Google touches up its look to highlight shopping service
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc. has fine-tuned its popular online search engine with a new look designed to boost its Froogle shopping service and alert users to previously unheralded tools for getting sharper results.
The changes unveiled Monday are the latest in a series of moves Google has made since Yahoo! Inc. broke off their longtime partnership six weeks ago to spotlight its own search engine.
Microsoft executives also have been promising to introduce a search engine on their MSN site later this year.
“Google very much wants to let everyone know that it’s still doing some exciting things in search, and it’s too soon to start making the (company’s) tombstone yet,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, an industry newsletter.
Before Monday’s adjustments, Google recently had expanded its index by about 30 percent to span nearly 4.3 billion Web pages and introduced technology to make it easier for users to find things in their own neighborhoods based upon zip codes or cities.
The company said Monday it also is experimenting with a system that enables Google users to enter personal information about themselves so the search engine might deliver more relevant results. For instance, users that let Google know they’re interested in music are less likely to get results related to fishing when they enter the term “bass.”
With its latest revisions, Mountain View-based Google appears to be grooming Froogle for a much bigger role in its business. Froogle has been operating as a separate site since Google launched the shopping service in December 2002.
Google’s redesign gives Froogle one of the coveted links located just above its search box. To make room, Google dropped a tab formerly reserved for its list of directories.