Google Knowledge Graph Could Make Clicking Unnecessary
Google Knowledge Graph Could Make Clicking Unnecessary
Posted: 05/16/2012 1:00 pm Updated: 05/16/2012 4:44 pm
When one searches for "Homer," Google gets confused. Does it refer to the cartoon character? The Greek epic poet? The fishing town in Alaska?
The search engine spits back a list of blue links with information about all three, and displays images of Homer Simpson's bald yellow noggin, side by side with marble busts of the famous poet. Diving into the details about the cartoon, town or ancient Greek requires clicking through the sites shown on the page.
All that is about to change with a major upgrade to Google's search results that aims to eradicate ambiguity and make clicking on the sites shown in search results increasingly unnecessary.
In what it bills as one of its biggest launches in years, Google is leveraging its "Knowledge Graph," a database of 500 million people, places and things that Google has compiled over two years from sources such as Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook, Freebase and Google Books, to better connect vague keywords to real topics, summarize facts about the subject one is searching, and inject serendipity into search results. Google notes that by connecting billions of disparate points of data, its search results can present users with a more coherent narrative, thus providing a better understanding of the relationships between facts.
"To put this into perspective, one of the biggest launches in the past was Universal Search," said Ben Gomes, a Google Fellow and vice president of the company's search group. "The Knowledge Graph features affect a larger fraction of queries than Universal Search. Users will see these features more often than they see Google Maps in Google Search.”
"To put this into perspective, one of the biggest launches in the past was Universal Search," said Ben Gomes, a Google Fellow and vice president of the company's search group. "The Knowledge Graph features affect a larger fraction of queries than Universal Search. Users will see these features more often than they see Google Maps in Google Search.”
Much like its existing Google Maps feature, which displays detailed information about a business to the right of relevant links, Google's latest upgrade will deliver a brief profile of the queried subject, from an author's birthplace to a band's discography.
For example, rather than having to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's website to learn more about the architect, Google will use Knowledge Graph to showcase biographical details about the architect on its own website, serving up his birthdate, spouse, children and images of his most famous buildings (See screenshot below). Of course, it's just a cursory glance at the architect -- but one that might satisfy many.
