[1]

Google owns and operates an AJAX-like experimental search engine called [2] SearchMash.

There is no mention of Google accept in the Terms of Service. It would seem that this is an experimental playpan for current development, one similar to [3] AllTheWeb (an experimental site for Yahoo). Visiting the site at random intervals allows you to experience Google’s experimental features.

[2] SearchMash lets you search the internet in new ways. It is constantly evolving as we come up with ideas and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Check back here from time to time to see what has changed, and also to tell us which ones are useful to you. Please bear with us when the site is unavailable as we are limiting its use.

There are some neat features in it:

- There is a menu of options by each result allowing you to open the result in another browser window

- You can reorder search results by grabbing and dragging the number next to them

- There is the ability to hide and expand details of a of each search results

- The introduction of sub menus that allows you to see other types of results, such as images and blogs.

- The introduction of instant videos related to the search results
You can watch a video by clicking on its thumbnail. Click on the video that’s playing to pause it.

- Clicking for more results loads them in the current page and scrolls it down (in an Ajax-like fashion).

Here is a response from Google to why SearchMash was created:

* SearchMash is an experimental search site operated by Google. The goal of SearchMash is to test innovative user interfaces in order to continually improve the overall search experience for our users.

* The site does not include Google branding to help us gather more objective data about user response to new interfaces.

* There is no guarantee that the features tested on SearchMash will be seen on Google search. As with all of our experiments, one of the main factors we will consider is user response to the feature and how well it addresses their needs.

* This site is only a test and has traffic limitations so may be unavailable at times.

The Domain registration details state that it was registered by [5] MarkMonitor back in September of 2006. MarkMonitor is a security company that specializes in making end to end solutions safer and creating/protecting corporate identities on the Internet. It would be a fair assumption to say that Google is also experimenting on new security and anti-fraud technologies for search users and new ways to deal with it.

I love the simplicity of Searchmash and it seems promising with its AJAX demeanor. One example of its simplicity is the lack of a “Search” button when you are typing in your search words, you will need to hit the “Enter” button on your keyboard instead. It would be interesting to see whether some of its features makes it to Google’s real search engine.