Google's New Dictionary OneBox

Google added a new OneBox result for definitions. The OneBox uses data from Google Dictionary, shows pronunciation information, short definitions and links to other reference sites like Dictionary.com and Answers.com. Google shows the definition of an English word only if it's likely to be useful, so you'll usually see the OneBox when you search for obscure words or technical terms.


"We added implicit triggering, which means you can simply search for [flummox] and find the definition, you don't have to search for [define flummox] or [what is flummox]. We've also improved the definition result snippet to show more details such as parts of speech and pronunciation," explains Google.

Unfortunately, Google's new OneBox is redundant and inconsistent. If you type [salient] in Google's search box, Google Suggest already shows a definition of the word from Princeton's WordNet.


Search for [define salient] and Google shows a definition from WordNet, not from Google Dictionary.


Tip: to trigger the new OneBox when it's not displayed by default, add en:en to your query. For example, search for [en:en emulsion].

Google OneBox for Sunrise and Sunset

Google shows sunrise and sunset information in a special OneBox at the top of the search results. If you type [lima sunrise] or [paris sunset], Google will show the time for sunrise or sunset in that location.


Google says that this feature works for almost any location. "Whether you're looking to find the best time for a morning jog or trying to plan that perfect moment for a wedding proposal, knowing exactly when the sun rises or sets can always be helpful. (...) Unlike the weather, sunrises and sunsets are quite predictable, and as a result, we don't use a data source. Instead, we calculate sunrise and sunset times based on latitude, longitude and the current time. This calculation has been of interest to astronomers and mathematicians for millennia, so they've had time to get it just right. And for most locations, it's accurate to within a single minute."

You can also type [sunset] or [sunrise] and Google should show accurate information for your location. Google has similar OneBoxes for weather and time.

Google Music OneBox 2.0

Google updated the music search OneBox, which used to include song titles, album names and some other information licensed from AllMusic. The new music search OneBox is only focused on finding music, previewing songs and easily buying them.

Search for an artist, an album name or even some lyrics and Google returns a list of songs that can be played with one click. Full music previews are provided by iLike and Lala, but Google also links to other music sites: Pandora, Rhapsody and imeem. When you click on a music result, Google opens a player in a pop-up window, which isn't very user-friendly.

"With Lala, you can hear one full length preview per song. Each subsequent play will be a 0:30 clip," explains Lala. This limitation is very easy to bypass: just clear the cookies for lala.com.

The OneBox is limited to the US, probably because the music sites that partnered with Google can provide full previews only in the US. I didn't manage to trigger the OneBox, not even using a US proxy. The sample searches provided by Google include some additional parameters that need to be added to a Google URL:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Bob+Dylan&esrch=MusicOneboxDemoOptin::LaunchDemoOptIn

Google says it will be "rolling this feature out gradually to users across the U.S. over the next day".




Not wanting to feel left out, Yahoo reminds users that it launched a similar feature last year. "Since launching a partnership with Rhapsody in September 2008 and launching the FoxyPlayer last year, music has been an integral part of the Yahoo! Search experience as well. We have found that nearly 6 percent of all Yahoo! searches are music-related."

Google Hot Trends OneBox

Google started to show an OneBox at the bottom of the search results for the queries listed in Google Hot Trends. The OneBox mentions that a certain query is "#N of 100 most popular searches in the past hour", even though Google Hot Trends doesn't aggregate the most popular searches, which are pretty boring and don't change very often. As Google's blog explains, "Hot Trends lists the fastest rising searches on the web at any given hour".


Google uses the fact that a query is suddenly popular in various ways: for example, to include recent web pages in the list of top results or to show results from Google News and Google Blog Search. Unfortunately, Google Hot Trends doesn't do a good job at explaining why a certain query is popular, so Google should add more real-time news sources like Twitter, Flickr, YouTube.

Google Health OneBox

Search Engine Land reports that Google added an OneBox for health-related information that's only displayed in the US. If you search for [flu], [ADHD], [autism] and other medical conditions, you'll see an excerpt from a Google Health article and links to other services: Mayo Clinic, Medline Plus, WebMD.

Most likely, some of the keywords that trigger the OneBox are displayed on this page. Google Health's articles combined information licensed from reputable sources with information from scholar papers, news articles and other web pages.

Google Tennis OneBox

Google has a new OneBox that shows the latest results from Roland Garros, an important tennis tournament held in Paris. If you search for [roland garros] or [tennis], Google shows some recent results, but it's probably a better idea to search for a player's name.


This is not the only sports-related Google OneBox: you can also find results from football (or soccer), the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), cricket, NASCAR or Formula 1.


{ Merci, Jean-Noël. }

Google's Public Data Visualization

Interesting timing. On the same day when Stephen Wolfram shows a demonstration of his knowledge engine Wolfram | Alpha, Google launched a new OneBox that visualizes public data. If you search for [Florida Unemployment Rate], Google shows an answer ("9.5% of the labor force - Not seasonally adjusted - Mar 2009"), the source and a graph that illustrates how the unemployment rate changed over time.



