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Google tweaks mobile search to deliver information quicker

Web giant introduces a pair of new features intended to link users to specific information from the results page.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Google's experimental "Quick view" feature displays links to relevant information provided by Wikipedia. Google
Google offers direct links from its search results page to specific movie information on Rotten Tomatoes' Web site without users having to navigate the Rotten Tomatoes home page. Google

Google introduced a pair of new features today intended to help speed mobile users' searches.

"When you're searching for information on the go, speed matters," Google software engineers Hiroshi Mizuno and Alex Fischer wrote in a company blog post explaining the features.

Starting today, mobile users will be able to use expandable site links to quickly access specific sections of certain sites, trimming the number of pages.

For example, instead of navigating the Rotten Tomatoes home page while looking for a new movie to see, mobile users will encounter a quick link for "In Theaters" that will appear under the main Rotten Tomatoes link in search results. The link provides instant information on movies and local theaters, allowing users to skip several page clicks to arrive at the information they seek.

The search giant is also experimenting with a search feature called "Quick view," which displays relevant information provided by Wikipedia. Google demonstrates how when a mobile user searches for "poker hands," a blue "Quick view" badge appears in search results that when clicked would present a snapshot of poker hands from a Wikipedia page.

Google notes that this new feature is experimental and limited to Wikipedia, but that it is working to expand the feature to other Web sites.