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Google shows a search box below the top search result, especially for navigational queries like [nytimes], [youtube] or [engadget]. The search box allows you to type a new query and restrict the results to that site. Obviously, you can still use the site: operator, but most people don't know about it.


Now Google tests a similar feature as part of Google Instant. After typing a query that has a dominant search result, Google shows a new option: "search within [your query]". Select that option and Google lets you type a new query and restrict the results to that site. It's somewhat similar to Chrome's "tab to search" feature, except that you use Google, not the site's search engine.


It's interesting to notice that Google shows suggestion when you search within a site. If you use the site: operator, Google doesn't show suggestions and the results aren't displayed as you type.


{ via Tecno-Net }

Google Instant suggestions used to only include popular queries. Last year, Google started to show dynamic suggestions for the last words of your query. Now Google's suggestions seem to include excerpts from web pages.

For example, when you search for [intel solid state drive toolbox], Google's list includes two strange suggestions: [intel solid state drive toolbox(intel ssd toolbox)] and [intel® solid-state drive toolbox download]. It's really unlikely that many people search for [intel®] or include redundant versions of the query.


The real explanation is that a lot of pages include those texts and Google used them to enhance Google Instant.


What about the standard navigation links used by Google or Bing? Obviously, they're included in a lot of pages and few Google users would search for boilerplate text and also use special characters.



Google's help center page for autocomplete informs users that "Google's algorithm predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities and the contents of web pages indexed by Google".

Google Instant is supposed to make searching faster, but you need a pretty good Internet connection, a modern browser and a decent computer. Google Instant is not available if you use IE6 or other outdated browsers and it's automatically disabled if you have a slow Internet connection.

Now Google also disables Instant if you have a slow computer. "If Instant gets automatically disabled, we continue to check your computer speed and will re-enable Instant if your performance improves," informs Google. If you don't like this change, you can disable it from the search preferences page. Just select "always show Instant results" in the "Google Instant predictions" section.


I've tested this feature on an old laptop and Google's implementation isn't great. Google Instant continues to be enabled for the initial query even if it's slow, then it's suddenly disabled when you visit Google Search again. Google doesn't show a message next to the search box to explain why Instant is disabled and not many people will visit the search preferences page, which both an explanation and a fix.


This is just one of the 17 updates from last month that improved Google Search.