What does this algorithm do to Google? It’s supposed to let the user decide for himself what they find most relevant. Dubbed “Orion”, the search technology will hunts down pages where the content covers a topic that is strongly related to the searched-for keyword or phrase. It returns a section of that page.

If it did a really good job, a searcher might find the answer to a question right in that section of text, without having to visit the site itself.

But what does that mean for websites? Well, less visitors for one. I don’t care who you are, but that’s not good for conversions.

That’s only part of what Orion does, though. It also lists other topics related to the keyword, letting the searcher choose ones that are most relevant. If any particular broad topic is like a tree, related topics are branches off that tree, and Orion can help a searcher find the twig they were looking for – or even get a better picture of the whole forest. The university’s press release about the technology describes it as “offering an expert search without having an expert’s knowledge.”

It then provides an example that many of our readers in the United States should be able to relate to from their elementary school days. “Take a search such as the American Revolution as an example of how the system works. Orion would bring up results with extracts containing this phrase. But it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more. You obtain much more valuable information from every search.”

Story Here

Share This