Google Expands Web Content Capabilities With Metaweb Acquisition

Terms of the acquisition, which Google announced late Friday, were not disclosed.

Metaweb is used by Web site owners, publishers and developers to add content from across the Internet using information in the Freebase database, according to a description on Metaweb’s Web site.

Freebase has more than 12 million entries about movies, books, TV shows, locations, celebrities, companies and more. Adding that information to Google’s search capabilities will make it easier to answer difficult queries such as finding colleges on the West Coast with tuition under $30,000 or actors over 40 who have won at least one Oscar, according to a blog posting by Google product management director Jack Menzel.

Google plans to “contribute to and further develop Freebase” and maintain it “as a free and open database for the world,” Menzel said.

“The Web isn’t merely words – it’s information about things in the real world, and understanding the relationships between real-world entities can help us deliver relevant information more quickly,” Menzel wrote.

Menzel said the addition of Metaweb to Google’s search technology expands on such efforts as the site’s “rich snippets” and “search answers feature” capabilities.