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Google Categories Prototype  (View post)

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

Monday, April 16, 2007
17 years ago5,452 views

<< Billy adds, “I had just installed the new Google Desktop for the Mac, so I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it.” >>

I think it's got something to do with it.
But it's just my guess

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I added Google Desktop for Mac whenever it came out (so pretty recently)... but I can't reproduce the results shown. I would guess it is unrelated.

Hong Xiaowan [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Maybe the programmer test the pages, then changed.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

That search page is definately related to Google Desktop. I wonder if there is an option or link that you can select that allows you to view the categories. The screenshot shows a link to show the classic results page.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I don't understand how this could be related to Google Desktop unless it just adds something to the query to tell it to categorize the results. There's no way Google Desktop can be categorizing the web results coming back from the server, is there?

Carmen [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Oh interesting! Hopefully it's not related to GD as I don't have that installed.

The closest thing to this I got was when I was searching for an acronym (CSM) and google divided the first results page into three parts, grouping similar sites together.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Billy followed up to send me the two search URLs he's getting. Naturally as it seems to be a prototype you won't be able to reproduce this most of the time...

Categorized results:
http://www.google.com/search?q=buffalo+bill+silence&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

When he clicks on "don't categorize":
http://www.google.com/search?q=buffalo+bill+silence&e=Grouper2&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=W4z&grping=false&sa=X&oi=rat_categories&resnum=1&ct=result

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Question is, if it's for Mac users only...

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

My gut feeling, it doesn't have anything to do with either Mac or Desktop, it's just another Google results prototype showing to a fraction of users (if the screenshot is real). So, we might see more screenshots like these come up...

murcial [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

sounds like clustering........clusty?

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

similar to hakia:
http://www.hakia.com/search.aspx?q=volver&sourceid=firefox

Kimberly [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

I've recently been seening a lot of Wikipedia pages in the Top 10 SERPs, especially for single word keyword phrases. Must be a mashup kind of thing...

Some of the Wikipedia pages were actually still stubs with very little content on them other than a definition of the term. Certainly not my idea of a quality search result!

Also been seeing a shift toward large company or product sales sites showing up in the first page results where they'd never been before. My thinking is that Big G believes that if you're searching for something, then the most relevant results should include a site that sells a product closely matching the search.

Maybe it's a little more evidence that top results are already becoming a combo mashup from different categories of grouped results?

/pd [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

=="t's just another Google results prototype showing to a fraction of users"

Can't reproduce here.. even the URL's outline above are not triggering the catogories..

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Google once had beta testers.
can't they try it with them?

elyk [PersonRank 6]

17 years ago #

but why pay beta testers when you can give it to random people and have them test it for free? This way they also get feedback on whether people like the new idea.

Amanda Walker [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

It has nothing to do with Mac Google Desktop. All that Mac GD inserts into web search results are the "Desktop" tab at the top and the "local onebox". The web search results are not touched.

Lee Odden [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

I had this come up today:
http://www.toprankblog.com/2007/04/google-categories/

It sorts using the search operator, more:

Example, "dvd players more:stores"

I am able to duplicate the search using "dvd players" from work and from home (same laptop)

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