Searchology: Google Search Options

This is the last post in our series about the new Google features announced on Tuesday at Google’s Searchology event (which I keep repeating because it’s fun to say).

On the plate today is Search Options, which is maybe the most ‘megaton’ announcement in terms of the way it will actually change the way that Google users search.

Search Options (do a Google search for anything and then click the Show Options link below the search box) lets you segment and filter the search results you see when you submit a query.  The filters in Search Options allow users to look for their query in images, video, reviews, and forums and also allows users to filter based on when the content they’re served in results was created.

What does this mean?  It’s going to be much easier for searchers to find the content they’re looking for regardless of rankings.  It is also another nail in the coffin for the rankings obsession some ecommerce owners and SEOs have - because results can be “sliced and diced” so many different ways.  The time filter on searches (which has always been there, just as an option under Advanced Search) being placed in a user-friendly location also indicates that, although it may not be weighting it more heavily, Google is favoring social media content, which often has the most immediate content on a given topic.

That’s this week’s big Google news in a nutshell.  None of this changes the way that search functions or that your site will rank, but it does offer up the possibility of changed user behavior.