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A month ago, LinkedIn unveiled its new search platform. Now they’re rolling it out to their 31 million users.

Here’s what you can look forward to in the new search platform:

Suggestive Search - When you type into the search box, a list of suggested names from your contacts pops up. You can select one of the names without having to type in the whole thing. I think this might come in handy when you’re having a hard time remembering a name. Maybe you remember the first letter or the first name, but the rest of it just isn’t coming to you - this can help.

Streamlined Search Results - LinkedIn changed the design to make it easier to scan the results. They also added photos. Results can be sorted by relevance, which includes the social graph, or by relationship, relationship + recommendations, and keyword.

Customizable Views Users can determine what info they want returned in their search results. Just click the “Views” drop down menu (next to the “Sort” drop down menu at the top of the results). You can decide whether you want to view headlines, photos, locations and more of the people returned in a search.

Take Action Straight from the Search Results When you mouse over a result, you’ll notice links that let you take action. You can send InMail, get introduced (through a common contact), or add that person to your network.

Modify Your Search On the right hand side of the results, you’ll notice a form where you can type in additional information to narrow your search down and pinpoint it to more exact specifications. You can search by name, job title, company location, and school.

Save Your Search If you want to return to the results, you can save your search. This is a good idea if you’ve modified your search or customized your view.

Check out this video to get a good visual for all of the above:

Of course, you’ll need to be signed in to LinkedIn to take advantage of all the features in the new platform. Not LinkedIn yet? Our own Carrie Hill explained why you need to be in her article, Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn.

Head over to LinkedIn and give the new search a test drive. Then come back and let us know what you think in the comments.

Google has released a new feature to its search results. It’s called SearchWiki and it lets searchers, while signed into their Google account, customize their own results.

When you do a search, you can move results around. If a result is third, you can move it to first. (You SEOs are going to looooove that [detect my sarcasm]).

You can make notes about search results. If you return to the same results, you will find them the way you left them last time.

Your changes only affect YOUR searches. Check out this vid for more:

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Google Analytics is now offering Flash tracking. The tracking code is translated into ActionScript 3 programming language. While Google Analytics has been able to provide workarounds in the past, this new feature simplifies the way to track Flash, Flex, and AS3 Content.

Sprout, a company that helps businesses create rich media content, used the code to track videos across MySpace and iGoogle. The Google Analytics team talked to them about their experience:

What do you think of the announcement? Leave us a comment and let us know.

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Paid search has come to YouTube. Users can pay to have their videos appear in a right hand sidebar called “Sponsored Videos” in the results of desired search terms.

It works pretty much exactly like AdWords. You bid on terms, set daily limits, etc. You only pay when someone clicks to watch.

Check out YouTube’s YouTube video for more details:

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Eric Schmidt may have turned down the job of Obama’s CTO, but he’s still part of the President-elect’s transition team. And during this transition time, the Google CEO will give a speech about the future of technology and economic growth.

The speech will take place in DC, next Tuesday, November 18, 2008 from 1:00 - 2:30pm EST. The event is hosted by the New America Foundation and will occur at the Ronald Reagan Building Ampitheater at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW. Be sure to RSVP if you wish to attend.

Can’t attend? There will be a live webcast. Click on the RSVP link above to watch. You’ll need Flash 9.

iPhone users, get happy. Google has updated the search results for your device. It’s a cosmetic change that displays the results in a more user-friendly way.

However, I was only able to get the updated results by going directly to Google.com in Safari on my iPhone. I was not able to get the results via the Google app or the default Google search box in the drop down top bar in Safari.

Here’s a video from the Google Mobile team to show you all about the update:

Related Reading:
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Incisive Media announced today that Matt McGowan is being promoted to vice president and publisher for its digital marketing businesses, including the ClickZ network, Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine Strategies conference series. Matt, who was formerly the global VP of marketing for the group, will oversee all non-editorial functions including sales, marketing and operations. He will report to Kevin Vermeulen, senior vice president.

Matt joined Incisive Media in 2006. Before that, he had served as vice president – sales, marketing and operations for PropertyRoom.com. He began his media career as a marketing manager for Pearson PLC.

McGowan holds a bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College and received his MBA from the University of Oxford. He will continue to be based in New York City.

In a press release, Vermeulen said, “We’re pleased that Matt will be leading the expansion of these fast-growing brands that are widely recognized as key resources for interactive marketers.”

Matt is well-known in the search industry. In addition to seeing him at Search Engine Strategies conferences and expos on several continents, he has also started moderating SES Webcasts, including the one last Friday with Bill Tancer of Hitwise.

John Connor Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Matt during SES New York 2008 — in Times Square. If you look closely, you’ll see a big shamrock in Matt’s lapel. Hmmmmm. Do you think, maybe, McGowan is a wee bit Irish?

Matt McGowan in Times Square, Day 1 SES NY 2008

LinkedIn has announced yet another launch. This time it’s a robust Events feature that includes social and search to boot.

Members will receive recommendations for events that match their profile. These can be found on the Events homepage.

Events can be searched for by industry, date, and location.

You can see who on LinkedIn has indicated that they’ll be attending a particular event as well as update your own attendance status.

Also, keep track of updates or look up the history of events.

Check out this video for more info:

Over at the Official Google blog, Dan Russell of the Search Quality team, has written a lengthy post on field studying search behavior. One of the things Russell discovered is that there is often a disparity between what people say they’re searching for and what they actually do search for.

There’s also a disparity between what they searched for and what they remember searching for later on.

Another area Russell dives into is eye tracking. Here’s a video showing the eye tracking of 3 different people searching for “school backpack.”

Last but not least, Russell explained the discovery that the “Advanced Search” page was really turning searchers off. They often were so overwhelmed or uninspired by the options, that they left the advanced options blank. They used that information to re-design the Advanced Search page.

All in all it was a nice little insight into how Google doesn’t just use tech testing such as Website Optimizer or Analytics to create a better experience for their users, but watching actual human behavior in person is extremely useful as well.

Related Reading:
Google Shares Three Ranking Philosophies
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What Search Quality Means to Search Engine Google
Google Discusses Search Evaluation Process

Google is converting their Help Forums to a new system. The new features include:

• improved search results, including posts from current and new forums
• the ability to designate especially helpful forum members as “Top Contributors”
• a reputation and ranking system
• the ability for users, Top Contributors and Googlers to mark questions as answered
• easier access to Help Center content
• expanded user profiles that highlight your forum activity

Forums that have already been converted include:

• AdWords
• AdSense
• Android Market
• Google Apps
• Google Chrome
• Most of the Polish products

For a more detailed look, check out this vid:

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