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"We're constantly looking at the user experience -- what they want, what they need," said Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience.
Google regularly makes improvements to its search engine, which now contains billions of Web pages compared with only 30 million in 1998.
However, it took a major leap last year by introducing what it calls "universal search." This is a more comprehensive search engine that includes video, images, maps, news and other data. Previously, you had to visit several Google search products to get different types of information.
Mayer described universal search as a large step forward because it involved installing a new technical infrastructure.
The search engine's next frontier lies in blending in new media and adapting to the different technologies that people are using to make search queries, such as mobile phones and car-based systems.
Mayer also sees Google giving users more control over the look and feel of its Web pages. This is already happening with iGoogle, which allows people to customize their Google home page. It has been the fastest growing consumer product since its introduction three years ago, Mayer said.
iGoogle recently began offering a palette of decorative themes created by famous artists and designers such as Jeff Koons, Tory Burch and Philippe Starck. The themes give people another way to personalize their Google page.
Armed with these and other new features, Google would seem likely to continue its dominance of the search engine business. But in the rapidly changing tech world, new start-up companies are already aiming to surpass it.
With competition expected to intensify, what will differentiate Google from others? Mayer cites three factors: comprehensiveness, relevance and the user experience.
Google plans to offer more content than anyone else, not just Web pages but also books, video, news and images, she said.
Google also aims to generate the best possible results for search queries. It wants to give users more relevant answers than its rivals do.
And the search engine is working to improve its users' experience.
In the future, people may be able to express their search queries in far different ways than is possible today.
"We're constantly looking at user intent," Mayer said. |
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