Google to move beyond just keywords

Google intends to get smarter in future and move beyond its keyword-oriented approach, according to its vice president of search products and user experience.

Marissa Mayer - who was also the firm’s first female engineer - talked about the search giant’s past, present and future in an interview with .net magazine.

While not giving too much away, she did say that there is much to be done in the world of search and that keywords may not be at the heart of it.

“We think it’s really important to move beyond just keywords and allow people to ask questions, and maybe access things more easily from their mobile phone,” she told the publication.

She continued: “We’re also looking at how to weave new media into it and how we can bring books, videos and news right into the search experience. And then there are various pieces of personalisation.”

Google has already shown its cards on this “personal experience” front, by launching its SearchWiki product in November.

It allows users to order search results according to their own preference, as well as annotate them with comments.