Over the next few months, the world's most popular search engine, Google, will undergo a number of radical reforms in a bid to provide its users with 'answers' rather than just links to other websites. Historically, Google has specialised in providing blue web links. The new Google search bar, however, will go one significant step further and offer explicit answers to search queries at the top of the results page.
To achieve this, the California-based firm will employ 'semantic search technology', which Google is banking on helping to keep it one step ahead of rival firms in the search engine market, including Yahoo and Bing, the Microsoft-owned operation.
Industry experts have speculated that the changes have been prompted by the ever-increasing popularity of sites like Twitter and Facebook, both of which pose a serious threat to Google's advertising revenues. The firm's new approach to its search engine could, in fact, serve to increase revenue from advertising.
One of Google's principal ambitions is to entice some people to stay longer on the search site.
In a recent interview, Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive, said that the Google search will look more like "how humans understand the world". And while there is no specified date for implementation of the changes, a source close to the situation told the Wall Street Journal that they will become apparent in a few months' time.
Google is, according to Mr Singhal, undergoing a year-long process to enter the "next generation of search", which is sure to have a profound impact on all areas of the electronics industry.
