Google turns 15: Celebrates with updates to Google Search and iOS Search app

Google turned 15 today, and it is celebrating by updating the design and experience of Google Search on mobile, adding Reminders and OK Google to iOS and announcing knowledge graph enhancements and a new search algorithm called Hummingbird.

Google announced a few of the new features for its mobile products at an event in Menlo Park, where Amit Singhal, senior vice-president of Search, gave a keynote and demonstration. He revealed how Google Search on mobile will now remember context over multiple searches. For instance, on Android, you can ask follow-up questions and Google will know what to serve up based on context.

He also showed off the company’s familiar card-like design in more places on mobile. HTML searches will feature the card design as well as improvements the knowledge graph: “We keep expanding features of the Knowledge Graph so it can answer more questions—even those that don’t have a simple answer,” Google explained in a blog post.

“You can pull up your phone and say to Google, ‘Tell me about Impressionist artists.’ You’ll see who the artists are, and you can dive in to learn more about each of them and explore their most famous works. If you want to switch to Abstract artists, you can do that really easily with our new filter tool,” the company added.

Google Search on mobile will also show things like nutritional information complete with comparison charts and filters, without ever having to leave the card-like interface. Speaking of Search, Google announced a new search algorithm called Hummingbird. Hummingbird already rolled out a month ago, but it improves 90 per cent of searches and comprehends complex questions.

As for the Google Search iOS app, it will soon have push notifications and support for OK Google. iOS users will also be able to look at maps within the Search app and ask Google to save reminders. The reminders will appear as notifications directly in the app.

Google says you will be able to download the latest version sometime in the next couple of weeks. The push notifications will even have cross-platform capability. So, if you tell your Nexus 7, “OK Google. Remind me to buy olive oil at Safeway,” you can get the reminder on iPhone too.

PS: If you want to see how much Google has changed in the last 15 years, check out this photo album it posted on Google+ today.