Digital Musings

Written on November 30, 2007 – 12:15 pm | by Vikram |

Before I proceed, if you are not aware,what Google Experiments are, let me tell you about it briefly. Google has a wonderful concept called as Google labs,which is basically a playground for all the “Beta” web applications that Google is currently developing. I am sure you must have heard about Google labs. “The Google experimental” is a part of Google Labs, where the latest ideas that Google is working on are displayed. Google has always preferred participation and feedback from the users for improvement of the services. All the latest projects in which users can participate are listed in Google Experimental.

Some of the Projects that are included and are under development in Google Labs are:

• Google Code Search
  Search public source code
• Google Music Trends
  See what music is popular among Google Talk users
• Google Page Creator
  Create your own web pages, quickly and easily
• Google Web Accelerator
  Save time online by loading web pages faster
• Google Suggest
  As you type your search, Google offers keyword suggestions in real time
• Google Trends
  See what the world is searching for.

There is special note that tells us these Apps are under development can work erratically at times. It says:
Please note: These technologies are still in the beginning stages of development, so they may disappear without warning or perform erratically. If something’s not working on this page, please come back and try it again later.
On the right we see a list named as Google Graduates. These are projects started in Google Labs and now are fully operational. A few projects that have been completed are listed below.

Some Mega Google Web Applications which were developed by Google labs and are fully functional:

• Web Alerts
  Find out about new web pages on a topic of interest
• Google Desktop
  Find all your information, whether it’s on the web or stored on your computer, from one convenient location
• Google Scholar
  Search through journal articles, abstracts and other scholarly literature
• Google Maps
  View maps, get driving directions, and search for local businesses and services.
• iGoogle
  Add information you care about to your Google homepage
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets
  Create, store and share documents and spreadsheets on the web
• Google Reader
  Use Google’s web-based feed reader to keep track of your favorite web sites

The Google Experimental Section:

As I have said above Google Experimental are the latest ideas in Google Labs and allow user participation. Most of these experiments are aimed at, you guess it, making Google search even better. The participation is optional. Guys who are really interested in checking these features should join in, and check them out. Also only one experiment can be joined at one time.Some of the latest projects in Google Experimental are:

1) Alternate views for search results

This is an interesting concept. If you join this experiment, you can alter the view of your search results. In this, you can view search results as a time-line or even on Maps. Also the third parameter is viewing additional information.

Time-line & map view works best for searches related to people, companies, events and places. Info view shows all the data found for each result, to help you select the best choice.

2) Keyword suggestions

If you sign on with this experiment Google displays different keywords to improve your search results. As you type your search query, Google’s technology provides alternative suggestions to your queries in real time. Other application that provide this feature are Google suggest and Google Labs itself.

I have tried this and it helps in using the keywords in different and also helps one understand what other related keywords are popular.

3) Keyboard shortcuts

If you join this experiment you can navigate through the search results quickly and easily, minimizing the use of your mouse. Current keyboard shortcuts include:

Key	Action
J	Selects the next result.
K	Selects the previous result.
O	Opens the selected result.
<Enter>	Opens the selected result.
/	Puts the cursor in the search box.
<Esc>	Removes the cursor from the search box.

4) Left-hand search navigation/ Right-hand contextual search navigation

As the names suggest, we have additional search options for any searches that we make once we join any of the two experiment. You can search deeper in a particular type of content—patents, products or news, for example. Google searches across all kinds of content, then ranks results by relevance.

These are a few new concepts that are being developed by Google for making the search even better and are good to join if you want first hand understanding about how the Google search is changing. Also I think every guy interested in SEO should join and try these out.

I would be joining these experiments and would provide a review of any of these on this blog. If you want to stay updated you can subscribe to the blogs feed.

Link for Google Labs is here. Link for Google Experimental is here.

So now that you know what the Google experiments are, which one interests you? Would you be willing to participate and know more about them?

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