google squared

google squared

Google boosted its Google Squared search service. When Squared launched in June, users would receive up to 30 fact squares. As of today, Squared now displays up to 120 facts per query. Users can also now sort columns, letting users rank, group and compare items, with Squared converting units in the background. Users can also now export data from Squared to a Google Spreadsheet or a CSV file. Meanwhile, Google's mobile search team formally released the Quick Search Box for Android smartphones. Google Oct. 9 rolled out several improvements to its experimental Google Squared search service, including more facts, better relevance, sort and rank capabilities, and the ability to extract data to Google Spreadsheets.

Demoed at Google's May Searchology event and launched in June from Google Labs, Google Squared extracts facts from all over the Internet and presents them in a spreadsheet-type interface, bringing structure to normally unstructured data. Typical Web search today from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo lets users enter a query and see links from multiple Web sites that may or may not adequately answer the query. If a query proves complex, users often have to click through multiple links to find satisfactory answers. What this kind of search doesn't do is adequately answer more complex research questions, for which the answers reside on multiple Web sites instead of one.

That's the problem Google Squared, as well as Wolfram Alpha's search engine, seeks to address. Rather than returning a list of Web site links, Squared spits out a table of facts culled from the Web. When Squared launched in June, users would receive up to 30 fact squares. As of today, Squared now displays up to 120 facts per query. See this example of a Squared query for "U.S. presidents" here. Users can also now sort columns, letting users rank, group and compare items, with Squared converting units in the background. For example, users can sort by tallest buildings in the U.S., or group restaurants by neighborhood. These are key parameters for boosting relevance.