December 9, 2009 by James Oliver
If you’ve been following this blog over the last few weeks you’ll know that Google have been looking into including a twitter style real time element in their search engine results for quite some time now. I personally thought it would be included as part of the caffeine update and said so on the blog a couple of weeks ago. Just shows what I know, this week the search engine giant began to release the real time element across the world.
It’s no beta launch either, according to Google the update is completely live and should be visible around the world in a couple of days.
You’ll see for yourself soon enough, but for now let me fill you in on how the new function works. The real time section works in the same way as the other search add-ons like product search or Google Base in that it takes up a section in the SERPs about two results wide, this then populates with results pertaining to the search query you’ve entered as they are put onto the internet.
It is undoubtedly very cool, especially when you consider that the tool is indexing over a billion separate sites (that’s right a billion) and bringing you the results second by second which can’t have been easy to build. Okay, Twitter did it first, but impressive as that was, they were only indexing the results from one site, theirs, what Google have achieved here is a much more complicated proposition.
Here’s what senior Googler, Amit Singal had to say had to say…
“There is so much information being generated out there that getting you relevant information is the key to the success of a product like this. It’s all about relevance, relevance, relevance.”
Well quite. So, what sort of stuff comes up? Well, there’s a lot of news sites and obviously Twitter, facebook et al. get a look in which is pretty useful, especially when you’re researching or looking for the latest results about something as you see actual information rather than just whichever webmaster has paid the most for their SEO management, which isn’t always the most relevant info. Also, and this is the clincher, it helps you get an at-a-glance look at the way public opinion, taking the temperature of the world on an issue instantly.
Stay tuned for more info and discussion on this – it’s caused quite a stir in the office.
Related posts:
- Caffeine Explained: Real-Time Results
- Real-Time Search Results: Blessing or Curse?
- Google announce all new web indexing system
- Caffeine: Google’s ‘Secret Search Project’
- Google Base and Google Product Search: The Twin Keys to greater Search Engine exposure!
- Page Segmentation Part 3: The potential Advantages for Search Engines