For now, you can only search for data related to the US: for example, California population. When you click on the result, the graph lets you compare California's population with the population for other states.


"Public statistical data, such as unemployment rates or population numbers, doesn't need to be hard to find or, more importantly, hard to understand. Google is making it easier to find and use important public statistical data from governments and other sources. This data is included in Google.com search results and displayed as interactive graphs that you can customize and share with others. If you've ever done research involving large datasets, you know that it can take hours to comb through databases in order to find and analyze trends. Anyone who searches for U.S. unemployment rates or population numbers on Google.com will see relevant statistics and graphs included in their search results. You can even search by state or county (but not by city)," explains the help center.

Earthquake OneBox in Google Search

If you're in the US and you search for "earthquake" using Google, you'll notice an OneBox that shows a list of recent earthquakes. The data is provided by the US Geological Survey.


Ask.com has a similar direct answer that links to a very nice mashup. There's also a Google Maps mashup that highlights the most recent earthquakes.

{ Thanks, Adam. }

Google Translate OneBox

Google has a new OneBox for quick translations. You can just search for "translate", followed by a word or an expression and the optional "into English". For example, you can search for [translate désormais] and Google shows the entry from an automatically-generated bilingual dictionary.



Unfortunately, you can't use the search box as a shortcut for Google Translate because full texts aren't yet translated. The bilingual dictionary is only available for the following language pairs: English <-> French/Italian/Spanish/Portuguese/German/Russian/Chinese/Korean/Hindi. It's interesting that Google shows results from Google Image Search next to the translations.


{ Merci, TomHTML. }

Report Offensive Google Image OneBoxes

The most unpredictable Google OneBox is definitely the image OneBox. For some queries that are popular in Google Image Search, you'll three image results at the top or at the bottom of the page. In most cases, the images are relevant or at least innocuous, but if you search for Google logo one of the image results is a little bit inappropriate, as Search Engine Land noticed.


In March, Search Engine Roundtable reported an explicit image result displayed when searching for [hot celebrities]. Instead of writing a blog post to complain or sending an email to Matt Cutts, you can now report the offensive images using the small link displayed above the image results.

To disable the image OneBox, you can select "strict filtering" for SafeSearch in Google's preferences, but this also filters web pages that contain explicit text.

Google and Euro 2008

Google shows a special OneBox with the latest results from Euro 2008, the European Football Championship. The OneBox is displayed only if you use the localized Google sites from the participating countries. You can search for [euro 2008] to see the next two matches or [euro 2008 country_name] for the most recent scores.


There's also a page titled 23 days that links to a map of the stadiums and an iGoogle gadget with live results, standings and news.


And if the increasingly frequent Google doodles still mean something to you, the Euro 2008 doodle marked the first day of the championship.

Product Images in Google Shopping OneBox

Google started to display a thumbnail in the Product Search OneBox, as you can see by searching for [usb flash]. The image illustrates the top search result, but links to the list of results. As part of the Universal Search, this OneBox can be displayed at the top of the search results page or at the bottom of the page, depending on its relevance to the query.

Another change is that the OneBox groups identical tech products and shows a range of prices. For queries that include clustered listings, Google no longer shows a link that restricts the results to products that can be bought using Google Checkout.

Here's an old screenshot of the Froogle/Product Search OneBox:

Google OneBox for Premier League (and Other Sports Results)

Football* fans from the UK should rejoice: Google added an OneBox that shows scores and upcoming matches when you search for the name of a team (Arsenal, Manchester United etc). Apparently, Google shows the OneBox only for the US and the UK sites.

EPL Talk wonders if Google pays a fee to display this information, but I wouldn't worry about that. "By law, publishers must pay a license fee to the Football DataCo Limited company that in turns shares the money with the clubs in the Premier League and Football League."


It's interesting to notice that Google SMS and Google's mobile search engine show scores and schedules from NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, NCAA and from many football championships: Primera División, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 etc.


* Note for the American readers: you may replace "football" with "soccer" in this post.

Google WHOIS OneBox

Google shows a special OneBox when you search for "whois", followed by a domain name: for example, [whois google.com]. The OneBox shows the date when a certain domain was created and date when it will expire. It seems that the only provider of information for this OneBox is Domain Tools.

Google launched a similar feature four years ago, but it was removed really fast because it scraped data from Network Solutions without permission. "Google quietly launched a service allowing visitors to look up data on domain name owners from public databases - collectively known as Whois - run by registrars worldwide. Although largely unpromoted, the service generated enough traffic to surpass Network Solutions' (NSI's) daily Whois use limits, which aim to stop spammers and other undesirables from harvesting information about its customers."

