Google Getting Personal with Search

Google Inc. wants to make search more personal. The search giant on Monday unveiled two projects from its labs that let users receive customized search results and e-mail alerts.

Google Personalized Web Search lets users set preferences that are used to tailor search-engine results to a users specific interests, Google announced. With Google Web Alerts, users can track specific keywords and receive daily or weekly e-mails with links to search results and Google News stories based on those keywords.

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Both of the services are available from the Google Labs site; Google did not provide details on when they would be launched as full products.

"Today, Google takes the first step in providing personal search results based on users preferences," Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of products, said in a statement. "We can deliver search results tailored to your interests or promptly e-mail you new information on any topic."

Along with the new personalization features, Google also revamped its main search sites user interface. The redesign adds links across the top of the search query box to other Google search services, including Googles Froogle shopping search site. Froogle also got a new look, with a home page and search results page that more closely match Googles overall look and feel, the company said.

The companys personalization push and new look follow its beta launch earlier this month of Google Local for geographic-specific search.

Google is facing more intense competition in the search space. Last week, Microsoft Corp.s MSN Search offered more details on its plans to move more aggressively into Web search. MSN later this year expects to launch its own algorithmic search engine to compete with Google. It will join Yahoo Inc., which earlier this year dropped Google search results for its own search-engine technology.

Googles Personalized Web Search service also lets users control the degree of customization of search results through a "slider." By moving the slider, the results change dynamically, Google said. For example, two searchers looking up "bass" could receive different results based on their musical or outdoors interests.

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