New Google Search Options

New Google Search Options – a Move Towards Personalized Search Google introduced some enhanced search options on May 12th. In short these new options allow you to slice and dice your search results in different ways. You can search forums or videos only, change date ranges, and explore your search using a graphical view that can make drilling down through results easier. This short video walks demonstrates the new search options and how to access them -

As an experienced searcher, I find the ability to search only forums, reviews, etc using dates useful. I think the Wonder Wheel is interesting, but perhaps more geared towards people with less search experience.

From an SEO standpoint, I can see a few possible effects right away. The ability to search using reviews could put an emphasis on local search and getting positive reviews from your customers. From what I’ve read, Google has yet to officially say the reviews will influence the rankings when using this option, but for local search reviews play a part so it’s entirely possible. Another trend and possible effect on SEO as this is a move towards personalized search. Optimizing for one set of results is challenging enough, trying to optimize for results based on user input beyond a simple keyword search will defiantly be challenging.

Since the majority of users are unaware of the new feature, there should be no immediate effects to SEO. However, this is something we’ll want to keep a close eye on moving forward. In the mean time, enjoy using the new search options!

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