New Google Patent

System and method for selectively searching partitions of a database

[pageoneresults]

System and method for selectively searching partitions of a database [patft.uspto.gov]

By using the partition index to reduce the number of document index sub-partitions searched while executing a search query, the execution of the search query is made more efficient.

Bill Slawski at SEO by the SEA has an excellent overview of this new patent...

On Supplemental Results, Partitioned Indexing, and Extended Indexes
[seobythesea.com...]

Is this extended index what we have been referring to as Google’s supplemental index? It could possibly be, or could have been. A recent blog post at the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog on supplemental results, Supplemental goes mainstream, tells us that Google is going to stop labeling supplemental results as “supplemental” because the differences between main index and supplemental index results is growing narrower, and supplemental results are now fresher and more comprehensive than they have ever been.

[tedster]

I also commented on this patent in the thread about the disappearance of the Supplemental Results tag [webmasterworld.com], but I think it bears repeating. Even though the patent doesn't mention the Supplemental Index by name, it does mention using PageRank to determine partitions. That sure sounds familiar!

Now I wonder what future partitions Google may have in store, or even already have in use. I can conceive of all kinds of potentially practical applications - including potential partitioning by market or some other kind of site classification.