Posted by Web Design Cardiff at 10:06 on 19 June 2012
Google are once again revamping their search engine algorithm in an attempt to bring instant answers to search questions, dubbed the Knowledge Graph. The new function, which will be released in the US initially before rolling out globally, will use around 3.5 billion attributes to organise results and make the algorithms act "more human" by understanding context and not just keywords. The context will then be used to group results according to various alternative interpretations; for some searches Google will automatically produce a summary box with key information. Similar efforts to bring context to searches have been released by Bing with their "Snapshot" column which offers images, maps and other services related to your search.
Google say the new change will make the search engine able to differentiate between results which use the same keywords.
Using context Google hopes to make the search engine able to answer more complex questions which would require the use of multiple data sources and criteria. This kind of complex, intelligent search is being pioneered by the likes of Wolfram Alpha which uses verified data to produce statistical results. Another effort to make search engines more user friendly is Ask Jeeves which responds to more human-like questions rather than requiring users to enter keywords.
Find out more about the changes to Google's Algorithm visit Google's Official Blog.