Google Inc. has a new home-page design and navigation features that it claims will help make search faster and easier.
Navigation links have been added above search results to suggest additional information that may be relevant to a user’s query.
Also, instead of having links above the Google.com home-page search box, users will see a navigation bar on the top left side of the page with various Google search properties and popular products, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Picasa Web Albums.
The Internet search leader’s goal of universal search aims to break down information that exists on the Web and provide the best answer every time a user enters a query, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, said in a statement.
Mountain View, CA-based Google claims its vision for universal search is to search across all its content sources, compare and rank all the information in real time, and deliver a single, integrated set of search results that offers users precisely what they are looking for.
The company also says it will incorporate information from a variety of previously separate sources, including videos, images, news, maps, books and Web sites, into a single set of results.
Google has continued to concentrate on improving the quality of search, Udi Manber, vice president of engineering at Google, said in a statement. The level and speed of search innovation at Google has increased, and most of this innovation addresses basic ranking algorithms that are often not obvious to users, he said.
Users will see more accurate results more often and in more languages, Mr. Manber said.
