Well, those crazy people sitting in Google don't just wonder, they make wonders happen.
The idea of related searches has been around for a while. Those tiny little blue underlined words(for the computer jargon fanatics - 'LINKS') that sorta seem to irritate you, actually scream out, "Hey, you might have been looking for these, ya?".
The algorithm that runs behind this little piece of ingenuity must actually be a masterpiece learning from scores and scores of search hits and other sources. It is like learning from a constant feedback and improving the service(How I wish real time services such as restaurants and shopping had this!).
However, these always had the nosy little problem of 'clicking through' in order to find out whether or not one was looking for them. On an image based search(that returns this row of textual links), you may not be aware of what exactly you might be looking for. And then you had to click, click and click until you found that exact image that your mind was visualizing - no wonder they say that a picture is worth a thousand words! :)
But all this clicking usually frustrates the heck out of what you are searching for and in our country where internet speeds are as high as just being able to stay connected to it, the UX(user experience) goes for a toss. Instead of clicking through the links and allowing the related search list to adapt and modify and present better search lists, the user normally tends to go retype all over again.
Google has come up with a unique technique of mapping your mind's view to the related searches. Now if I want to search something on India, I might not exactly know what I want to find in India if it is my first visit here. Now once I do an image search over India, I can hover over the links that show up and a panel with images of the link description pop up where I can quickly look up at the images without the need for typing more words through the text box or clicking for the same.
What happens if you click? Well, the search just gets even better. You will get improved search results(with further refinement and relevance). For example, after searching for India, I decide to click on India Gate. Now the refined search list will show links for Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar etc.
Happy Searching! :)
