Google is testing whether users will respond to Gmail results surfacing in regular search.[/caption] Google is using its massive data-stores to expand on its search options, although one of those latest tweaks—integrating Gmail into regular search—has the potential to draw the same type of negative reactions as the company’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative. Gmail has been available for eight years, and some of its longtime users have amassed gigabytes’ worth of data. Google believes those mountains of information could add an extra layer of relevancy to regular searches. “If you’re planning a biking trip to Tahoe, you might see relevant emails from friends about the best bike trails, or great places to eat on the right hand side of the results pages,” Amit Singhal, senior vice president of Google Search, wrote in an Aug. 8 corporate blog posting. “If it looks relevant you can then expand the box to read the emails.” This isn’t a default feature (at least not yet): Gmail users can sign up to participate in the field trial. In its combining of personal data with broader search, the Gmail integration echoes Google’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative, which baked data from the Google Plus social network into Google results. That effort attracted negative feedback from a percentage of users, who felt that it unnecessarily skewed search results.
Google’s Gmail Search Echoes Earlier Google Plus Effort
[caption id="attachment_3392" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Google is testing whether users will respond to Gmail results surfacing in regular search.[/caption] Google is using its massive data-stores to expand on its search options, although one of those latest tweaks—integrating Gmail into regular search—has the potential to draw the same type of negative reactions as the company’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative. Gmail has been available for eight years, and some of its longtime users have amassed gigabytes’ worth of data. Google believes those mountains of information could add an extra layer of relevancy to regular searches. “If you’re planning a biking trip to Tahoe, you might see relevant emails from friends about the best bike trails, or great places to eat on the right hand side of the results pages,” Amit Singhal, senior vice president of Google Search, wrote in an Aug. 8 corporate blog posting. “If it looks relevant you can then expand the box to read the emails.” This isn’t a default feature (at least not yet): Gmail users can sign up to participate in the field trial. In its combining of personal data with broader search, the Gmail integration echoes Google’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative, which baked data from the Google Plus social network into Google results. That effort attracted negative feedback from a percentage of users, who felt that it unnecessarily skewed search results.
Google is testing whether users will respond to Gmail results surfacing in regular search.[/caption] Google is using its massive data-stores to expand on its search options, although one of those latest tweaks—integrating Gmail into regular search—has the potential to draw the same type of negative reactions as the company’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative. Gmail has been available for eight years, and some of its longtime users have amassed gigabytes’ worth of data. Google believes those mountains of information could add an extra layer of relevancy to regular searches. “If you’re planning a biking trip to Tahoe, you might see relevant emails from friends about the best bike trails, or great places to eat on the right hand side of the results pages,” Amit Singhal, senior vice president of Google Search, wrote in an Aug. 8 corporate blog posting. “If it looks relevant you can then expand the box to read the emails.” This isn’t a default feature (at least not yet): Gmail users can sign up to participate in the field trial. In its combining of personal data with broader search, the Gmail integration echoes Google’s earlier “Search, Plus Your World” initiative, which baked data from the Google Plus social network into Google results. That effort attracted negative feedback from a percentage of users, who felt that it unnecessarily skewed search results.