Need to search the Web for something? Try this instead of Google (okay, I know you’ll end up back at Google, but this is cool, so try it once):

Mooter.com.

It shows your search results as a cluster diagram. So, for instance, if you search for our dear, lovable old “Noel Heikkinen,” you’ll find clusters for the following:

• All Results
• email noel
• journal
• heikkinen (which happens to be bold, I assume they think it is the most relevant)
• jr
• pm
• church
• by noel heikkinen
  

Clicking on a cluster will bring up a results page that shows a list of links as we’re more accustomed to. Mooter also shows a custom sidebar on those pages that you can use to jump to different clusters.

So, thoughts? I think it’s encouraging to see this alternate approach to providing search results. It seems a more relational model (visually, at the very least) than going by sheer link relevancy or popularity. Google rearranged the world of search by introducing the link popularity idea. Other search engines have been running scared since, and while there are rumors of the future downfall of Google due to comparable lack of demographic data (compared to Yahoo! for instance