Search Evolves – Google Real Time Search

Never a dull day at Google – at any given time somewhere around the world someone at Google is working on something cool and new that might just change the way we all work and the way we use the Internet.

Today is no exception, in fact, today is an exception because something new is not just being worked on, it has been launched.

Google has launched ‘Google Real Time Search’ – which of course sits in its ‘Labs’ the place where you and I can play with the things that Google are working on, without them coming right out and saying ‘it’s done’ and then having a world of problems when people find issues with it.

So, what is ‘Real Time Search’ – it’s search as you know it but with added extras.  Think  of it like the Air-conditioning being thrown in for free on your new car.  This new feature will allow you to search for something – say “Tiger Woods” and when you search, you will not only see the websites, ads, news links, but also a small section somewhere that says “Latest results for…” which is then a small window within the search page which constantly refreshes with the very latest from around the Internet.

Of course, Google isn’t going to say where it’s all coming from or in what order it is ranked, however, it is clear that Twitter and Friendfeed status updates are included, as are the latest blog and news postings.  Which is very useful, given that breaking news can often mean that even the best search results are old within a very short window of time.

It’s not really all that spectactular, however when you look behind the power of this, you will begin to understand that in time this will change the way we work and search.  Because Google controls our search, Google determines the algorithms for search results, so if Google gives ranking credibility to Twitter posts from accounts with high follower rates, high interaction rates and high list rates that might out-jump the rest of the results on the page.

Expect too that these results will burst out of this included window within time too, and just start appearing in the page where appropriate.

Very interesting times, and great to see.  It is clear to most heavy users that there is some real power in the ‘real time web’ with news and information breaking and moving so fast, this inclusion had to happen.

Also, while you’re over at Google, worth checking out Google Trends – which for a long time has been a good way of ‘seeing’ what’s going on around the web.  Now it has ‘graduated’ and is an official Google Product.  A great page to bookmark and use throughout your day to see what is happening and what people are searching for…