Back in May 2009, Google added Search Options to their SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) which allowed users to “filter, refine and generate different views of your search results”.

In an effort to further improve the relevance of their results to searchers, Google have unveiled 9 new search options: past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news.

According to the release post:

“These features have been rolling out gradually and will be available globally in English by the end of the day. You can try them yourself by searching Google and clicking “Show options” in the blue bar just under the logo.”

Past hour and Specific date range:

In an obvious attempt to get closer to real time search and combat the challenge from the likes of twitter - these date based filters let users control the age and “freshness” of results.

More shopping sites and Fewer shopping sites:

Often when people go comparative shopping they start with Google. These filters allow comparative shoppers to focus the results on e-commerce sites to speed up the process. The inverse also applies for those trying to results products without being bombarded by commerce listings.

Visited pages and Not yet visited:

If you’re doing ongoing research, these visited vs non-visited filters are particularly useful. With your web history enabled you can easily find listings for searches you’ve done before or alternative remove listings you’ve already seen to find new content faster.

Books, Blogs and News:

These filters speak for themselves.  It’s a much faster way to access the various vertical searches within Google core index. As frequent user of Google’s blog and news search, this allows to be to do these searches directly from the main web search page.

All in all - some useful enhancements to help users refine their searches and speed up the research process. It’s great to see Google is still focused on improving the fundamentals of its search engine. Have you tried the new search options out? If so, share your thoughts on whether it enhances your search experience.