Google's Orion Purchase Reexamined: Ask-Kissing or GOOG's New Direction in SERPs Navigation?
Preface: Google may not EVER implement Orion technology in its SERPs. Also, most all of the media speculation's happening based on a single press release from Sept. 5th. (...and if Google DOES implement Orion functionalities it CERTAINLY won't happen overnight!)

I'm still knee-deep in trying to understand what the hell's going on, and whether or not I totally missed/over-simplified the boat when I surmised that Google's going to become more Ask-like.

Why am I digging back into Orion?
Because I find it HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT that Google, THE LEADER in pure search, may be deliberately integrating 4th-place (in usage) Ask's functionality into how it enables users to navigate SERPs. (This point may not be THAT big of a deal, I guess? Hey Gary Price what are some other examples of Google imitating other engines in terms of SERP presentation and pure search?)

My position re-evaluation started when I read Danny Sullivan's analysis of Google's Orion purchase, where Sullivan sums up the algo's function as follows: [It sounds like] "an algorithm useful in pulling out better summaries of web pages. In other words, if you did a search, you'd be likely to get back extracted sections of pages most relevant to your query."

This is of course corroborated in the press release:
"The results to the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts, giving you the relevant information without having to go the website."

Sullivan didn't mention anything about conceptual zoom. Zoom, which I read into Orion, was pretty much the whole basis for my initial position.

Here's how I formed that position:
My assessment that Orion had a conceptual zoom function similar to Ask's came from this single paragraph: "Take a search such as the American Revolution as an example of how the system works. OrionTM would bring up results with extracts containing this phrase. But it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more. You obtain much more valuable information from every search."

That description had me leaping laterally to this, from Ask:
"Zoom is a new concept navigation tool that offers suggestions to narrow and refine your search ("zooming in"), or expand your search ("zooming out") to explore new ideas."

Further fueling this connection for me was that an Ask [American Revolution] search is an example I typically use when explaining to people why I dig Ask's conceptual zoom function.

If one examines a search on Google for the same topic: [American Revolution], one sees highly targeted results with no lateral, conceptual vision.

The example that Allon gave is ALL ABOUT lateral, conceptual (Zoom-like) navigation.

If Orion simply pulled key extracts from pages I DON'T think Allon would have said "it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more. You obtain much more valuable information from every search."

Of course, Allon was 21 or so when he wrote that, and it was likely his first press release, ever, and I'm building the case that Google's moving in an Ask direction on a sentence or two. Not the sturdiest of arguments.

Backing Sullivan's weighty opinion that the purchased algo is little more than an extractor is the titanic Orion, (not the algorithm, but the person Edel "Orion" Garcia), who stated in his first analysis of the Orion algorithm "It appears to be a remote-search technology, but I could be wrong." Remote search relating to Orion the algo, in my understanding, in as much as the snippets of pages include more html for usability in the preview? (Uhh... I'm not really sure. I've misinterpreted Garcia before and gotten quite the talking to, which we ironed out happily :)

Battelle didn't dig much into conceptual zoom vs. page previews issue, and clearly conflates them in this sentence: "the move has spurred many to speculate that Google is hedging its bets against Ask-like features, such as Zoom (click on the binoculars), just in case they take off."

Sullivan, Garcia, (anyone!), based on your understanding of the Orion algo, am I grasping at straws here with my conceptual zoom reading of the Orion algo?

Is it even accurate to compare the Orion preview function to Ask's binoculars in that the binos don't necessarily organize the snippets in a manner that enables concept zoom?

Is it more accurate to say that Orion mashes conceptual navigation potential with a more intelligent, conceptually-related site preview that keeps users on the SE's pages rather than clicking through? (Which, as Sullivan stated, makes it more likely that "[search engines will] come under legal pressures of stepping over the fair use line.")

And finally, what the hell does it mean to SEM if Google enables more conceptual navigability in its SERPs?

What I'm doing:
• Admitting that I have more questions than answers regarding the Orion algo - and that it may be too early to know
• Writing Allon to determine how much concept zoom's in the Orion algo, and what the algo actually does for the user
• Praying that Gary Price writes one of his encyclopedic HISTORY OF SEARCH pieces to put this story in its place :)

Also will be in touch with Q-Phrase's Andy Miller, whose been contacting me to let me know that Q-Phrase is Orion-like. From his site:
"ConceptQ reads documents, automatically highlights the most important content and produces a "Cliffs Notes" type Index."
"One-click filtering of Keywords and Phrases allows you to identify all relevant information associated with a selected Topic."

So I'd like to leave with a concept discussed through IM this morning with Kevin Collins and Robert McRackan regarding a possible future for conceptual navigation of SERPs: Tactile 3D. It's a method for visualizing what's on your Windows machine, rather than navigating those damn folders. Here's another view.

Now imagine searching for information in a fully visual map-like format, where you can SEE the info clusters as SEs have them organized. DOOD! That would be so SnowCrash!! :)

Call to discuss: 919-433-3139. Or email: selowdown@gmail.com. or AIM: gfrenchwbs. Or chat in gmail. Holla!

update:
'bout to go to lunch with Adam Schultz, Mike Grehan and Jim Banks (oh my!) and will be looking at this article upon my return:
Google Confirms Licensing Search Algorithm, Hiring Creator

I will try really hard not to hijack the conversation into my current Orion obsession :)
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |