3 posts and columns on SearchWiki

LIVE: Google Searchology

in News on May 12, 2009 at 10:13 am PT

The architects of Google search are holding court at company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., this morning offering what promises to be a sort of state of the union on search. Overseeing the event, dubbed “Google Searchology”: Udi Manber, VP of Search Engineering, and Marissa Mayer VP of Search Products and User Experience. Key subjects: the challenge of solving every user problem, mobile search across multiple platforms and different UI schemes, and greater user customization through tools like SearchWiki and Google Search Options, a basket of new services just announced.
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Yahoo Lets Users Take Notes

in News on February 4, 2009 at 3:47 pm PT

If Yahoo’s search engine made it easier to organize a ski trip or research a new cellphone, would you use it more frequently? The search engine–a distant second to Google in usage–is hoping so. Yahoo announced plans Wednesday to start testing a new research tool that tries to detect when someone is doing a research-related search and offers to save Web pages and notes in a separate document for future recall.

Web Searches That Really Bear Fruit

in The Digital Solution on January 13, 2009 at 4:18 pm PT

There’s nothing more frustrating than a fruitless Web search — or one that returns results that distract you from your original goal. This week I tested two free tools that attempt to make your Web searches more relevant by learning from users’ reactions to search results.