Most of Google’s great ideas depend on behind-the-scenes technology that works invisibly to precisely meet information needs. But one Google service relies more on hard work and continual maintenance than great programming: Google Catalogs, a searchable directory of mail-order catalogs, is brilliant in conception and execution. And keeping it going must require a monumental effort of scanning.

Unlike Google’s Web index, which crawls through Web sites and reduces their content to a tagged database controlled by retrieval algorithms, the Google Catalogs index leaves the content in its original format. What you see in this directory are scanned catalog pages, laid out exactly as they would appear at home. Well, you’re probably at home. But you know what I mean — you’re reading the catalog magazine on the screen.

But there’s more. Merely presenting scanned catalog pages would be interesting but ultimately frustrating and unproductive. Google can search every word of the scanned catalog pages, deliver targeted results, and even contrive to highlight your keywords when they appear on the pages. Google has also designed a control bar for thumbing through the catalogs, turning your browser into a specialized e-zine reader.

All in all, Google Catalogs is one of the most underrated features Google offers. You almost never hear people talking about it. Part of the reason is that Internet shopping is more sexy than old-fashioned mail-order. But mail-order is thriving, partly in reaction to the impersonality of e-commerce.

And here’s the beauty of it: Google Catalogs is most useful to people who already get a lot of catalogs and enjoy shopping that way. Why? Because nobody gets the range of catalogs Google makes available. And Google Catalogs solves the one problem of catalog shopping — namely, the passiveness of an experience that depends on waiting for a catalog to arrive, and then reading it through to find what you want. Google brings searching to a realm that has always been limited to browsing. So whether you’re using the Google Catalog viewer to examine a catalog that you regularly receive or one you’ve never heard of, you get more out of that catalog.

Independent Thought

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