Google 'starred' for a self-centric generation

Google have announced a new way of tailoring search results that makes the process of retrieving information even more personal.

With Google stars, users can mark up their favourite websites, blogs, maps or any other kind of web content that is particularly important or relevant to them.

Stars signals Google's continued development of applications that tailor the process of web search to individual's specific wants or personal interests.

Users can add a star to any web page by clicking on the star marker. Stars also sync with Google Bookmarks and Google Toolbar so starred items are organised and stored in one place.

Organic search results

When performing a search, relevant starred items are then shown in a special list that appears above existing organic results without directly interfering with them.

Google's Official Blog reported "In our testing, we learned that people really liked the idea of marking a website for future reference, but they didn't like changing the order of Google's organic search results. With stars, we've created a lightweight and flexible way for people to mark and rediscover web content...That means if you star the official websites for your favourite football teams, you might see those results right at the top of your next search for [nfl]."

Stars will be made available worldwide for all signed-in Google account holders at the beginning of March.