Google rolls out real-time search page

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Google launched a new search page Thursday that displays real-time results, making reports from Twitter and other sites searchable within seconds of being posted. (It’s also available here, in case the rollout hasn’t reached you yet.)

Google and Microsoft’s Bing began paying Twitter for its live data stream late last year. Bing.com/social already shows real-time results on a separate page. Until now, Google has displayed such results only within other search results.

The idea is to give people one place to find timely information about an earthquake or other major event that just happened, said Dylan Casey, a product manager at Google.

Google has added a location tool that can zero in on a specific geographic area so you can see tweets near you. Google also gives the option of a conversation view so that you can follow the responses to tweets without having to click through a bunch of links. The tweets are organized from oldest to newest.

You can also create a news alert that will update you when the topic pops up on Twitter or other services.

“We are focused on making it even easier to get access to real-time search results,” Casey said. “Real-time search is still a core feature of Google search and we will continue to focus on delivering the best search results. We just understand sometimes people want to go directly to real-time search.”

Casey said he has already found the product very useful: He has been using the real-time search page to get instant feedback on the rollout.For more, here’s the demo video.

-- Jessica Guynn