This is not the only direct answer displayed at the top of Google's search results: there are many OneBoxes that show maps, stock quotes, weather information, local time, books, definitions or facts.

{ via Matt Cutts }

Update: after 3 or 4 page views, DomainTools shows this message "You have reached your daily lookup limit as an guest user. Please login or register". Maybe Google should partner with companies that have less restrictions.

Google Shows More Results in the Local OneBox

When you search for something like [italian restaurant ny], the local search results are more useful than the web results, so Google displays a OneBox that includes these results at the top of the page or in other position. Google has recently increased the number of results displayed in the local OneBox from 3 to 10.


Last year, in January, the OneBox was enriched with a static map, information about reviews, directions. To make room for 10 results instead of 3, Google removed the addresses, the links to directions and the ratings.


It's very interesting to see that the other general search engines (Yahoo, Live Search, Ask.com) link to pages from their local search engines, while Google links to the homepage of each business. Another difference is that Google's box has a variable position, depending on the relevance to user's query.


Search Engine Land asked Google why it decided to increase the number of results. The reason is that "many people didn't realize there was additional local content available beyond the three listings, despite the more results... prompt. Accordingly, Google said that with the 10 links it is hoping to signal people that there is much more local content a click away. The ranking of those ten results is based on a range of factors, including the query, proximity, availability of ratings/reviews and their quality and several other variables."

Orkut OneBox for People Search

Most of the data from Google's social network orkut wasn't included in search results because orkut requires authentications to see profile pages. Now Google intends to index the information from user profiles and show it in search results as an OneBox.

"Some orkut profiles will appear in Google search results as an orkut OneBox. A OneBox is a summary of your orkut profile, including key details like your name, photo and location. A OneBox appears only when someone who is logged in to orkut performs a search on Google.com for another orkut user. Keep in mind that this project is still in its experimental stage, so for now, only a small percentage of orkut users will see the OneBox in their search results," mentions Google in orkut's help center.

In the privacy sections of the settings page there's an option that lets you remove your profile from the orkut OneBox, but the description doesn't correspond to the one from orkut help center: "show my orkut information when my orkut friends search for me on Google.com".


As previously mentioned, orkut could be the base of a new people search service that integrates data from different sources.

{ Thanks, João. }

Google's Cricket OneBox

Google doesn't have too many sports-related features (there's a sports section at Google News and that's about it). The small OneBoxes are the perfect place for displaying live scores or information about teams and players, like you see in Live Search.

Google launched today a special feature for the Twenty20 World Championship of cricket. Search for cricket, cricket [Country] to see the latest scores and a list of current matches.

In true Google spirit, the OneBox links to three sources of information, some of the best sites about cricket, but it's interesting to see that the links contain oi=prbx, the same value used for the Bourne Ultimatum promotion. "Prbx" probably means "promotion box" and that doesn't look very good for Google.


{ via Google Blog }

Update: There's also a rugby OneBox, for the Rugby World Cup:

Google Tells You What Time It Is

Google updated the OneBox (or the instant answer, if you will) that shows the local time in different parts of the world. Instead of just showing the local time...


... Google now adds a dynamically-generated clock, the time zone and other possible matches:


To trigger the OneBox, use one of these formats:
time city (time madrid)
time region/state (time queensland)
time country (time usa)

or other verbose formats:
time in...
the time in...
local time in...
current time in...
what time is it in...
what's the time in...

Other search engines also show the local time, but Ask.com does a really good job. It shows the seconds and more information about the place: a map and the current weather.

{ via Google Blogoscoped }

Google Local OneBox Becomes a Search Result

Google's OneBox results (you know, those little boxes from the top of the page that show links to results from Google News, Google Maps etc.) slowly move inside the search results. We first saw these with news and now local results descend in Google's SERP.

Google aims to consolidate the main search results and to build an universal search engine that ranks all flavors of content. As Larry Page mentioned in January, "we are working on integrating different types of results -- video, images, news, books and so on -- all in one place. We are now blending book results into the main index and we will add more going forward. We are excited about providing a truly seamless user experience in search."

For the moment, Google only assesses the importance of the results from the OneBox, but the next step should be removing the OneBox and integrating the results. While it may seem that Google compares oranges and apples, when you search for Travis, you may want to see web pages, videos and their next concerts on a nice map. Like in an encyclopedia page built on the spot and custom-tailored to each user.

Google Local OneBox Gets Bigger

Google updated their local OneBox, by adding a static map and links where you can find more information about each business. This is the old OneBox:


... and this is the new one:


Google realized that not many people use Google Maps to find local businesses. Most people search on google.com, but standard web search results aren't suitable for these kinds of queries, because not every site is connected with a local business and because web pages don't contain structured data (address, company profile etc.)

Google also updated the Maps OneBox and started to include the addresses of local businesses in web search results.

Of course, most of these changes are available only for the US and a small list of other countries: Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain.