Google Toolbar Introduces Browse By Name
By Chris Richardson
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2004-07-15

Google has introduced a new feature for their popular toolbar. The upgrade, called Browse by Name, allows users to type a name into Internet Explorer's address bar and Google will go to the query's website, provided the site is a strong match.

Examples of this feature working successfully used "adidas", "Strongbad", "CNN", and "Ninjai" as keywords. All of these, when typed into IE's address bar, took me to their respective sites. If words do not have a strong match, the user is taken to a Google SERP, provided that Google is the computer's default search engine.

Currently, the update is available when the toolbar is downloaded. If users already have the toolbar installed, Google will be making automatic updates to toolbars over the next few weeks. If you don't want to wait for the update, just download the latest version from the site.

Andy Beal at SearchEngineLowdown made an interesting observation about Google's newest addition: "In a time when Google is looking to increase its revenue from AdWords, they introduce a service that seemingly bypasses the Google SERP page and all of its AdWords clients. Interesting..."

Why would Google want to bypass potential revenue by adding a feature like Browse by Name? Because this is an IE specific feature, could it be that they wanted to incorporate something that perhaps Microsoft themselves should've done? Only the guys at Mountain View know the real reason…
About the Author:
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.

Google Toolbar Introduces Browse By Name