A major salvo has been fired as the fight for search engine traffic rages on. Today, Google has announced the launch of three new search features, as well as a redesigned index and results page.

Google’s index page now features a link to Froogle, Google’s shopping search engine. Froogle’s link was added so Google users can directly search the web for products they want to buy.

Google has also modified the “more” link so that it too appears with the other search options. These new links are featured above the Google search box, where all search enhancement links reside. Incidentally, Google no longer highlights its search option links with the gray tab.

The appearance of the results page has also been altered. Google’s search box that appears with the results page now features these search enhancements.

The paid column ads are separated from non-paid results by a light blue border and are clearly marked by a “sponsored links” heading. Google does this to help users clearly differentiate between advertisements and search results.

By giving users more options to refine their individual searches, Google is ensuring that search results are increasingly relevant. In most cases, result relevance is the deciding user factor when choosing a search engine.

Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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