Search coders at the AOL portal have added an option to save past searches, and better grouping of different info formats that apply to a given query.
AOL has disclosed the debut of several new search features for its search engine. One feature that will be very apparent to users will be a more comprehensive set of relevant results from a given query. Results available from web pages, pictures, videos, products, or audio files will be available on one page. AOL plans to add news and local search results to that blending too.
User searches can be clipped and saved. By mousing over a link in a result page, a scissors icon appears next to the listing. Clicking the scissors clips the result and saves it. If someone searches the same topic in the future, that saved result will appear at the top of the new results page.
The saved searches feature can also be turned on for all searches, and it will remember 30 days of queries. That feature can be switched on or off as needed.
AOL notes it has expanded its Snapshots feature with a complementing Quick Answers’ feature. By entering a question in the search box, Smart Answers will try to return an answer at the top of the result page. Smart Answers draws from sources like Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster, and other places.
Snapshots has been receiving some Spanish-language enhancements. Answers appearing in Snapshots are placed their via editors at AOL. Now a number of topics will have Snapshots in response to Spanish-language queries. The company has also been tweaking its Smartbox Suggestions.
Those tweaks don’t seem too broad in scope yet. After testing a few search terms, Smartbox doesn’t seem too intrusive. “Delta Airlines” brought suggestions on finding various companies’ information as I typed in D-E-L-T, but didn’t appear again until I’d finished entering the whole term; that’s when Smartbox suggested a local search and a company information search (with stock quote) for the troubled airline.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.