At a loss for words?
Have you ever been stumped in finding the right words to search for? Back when I was planning my wedding, I had a list of wedding songs in mind, but the problem was that I couldn't remember any of the artist names or song titles. So I started typing …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google has already framed search as useful when a user knows the subject but not the exact terms, including in its earlier music-search guidance. Its March 2008 work on searching within a site also extended search controls beyond a single open-ended query box.
The addition of Google Suggest to Google.com shifts help with query formulation into the main search experience, making suggested terms part of the path to results rather than a separate search tactic.
First-order effects
- Google.com users receive query suggestions while typing, reducing the need to recall an artist, title, or other exact search term before submitting a search.
- Google makes its core search box a more guided interface, rather than relying solely on users to formulate complete queries.
Second-order effects
- Publishers and businesses whose names or topics match commonly suggested queries gain a more prominent route into user searches, while less-obvious wording becomes harder to discover through unaided typing.
- Other search services face pressure to match query-assistance features at the entry point, where users choose both a search engine and their wording.
Third-order effects
- If suggestion interfaces become standard, search competition increasingly turns on shaping the query itself, not only ranking pages after a query is submitted.
The trend: Web search is moving from a passive results engine toward an interface that actively helps users express intent before results are ranked.