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Google launches Instant Previews

by Sarah Griffiths on 9 November 2010, 15:48

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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Picture perfect?

Google has launched a visual search tool called Instant Previews to make it faster for users to find the right result.

"Instant Previews provides a graphic overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections, making finding the right page as quick and easy as flipping through a magazine," according to Google's blog.

Users can test drive the tool by clicking on the magnifying glass next to the title of a search result and a visual overview of the page will appear on the right. Users can then hover their cursor over any result to see a preview.

Google said its testing found that people using Instant Previews are 5 percent more likely to be satisfied with their search results.

The search giant believes the new tool allows users to quickly compare results as they can flip through visual previews to see which page looks best as well as pinpoint relevant content with ‘text call outs' that can highlight where a search term appears on a webpage, letting users evaluate if it's what they're looking for. Page Previews also let users see the layout of a webpage before clicking the search result.

Google believes the tool could come in handy in certain scenarios such like if you looked at a page before and can't find it again, or if you're searching for an official website where the right logo is clearly visible.

The firm said it was mindful that earlier attempts at visual search took too long to load compared to normal websites. 

However, the tool now matches a query with an index of the web, "identify the relevant parts of each webpage, stitch them together and serve the resulting preview completely customized to your search-usually in under one-tenth of a second," it said.

Google said Instant Previews will be available in 40 languages in the ‘next few days'.



HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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It works nice for me. Doesn't seem like it slows the page down at all.
latrosicarius
It works nice for me. Doesn't seem like it slows the page down at all.

Try working in a business where loads of people are using the internet at any one moment.

Things like this are a nightmare for our school. The County Council are already buckling under the huge rise in general traffic over the past couple of years, and what's probably the most popular site on the net probably quadrupling their data in that same period is going to cause immense problems for them and massive frustration for the likes of myself.

I wish Google enabled you to just use the old, stripped down version. No suggestions. No instant. No previews. That you could just search for what you want to search, click and button and results would appear. I've no real problem with them making it more feature rich or quicker for the less experienced…. I just wish you could keep Google ‘Google-like’, through the options or whatever.

For the record, I know you can turn off Google Instant, but you end up with search suggestions then (the option to remove them has been replaced with Instant), and as a result you lose your search history. Can you turn off the previews (which I doubt I'll ever use)? If so, how long before you can't?

Stop trying to innovate, Google. If you do need to scratch your creative itch, then please allow us a choice.
this_is_gav
Try working in a business where loads of people are using the internet at any one moment.

Things like this are a nightmare for our school. The County Council are already buckling under the huge rise in general traffic over the past couple of years, and what's probably the most popular site on the net probably quadrupling their data in that same period is going to cause immense problems for them and massive frustration for the likes of myself.

I wish Google enabled you to just use the old, stripped down version. No suggestions. No instant. No previews. That you could just search for what you want to search, click and button and results would appear. I've no real problem with them making it more feature rich or quicker for the less experienced…. I just wish you could keep Google ‘Google-like’, through the options or whatever.

For the record, I know you can turn off Google Instant, but you end up with search suggestions then (the option to remove them has been replaced with Instant), and as a result you lose your search history. Can you turn off the previews (which I doubt I'll ever use)? If so, how long before you can't?

Stop trying to innovate, Google. If you do need to scratch your creative itch, then please allow us a choice.

Hear hear!