Google has been hinting at its next-generation search ideas for awhile now. In an attempt to bridge the gap between today’s and tomorrow’s search, the Google team introduced Knowledge Graphs today. Knowledge Graphs are Google’s attempt to give the user smarter search results. The example used by the Google Team was the search query [Taj Mahal]. This could mean the world-famous monument, a musician or even just an Indian restaurant in NYC. Before, the search engine results page (SERP) would give you its most relevant links that could pertain to any of these things. Now, Google has rolled out a small feature that simply allows you to narrow your results. In the below example, it is called out underneath the heading “See results about” with more options.

In an effort to get the user top-level search results even faster, Google has inserted a right-hand summary of information. This Google update uses historical data (ie: most searched informational bits about each subject) to figure out what to display. With this new way of finding information, Google is hoping to foster people’s sense of longing to discover new and more relevant information without the work it takes to sift through hundreds of search engine results pages.

It is truly a step toward a revolutionary web – one that theoretically knows what I want as soon as I type it in and can give me the most relevant information almost immediately. This roll-out is also mainly for informational searches where users are clearly wanting to obtain information (rather than make a purchase). However, I think we can expect Google to optimize these informational boxes with links according to popular user behavior and actions taken. For instance, if a user Googles information about visiting the White House, there should be an easily-seen link to book a tour. Watch the video below to learn more about Google’s Knowledge Graphs:

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Image Source: Google Team Blog