouTube Blog
for video tutorials and other inspiration.
Lest you think Halloween is just for humans, take a look at the huge amount of searches for [
dog costume
]. In terms of get-ups actually intended for canines,
ewoks
and dinosaurs are the fastest-rising related searches. But two of the top five rising searches in 2011 related to [dog costume] are a little quirkier: at least a few people out there may dress up as the eponymous character from FX’s “Wilfred” show, about a dog, and a man who sees the dog as a man dressed in a dog suit. Kinda meta.
Turning from costumes to the other traditions of this holiday, searches for
[haunted house] and [pumpkin patch]
are both spiking right now, but there seems to be greater interest in spooky thrills than in finding that perfect pumpkin to carve. Maybe spiderwebs and
peeled-grape eyeballs
are a less scary proposition than running into the [
great pumpkin
] (from the
classic movie
which, incidentally, celebrates its 45th birthday this Halloween).
Everyone has a sweet tooth this time of year, but [candy corn] is remains the undisputed king of people’s cravings. In the last 30 days, search volume is nearly twice as high for [candy corn] than for other
candy choices
:
Per capita, Alabama is searching the most for [candy corn] this year. Here are the states that searched the most for a few other Halloween sugar staples (and some newcomer treats):
Candy apples - Rhode Island
Gummy worms - Wisconsin
Kosher candy - New York
Sugar free candy - Kentucky
Gluten free candy - Oregon
Candy bars - Utah
Organic candy - Colorado
When trick or treating, there’s always that one house that insists on making Halloween healthy—but luckily for us, those are few and far between. Over the last 30 days, there is almost
two and a half times
more search volume for [candy] than for [apples]. The classic game of bobbing for apples, however, it still going strong,
spiking dependably
every October.
Whether you’re dressing up as an elegant avian ballerina or a brightly-colored roly-poly bird in a slingshot, we hope you have a spootakular Halloween!
Posted by Rachel Durfee, Google Blog Team
Improving the look of authorship in your search results
October 28, 2011
Yesterday we introduced a simple way for content creators to
set up authorship using just their email address
, which displays their name and picture on the Google search results page alongside content they wrote. In addition, we’ve added a few improvements to the author information you see in the search results, so you can find out more about the authors behind the articles and engage with them directly.
Specifically, you’ll now see:
Circle count
. Although you saw the name of an author next to the result, we kept hearing that you wanted to find more info about them. The most popular request was knowing how many people followed that author on Google+, which is now included.
Add to circles
. You should be able to easily engage with and hear more from authors you like, so we're making that easy by allowing you to add authors to your circles right in search results (this feature is rolling out over the coming weeks).
Comments
. Another way you can engage with authors is to comment directly to them on Google+. Now if an author shares an article on Google+ and they get comments on it, you’ll see a link on the search results page to view the comments in Google+.
These changes are just another step towards helping you identify and discover high quality content on the web. If you’re a content creator interested in learning more about authorship, check out our
Help Center
.
Posted by Wanda Hung, Software Engineer
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