As Google Engineering VP Vic Gundotra demo’d at the Google Search Evolution event late last year Google is now optimizing suggestions for mobile search based on the phone’s most recent location. As the Google Mobile Blog points out:
Google will offer suggestions based on the phone’s current or last location, making the suggestions more relevant.
For example, when users in the Boston metro area begin typing “Muse”, suggestions such as “museum of science boston” and “museum of fine arts boston” are provided because people near Boston frequently look for these very popular museums. On the other hand, users in San Francisco who begin their query with “Muse” will see suggestions for museums in the San Francisco area. By using the device’s current or most recent location, Google is able to offer even better, more useful suggestions than ever before.
This will work on Android handsets and the iPhone. It’s not going to be obvious to users because they’ll only see what they see; they won’t have the benefit of this side-by-side comparison. But it effectively reduces the need to key in characters and queries.
January 15, 2010 at 2:24 pm |
Google has just lunched its caffeine…. It uses a new algo instead… I have a question… Does the algo changes refers to mobile searches too??
January 15, 2010 at 2:27 pm |
It’s not clear what the actual status of Caffeine is in my understanding. But I would imagine that it will equally apply to mobile. If you compare searches on the PC and mobile they’re mostly the same. Over time we may see results diverge, influenced by location more on the handset.