Is it just because I haven’t been paying attention, or is Google showing a bunch of new search options on their search results pages?
I conducted a search on Google today, and noticed that the additional options shown on the home page are now listed in a new column down the left hand side of the page. But it goes a little further than the options on the home page. You can now refine the results down to “groups”, “patents”, “products”, “scholar” and “maps”.

The one I found most interesting was “products”. This refined search gave me product pictures, more options for searching within price ranges, brands, seller ratings and related searches. A shopping comparison channel, right there on Google. Obviously they had some stuff left over from Froogle, and it gives them a chance to re-promote the ailing Google Checkout. Tune in for how retailers can improve rankings in this new space using blog marketing and linking campaigns.