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Google talks up future of search

by Sylvie Barak on 8 December 2009, 11:38

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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The irony certainly wasn't lost on Google this morning as the firm laid out its latest innovations at Mountain View's Computer History Museum, a venue "perfect for discussing the future of search," according to the firm's VP of search and user experience, Marissa Mayer.

Mayer began by re-iterating Google's four main areas of focus; modalities, media, language and personalisation - giving a hint of what was to come by musing over what could happen if search evolved to include concept and picture queries.

"How do people search?" queried Mayer, answering her own question by saying the best people could currently do was to type keywords into their computers and hope for the best.

But, she promised, there would soon be many more ways to trawl the net for the content people wanted and needed, including a growing number of solutions for mobile phones. "What If you could talk to your computer? Give it a picture? Search will grow in many ways," she said.

Google, explained Mayer, was also constantly looking for ways to improve its rich media search results, not content to simply provide run of the mill "movies, maps and more."

"We are constantly looking at how to make Google more comprehensive," she continued, noting "Our search results have to mirror that same richness we see on the web."