Google Experiments May 21
ClickZ.com had an interesting article today about Google Experiments Search. Google Experiments allows user to sign up and try out new Google developments before the features are released to the general public. Try it out if your interested in playing with some new search technology.
Current list of experiments:
Timeline and map views: Timeline view (add view:timeline to your query) features a timeline near the top of the SERP and the results are displayed in chronological order. Why didn’t they have this when I was doing reports in high school. Map view features a large Google map with search results displayed on it.
Keyboard shortcuts: A list of keyboard shortcuts that make navigating the Google SERP faster.
J: Selects the next result.
K: Selects the previous result.
O: Opens the selected result.
<Enter>: Opens the selected result.
/: Puts the cursor in the search box.
<Esc>: Removes the cursor from the search box.
Left-hand search navigation: Adds contextual search (photos, video) and related searches down the left-hand side of the page. It looks like the related search options plugs the term right back into the search bar as a query. I like when search engines do this because it makes it easy to find the top searches and buy them as exact keywords.
Right-hand contextual search navigation: This feature displays a box on the right-hand side above the sponsored results with additional contextual searches. The box effectively pushes the competing ads down the page and leaves the top sponsored ads (above the organic results) in the same location. One of two things may happen. First, the top two positions will become even more important (most likely). Second, user eyeballs will be drawn to the right-hand side and notice the sponsored ads. I don’t see much chance of that.
Popularity: 5% [?]
