Inside Google’s new search function ‘Google Squared’

Internet giant Google has introduced a new search feature called ‘Google Squared’, which collects facts and data organised into tables of information rather than individual search pages.

The new feature, which the company says is still in a ‘beta’ test version, is designed to aggregate data that would have otherwise required visits to several different websites.

“Google Squared is an experimental search tool that collects facts from the web and presents them in an organised collection, similar to a spreadsheet,” the company wrote on its official blog.

“If you search for [roller coasters], Google Squared builds a square with rows for each of several specific roller coasters and columns for corresponding facts, such as image, height and maximum speed.”

The company said the tool is an attempt to simplify the process of gathering a database of facts from across various points on the internet. Google Squared also lets users customise columns of information, allowing results to become more relevant to the original search.

Anne-Marie Hunter, search marketing specialist at SEO firm Reseo, says the changes are designed as a helpful research tool, but isn’t confident businesses can benefit from them.

“Some of the searches I tried returned some strange results. It’s hit and miss at the moment, but the point of it is that you can add and remove columns, basically like a spreadsheet style of results. It’s a good research tool and good comparison tool.”

Jim Stewart, chief executive of SEO firm Stewart Media, says he is unsure of how Google has structured its new features but assumes businesses should keep working on making their sites as “relevant as possible”.

“With most of the stuff Google does, it’s about relevancy. If you’re showing relevancy to particular phrases of search, or frequency of key phrases in the links of the site, then you’ll get onto whatever it is that Google is doing. I’m assuming Google Squared won’t be any different.”