copying some of its smaller rivals with the latest refinements to the
way it displays Internet search results.
After months of testing, Google tweaked its technology Tuesday to
occasionally display longer descriptions of Web sites in response to
search requests consisting of several words. The expanded snippets
will contain three or four lines from Web sites instead of the usual
one or two lines.
The switch is designed to give Google's audience a better sense of
what information a Web site has even before users click on the link.
It's something lesser known search engines already have been trying to
do, either by posting longer descriptions or providing capsule
snapshots of the Web pages that show up in their results.
In another minor change, Google said it has improved its formula for
posting suggestions pointing to other topics that might be tied to a
search request.
For instance, entering "principles of physics" into Google's search
box will generate the usual list of 10 results on the first page,
punctuated by a group of links at the bottom suggesting eight other
related subjects such as "big bang physics." Now, however, Google
thinks it can do a better job of deciphering complicated search
requests and will highlight some suggestions near the top of the
results page instead of the bottom.
This clustering concept was popularized years ago by
IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s Ask.com and has since been copied by other
search engines. Google's upgrade was hatched by Ori Allon, who joined
Google in 2006 after selling a search startup called Orion to the
Mountain View-based company.
Even as it appears to be catching up to Ask.com, Google also may be
trying to stay a step ahead of its biggest rival, Microsoft Corp.,
said Danny Sullivan, who heads the Search Engine Land newsletter.
Microsoft has indicated it plans to introduce new ways to suggest
searches to its users, giving Google more of an incentive to upgrade
its own system, Sullivan said.
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