The following are notes from last night’s event. These are not final text, just merely notes to inform those who were not able to join the “sold-out” crowd (event was free with tasty eats provided by Google) or a refresher for those who were.
SEMPO Boston Hosts Google Universal Search @ Google, Cambridge MA 4/8/09
Speaker: Frances Haugen
Organizing the world’s information with a simple premise: Google will do its best to give the best possible answers
Info takes lots of forms: images, blogs, books
Google seeks to
- Provide comprehensiveness
- Continue to focus on: What is the users’ intent
- Retain relevance
- Run every query against every index
- Show results only after looking @ all the data
- Blend results into single ranked list
What’s next
- Looking to make search more accessible for non-native English-speakers
- Improve relevance
- More parallel searches (When have misspelling, results for corrected also avail)
- Expand more context (multiple refined searches, apply older queries to new ones)
Help users explore
- More variety in result types more often
- One main list w links for refinement
- Keep list quick and easy to read
What does it mean for Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
- Usual guidelines still apply
- Webmasters are central to Google’s mission
SEMs should take advantage of prominent new verticals
- Google video sitemap
- High-quality well-captioned images
- Update local searches
Discussion
Why choose one thing over another?
Google has insights of volume to study the patterns of what people click on
Google has people are trained to evaluate: Is this actually better?
Every time Google launches a ranking refinement: It’s done carefully and remains conscious about what people think is actually better.
Regardless of who generates the answers, Google is committed to making sure best possible answers are provided.
Tip: Regular-expressions.info: search pattern language tool
About Suzanne McDonald
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http://www.clpostingguide.info
Frances Haugen, a Google Universal Search Product Manager will discuss Universal Search – how it changes the game, what the future holds, and how companies can adjust
Google is sponsoring the event. They are providing demonstration stations to give you an opportunity to talk with Google reps before and after the presentation.
Hi there,
Thanks for posting the info, can you pass along more information: time, location, where to RSVP?
Thanks so much,
Suzanne
Hi,
We stand alone in our focus on developing the “perfect search engine,” defined by co-founder Larry Page as something that, “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” To that end, we have persistently pursued innovation and refused to accept the limitations of existing models. As a result, we developed our serving infrastructure and breakthrough PageRank™ technology that changed the way searches are conducted…
Thanks for sharing this information 🙂
Hi and thanks for adding your insights!
They seemed to have dialled universal search down quite a bit in the last few months – I’m seeing less video results in the main SERPS.
Hi and thanks for contributing! Wondering if you could clarify? I’d love to hear several perspectives!
Thanks again,
Suzanne