So have you noticed something different about Google lately?  This past week Google rolled out a new look and some welcome features to their search platform.  Least significant but still noticable is the refreshed Google logo on the home page; it’s definitely more colorful, isn’t it?  Moving right along.. Google has added a “contextually relevant, left-hand navigation” panel to the search results page.  Now whenever you search a keyword, a navigation panel reveals itself to help refine your query.  There’s three parts to the panel.  First there’s Universal Search; “the top section suggests the most relevant genres of results for your query and lets you seamlessly switch to these different types of results.”  Everything is selected be default, but you have the option to switch the search feed depending on the type of information you’re looking for about the query.  For example, if you search “wind power”, Google automatically does a normal search for the term, but now it also helps you find that term within other relevent places such as news, blogs, images, and books.  Next there’s Search Options; this “enables you to get a different view of your results” by sorting search results by time, timelines, “wonder wheels”, image previews and more.  Lastly there’s Google Squared; this addition utilizes Google’s “Something different” feature which “helps you find and compare entities” by offering other related topics to search.  All of these new parts are built right into the left-hand navigation panel.  Welcome to the modern age of Google search.  Look after the break for a brief video rundown of the new features described here.

[Via GoogleBlog]