Google has launched a new Search Options feature allowing web users to refine and filter their search results in more ways than previously.

Seen by some industry commentators as a response to the new real-time form of search enabled by microblogging site Twitter last month, Google's latest offerings let users sort results based on when they were published and their format - such as forum, video and review results.

Searchers can also view results in different ways; they can opt to see more detailed text for each result or set Google to focus more on images.

Related searches can be viewed in detailed list form or in visual format via the Wonder Wheel.

Announced at the company's Searchology event, the new features also included a new form of the snippets seen in results pages underneath website links.

These include additional data such as number of reviews and average rating where relevant and where enabled by the website owner.

In another move being perceived as a response to the forthcoming launch of data search engine Wolfram Alpha, Google has additionally previewed new tool Google Squared, which returns hard facts and figures as opposed to links to individual websites.

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