Google's new search tools showcase innovation

Google has over 63% of the US search market, which dwarfs its next-closest rival Yahoo with 20%, according to comScore, Inc. 

Are they satisfied with that?  It doesn't appear so. Google is moving ahead with new search tools that will allow its users to find new ways to get the information they are after.

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Product and User Experience, said:

"The race in search is far from over and innovation and continued improvement is absolutely pivotal.  I've said this many times but search is still in its infancy. Our engineers are worried about what is the next big thing in search and how are they going to find it.  Last year Google released over 365 products and in the first quarter of this year it was 120. Google gets better all the time."

Google released three major search products at the event that are going to be rolling out gradually this week:

Search options - A great tool that allows you to open a pane on the left side of the results to narrow results by time (Twitter killer?) and genre. You can also look at different views of the results, including one called "Wonder Wheel" that offers related results in a circle.

Google Squared - (Wolfram Alpha Killer?) It will be rolled out at the end of the month and will be a way to organize results, taxidermy style.  Google hope to capitalize on its vast amounts of data by intelligently placing data pieces together.

Rich Snippets - Google will now allow more ways to produce web results:

Google's first use of this data will be in search results snippets for two kinds of objects: Reviews and People. Providing more detail in search results helps users to understand the value of your pages. When users get more information showing how your page is relevant to their search, they're more likely to click through to see the full page. (Including this information will not necessarily affect your search results. As always, Google will use its own algorithms and policies to determine what information to show and when to show information based on user needs.) This structured data can also be used by Custom Search engines on your site, and gives you much more control over the behavior of your Custom Search engine. (Note: We currently support this structured content in English only.)

Google also released a "neat" Sky Map tool.  Using a smartphone's Global Positioning System capability, compass and accelerometer, Sky Map draws a real-time map of the stars that takes into account exactly where users are standing and which direction they are facing.  While this won't be monetized anytime soon, it does show that Google is really serious about innovation.

That seems to be what Google is trying to show at events like this.  They are a showcase for innovation.  Google is showing the world that they haven't grown complacent, as its rival to the north has (perhaps).  They are still innovating with the best out there, keeping up with (or surpassing) Twitter and Wolfram.