SAN FRANCISCO — Google today unveiled a series of search-related features designed to improve users’ search experience.
The company, at an Inside Search event, said the offerings include new ways to conduct web searches on mobile devices and make it easier to find local businesses by pressing icons on the Google search home page.
The search engine giant also said it shaved several seconds off many desktop-based searches by instantly loading web pages after users click on search-results pages. This new feature, called “instant pages” will be available this week for the Chrome browser.
Google also introduced a new look for search results on tablet devices and a new voice function that allows users to search on desktop computers by speaking into the computer’s microphone or speakers.
"We're breaking down the barriers between you and the knowledge you seek," said Amit Singhal, a Google search engineer.
Google search users who use desktops and want to find out information about images they find online, such as the location of a landscape photo or the origin of a particular logo, can now drag the image to the Google search box to get those answers. The feature is available through downloadable extensions for Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox.