Over the course of the past year, four of the top search engines have all created spinoff websites for the purpose of testing new features and technologies. The format in which our searches are presented to us has remained relatively the same over the past five years. The simplest explanation for the lack of major changes is that the current method of presenting our searches is proven to work. Although this doesn’t mean that search websites aren’t attempting to innovate, it means that they are just being careful at how they go about doing so.

Although search engine algorithms are frequently updated, the search user interface has resisted most major changes. The Internet, on the other hand, has not. The World Wide Web of 10 years ago and the World Wide Web of today are nearly two different worlds. The popularity increase of high-bandwidth connections has opened the gateway to sending and receiving large files over the net. Blogs have pretty much become a household name along with MySpace and YouTube. Hundreds of internet-based services have appeared and the term Web 2.0 has been brought into existence. These are just a few changes that have taken place on the Internet over the past ten years.

Taking into consideration how much the Internet itself has changed, the standard search model does seem to be getting on a bit in age, even though it is far from extinction. Searches are still presented to us in the same format of the past ten years. Many top search engines have been rather hesitant to make any radical changes simply because they don’t want to place their working formulas at risk. On the other hand, with competition rising between search engines, they have to find a way to maintain a competitive edge through new features.

Companies like Google and Yahoo have internal websites that they test new features on for months at a time, but real user feedback is always a much more solid way of testing the usability of new features. In recent months, top search engines have begun making their new ideas more public by creating various spin-off search engines. The “sibling” websites, however, don’t have very much in common with their sister websites and operate under completely different names. They offer users completely new interfaces and features to search with. Most importantly, they allow users to offer their feedback, views, and opinions on the websites’ features. At the moment, four of the top search engines have spin-off test websites, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and InterActiveCorp.

Google: SearchMash

Google launched SearchMash last September as an unbranded spin-off website. The company chose to use an unknown, unbranded website to see how the search engine would perform without the Google name throwing off results. This move has allowed Google to gather data from users that is free from bias and instead is based entirely on the site’s features and interface. So far, the only mention of the Google name is in the privacy statement and the terms of service.

To perform a search, the cursor does not need to be placed in the search query box. Instead, users can start typing from anywhere on the page. After performing a search web results are displayed in the main left-hand column of the page. Since SearchMash is based on Google technology, web results are relatively the same. Presentation, however, is quite different. All search results are numbered on SearchMash.com. Clicking on the green URL of a web result will restrict the search specifically to that website.

To see the next 10 results, instead of clicking on page “2” or “next”, simply tapping the spacebar or clicking “more web results” will roll the next 10 results onto the screen. The infinite results scheme is similar to what Microsoft implemented on Live.com during the site’s beta testing, however, the approach was dropped because Microsoft believed it hampered performance. There is one major drawback of the “infinite result” approach; going “back” will automatically take you back to your first ten results, even if you were all the way up to 100.

SearchMash also allows the details of searches to be hidden, which collapses the displayed web results simplifying the view to only titles and websites. On the right hand column of the page are four expandable boxes for Images, Blogs, Videos, and Wikipedia. Expanding the images box will display a preview of the top six images for your search. Usually the image results turn out to be slightly different than Google.com. The video category displays thumbnail images of six videos related to your search, while clicking on the thumbnail will begin playing the video directly on the search page. The Blog category automatically scans through various Blogs while the Wikipedia box searches for related Wikipedia articles. All of these tasks can be performed on the same page thanks to the collapsible boxes.

InterActiveCorp: AskX

Before the end of 2006, IAC/Interactive, the company behind Ask.com, launched a new test website dubbed AskX. As the name clearly indicates, Ask opted upon using its branding on the new website instead of using the unbranded approach that Google has adopted. Ask refers to the website as its “double-secret sandbox for testing Ask experiences of the future.” The statement pretty much sums up much of the website’s purpose.

AskX uses an interface that is quite different compared to traditional search engines. Searches are presented using a three-panel approach similar to Amazon’s A9. Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/Interactive believes that this new layout will transform search from a one-dimension to three-dimensions. The new website aims to “weave” together all of the advancements and changes the Internet has undergone, such as blogs, videos, Wikipedia, etc.

The left column is a complete search control panel that always remains in the same place while scrolling down the page. Search suggestions auto-update when typing in queries. The control panel also provides the option to search images, videos, news, blogs, and shopping.

The middle column lists all the search results. Unlike SearchMash, there is no endless scroll feature. The right column generates information and links that are related to the search. For example, it displays stock quotes when searching for a company name and it provides previews for images, related Wikipedia articles, and blogs based on the searched topic.

Yahoo: AlltheWeb/AltaVista

In the past few years, Yahoo has acquired both AlltheWeb and AltaVista. Primarily, these websites are used by Yahoo to test new features and technologies. Similar to SearchMash, neither of the websites are heavily branded.

Out of the two websites, AlltheWeb has the largest user interface change. Yahoo recently implemented a new search technology on AlltheWeb known as LiveSearch. This new technology shows search results instantly; there is no need to press enter as results are automatically shown. While typing in your search, the box will also begin showing related queries and spelling suggestions.

Microsoft: MsDewey