Even though it's the undisputed leader in search, Google isn't sitting still -- it can't. Unlike email services or social networking sites, users don't have a great deal invested in which search engine they use. As former search leader Alta Vista found out when Google hit the scene more than a decade ago, users can and will switch search engines if a better one comes along.
So, with some fanfare, Google summoned journalists to the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco on Tuesday to attend "Inside Search" to learn about how the company is innovating to keep up or ahead of the competition.
One of the first areas they talked about was mobile search which has seen a "5X" growth over the past two years, according to the company, and has different patterns than desktop search. Despite the growth of mobile search, some obstacles remain, such as the fact that few users are as comfortable typing on mobiles as on desktop keyboards.
To improve the experience, Google announced improvements to its speech recognition engine as well as changes to its mobile search to enable users to find what they are looking for with fewer keystrokes or "taps." The beta version of mobile search that Google released Tuesday adds a plus icon next to results that allow people to get more granular information on their query. There is also a preview option, which eliminates clicking on the wrong link by giving you a preview of what to expect before you click.
desktop users, the most interesting announcement is what Google is calling Instant Pages -- a feature that literally brings up search results instantaneously. As you search, Google starts to figure out what you're looking for based on the characters you've entered. Once it's pretty sure it knows what you want, it starts to download or "cache" that page. Once it's sure, Instant Pages will present the page, which can be even before you've finished typing the query.
During a demo Tuesday, the Washington Post home page loaded immediately (as in zero seconds) with Instant Pages, compared to 3.2 seconds without it.
Also new to Chrome will be the ability to search with images. Users will be able to drag an image from their desktop to have Google try to recognize and search for it. At the news conference Tuesday, Google was able to recognize where a blurry picture snapped on a Greek island was taken.
Image recognition is not being configured to recognize faces or exterior pictures of private homes. However, Google executives pointed out that its pattern recognition algorithms might be able to pinpoint images of famous people or well-known buildings. Even though its pattern recognition is content-agnostic, it can identify any image if there are enough examples of it online.
Also, Google is adding voice search to desktop computers -- an option already used on iPhones and Android phones
Google is trying to get users used to having voice command available everywhere. The new feature will initially be available in the Chrome browser where users will see a microphone icon that they can use to activate voice recognition.
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