Google announced today that they have been working on a ‘secret project’ they say is going to be the next generation architecture for Google’s web search. However instead of incorporating the changes into their current search they are allowing for developers to test it and give them feedback on what they think. The new system can be found at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/.
Google states that the changes are the first steps in a process that ‘will push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions’. Google at the moment only want feedback on the differences between Google’s current search results and constructive feedback on what sites seem to rank better or worse in the new system rather than what sites should or should not rank for a given search query.
After briefly looking between the two versions there are certainly differences in how Google is dealing with search queries. Searching a current topic such as the carling cup returned different variations with the current web search displaying news results near the top of the search rankings page. In the new Google system the news results are displayed further down the page. Of course there are loads more differences and it will be interesting to see what people find especially as these changes are almost certain to affect SEO. For now I’ll keep having a look and see if I can find anything more explicit…
Current Google
New Google
