Google Roundup: Google Mobile Adds Universal Search Feature; Site Speed & Ranking; Apple Ads; and China Partners
One of Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science, "Save the Time of the Reader" Needs to be Amended to "Save the Time of the Reader and Web Searcher and Especially the Mobile Web Searcher" (-:
1) The Official Google Mobile Blog announces that a feature available from Google Universal Search is NOW also available from Google Mobile. As you enter your search query in Google Mobile not only will you see suggested searches in the drop down box (located directly below the search box) but IF the search terms triggers a "fast facts" (for lack of a better term) result/answer it will ALSO appear right below the search box. In other words, you don't have to wait for the page with the potential answer to load.
Let's say you're flying to London and want to know: Is my flight on time? Or what is the exchange rate of the pound? As you type the flight "Ba 284" or "Usd in pounds", the answers are provided right below the search box, without having to wait for the results page. Other searches that show answers include weather (e.g., "weather london"), stock quotes (e.g., "intc"), current time (e.g., "time london"), calculator (e.g. "29*37") and unit conversion (e.g., "220 miles in km").
Google has kept a promise it made last year: Site speed is now a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm, and is already in place for U.S. searchers. But Google also cautions web site owners not to sacrifice relevance in the name of faster web pages, and even says this new ranking factor will impact very few queries.
The article also includes discussions of why page speed matters and where page speed fits in the Google algorithm.
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