The Google Wonder Wheel and Mind Maps

Posted by Faizel Mohidin on May 22, 2010 in Mind Mapping | 0 comments

Google has recently changed its interface.

Have you noticed, or have you just continued to use Google like you normally do?

Many people that I’ve chatted to, didn’t even notice, but I am sure that they will quite soon.

Many of the changes have been to help you refine your search better.

I want to talk about one of their changes today – the Google Wonder Wheel.

The image above is a Google wonder wheel. Note how it represents a basic Mind Map.

You access the Google Wonder Wheel by showing ‘more options’ when doing a search on Google. This will expose you to a number of tools that can help you refine your search.

The Wonder Wheel looks very much like a Mind Map

If you click on the ‘Wonder Wheel’ option, you will see something like the top image appear. Your main Key Words for your search will be in the centre and what Google deems to be relevant related Key Words, will be attached as branches to the central Key Word.

The result is a rudimentary looking, but very powerful, Mind Map – or is it?

You suddenly have a lot of Google’s power at your finger tips, as you have a visual image of related results, as well as your normal linear results.

This gives you the ability to see the results of your search as normal, but also any related searches that may make sense according to Google.

Seeing related search results visually, opens up a whole new mindset when it comes to searching. If you have been doing Mind Mapping for a while, you may have noticed that everything in life is related.

Therefore, when searching with the Google Wonder Wheel, I often ended up in a very different place to where I started and often not finding what I was originally looking for.

But I generated a lot of new ideas.

This got me thinking!

The Google Wonder Wheel could be a great tool to generate ideas, find related topics, help with writer’s block, explore your subject visually…

Sounds very much like a Mind Map to me!

A big difference between a Google wonder wheel and a standard Buzan Mind Map, is the ability of the Google Wonder Wheel to make any of the nodes the central idea, while still keeping the previous central image visible.

This looks very much like a concept map, which is similar, but different to a Mind Map. The Google wonder wheel makes the branch you clicked on your new focal point and fades your previous one. This still gives you the focus that you need, but keeps your previous focus there ‘just in case.’

I’m sure the Buzan Mind Map purists could debate whether this is a Mind Map or not, as it breaks many of the Mind Map Principles, but for the rest of the world; I don’t think they’ll care. The Google Wonder Wheel can be a great tool. Whether it will be labelled a Mind Map – only time will tell.

I hope this short post inspires you to ‘play’ a bit with Google’s Wonder Wheel. If you have not been using Mind Maps before, then have a look at the various ways of using Mind Maps to increase your effectiveness, and if you are a seasoned Mind Mapper, let us know of your experiences with Google’s wonder wheel and whether you will call it a Mind Map or not.