Google Tests Instant Site Search

Google shows a search box below the top search result, especially for navigational queries like [nytimes], [youtube] or [engadget]. The search box allows you to type a new query and restrict the results to that site. Obviously, you can still use the site: operator, but most people don't know about it.

Now Google tests a similar feature as part of Google Instant. After typing a query that has a dominant search result, Google shows a new option: "search within [your query]". Select that option and Google lets you type a new query and restrict the results to that site. It's somewhat similar to Chrome's "tab to search" feature, except that you use Google, not the site's search engine.

It's interesting to notice that Google shows suggestion when you search within a site. If you use the site: operator, Google doesn't show suggestions and the results aren't displayed as you type.

{ via Tecno-Net }

Google Instant Shows Suggestions from Web Pages

Google Instant suggestions used to only include popular queries. Last year, Google started to show dynamic suggestions for the last words of your query. Now Google's suggestions seem to include excerpts from web pages.

For example, when you search for [intel solid state drive toolbox], Google's list includes two strange suggestions: [intel solid state drive toolbox(intel ssd toolbox)] and [intel® solid-state drive toolbox download]. It's really unlikely that many people search for [intel®] or include redundant versions of the query.

The real explanation is that a lot of pages include those texts and Google used them to enhance Google Instant.

What about the standard navigation links used by Google or Bing? Obviously, they're included in a lot of pages and few Google users would search for boilerplate text and also use special characters.

Google's help center page for autocomplete informs users that "Google's algorithm predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities and the contents of web pages indexed by Google".

Google Instant, Disabled For Slow Computers

Google Instant is supposed to make searching faster, but you need a pretty good Internet connection, a modern browser and a decent computer. Google Instant is not available if you use IE6 or other outdated browsers and it's automatically disabled if you have a slow Internet connection.

Now Google also disables Instant if you have a slow computer. "If Instant gets automatically disabled, we continue to check your computer speed and will re-enable Instant if your performance improves," informs Google. If you don't like this change, you can disable it from the search preferences page. Just select "always show Instant results" in the "Google Instant predictions" section.


I've tested this feature on an old laptop and Google's implementation isn't great. Google Instant continues to be enabled for the initial query even if it's slow, then it's suddenly disabled when you visit Google Search again. Google doesn't show a message next to the search box to explain why Instant is disabled and not many people will visit the search preferences page, which both an explanation and a fix.


This is just one of the 17 updates from last month that improved Google Search.

Google Instant Tweaks

When Google launched Instant, the main goal of this feature was to guess your query before you finish typing it and to instantly display the results. This works well if your typing a popular query, but what happens when Google can't autocomplete your query and you're a slow typist? You'll usually see the results for partial queries that include the words you haven't finished typing.

Now Google no longer includes the word you're currently typing if it's not very likely that it's a complete word. If you type [android qualcomm qua], Google will only show the results for [android qualcomm]. When your query becomes [android qualcomm quad], Google no longer ignores the third word. Here's another example:


If you actually want to find the results for a query and Google ignores the last word, you can always press Enter, click the Search button or click "Search instead for ...".

Google Tests a New Instant Interface

Google experiments with a new search interface for the desktop that borrows some ideas from the recently launched tablet interface. There's a big "Search" title below the Google logo and Google Instant predictions are displayed below the header.





The new interface looks weird because of the label that shows the number of results and separates the search box from the list of suggestions. Another issue is that Google Instant only shows 2 suggestions instead of 4.



{ Thanks, Bradley. }

Google Instant for Image Search

Google Instant is now available for image search results, but only as an experimental feature. After you enable "Instant on Images", Google will start to autocomplete your queries and show image results before you finish entering the query. It's a great way to try different queries and see the results almost instantly.


Unfortunately, there are some limitations that make this feature less useful. "Search by Image will not work if you opt into this experiment. Also, Instant on Images is available only if you already have Instant on Web. Finally, this experiment is enabled only for the Images search result page, not on the Google Images home page."

You can try this feature without joining Google's experiment: just append &esrch=ImagesInstant::PublicOptIn to an Image Search URL, like this or bookmark this page.

Google also added an experiment for Voice Search, which allows you to try the feature before it's available for you. Voice Search only works in Google Chrome 11+.

Google says that you can't select multiple experiments at the same time, but I've managed to enable both Voice Search and Instant on Images. For some reason, you won't be able to use Search by Image when you enable Voice Search, even if Instant on Images is disabled.

Google Instant Supports Search Operators

When Google Instant was launched, many power users noticed that they need to press Enter after typing a query that included advanced search operators like site: and filetype:. Most likely, these queries are resource intensive and it's difficult to return the results very fast.

Now you can use these operators without having to press Enter or click the search button. The main advantage is that you can adjust your query and see the results as you type. Unfortunately, the results aren't displayed instantly.