If you are among the many visually oriented people out there, you will probably enjoy this: Now you can embed an interactive search cloud in your blog.

What is a search cloud?

A search cloud is a graphic representation of your search — a cloud of words and little icons with your search term in the middle and related terms floating around it. As you move your mouse over the different words, the cloud changes accordingly. The search cloud can be manipulated: As you point your mouse to a word or term, a little X appears. If you click it, the term is removed from the cloud and the cloud changes.

In other words it is a form of visual clustering and a nice way to illustrate how a certain term is connected to others. Here is what it looks like:

The search clouds are provided by Quintura, a search engine based on a visual search engine technology and makes use of Yahoo’s index.

“We approached the problem of finding Internet-based information from the standpoint of the user� says co-founder and CEO Yakov Sadchikov in an interview with Pandia. “We strive to bring web users a new search experience that is visual and intuitive.�

How to embed a search cloud

To embed a search cloud in your blog, you go to Quintura, perform a search and click on the Embed button in the top menu to the right. A little window appears with a string of code that you cut and paste into your blog.

I like the concept but I wish there were some parameters I could set for the cloud — as it is, there is room for too few words for the cloud to achieve the optimum effect. Also, the embedded cloud is interactive only to a certain point: The emphasis of the search changes as I point my mouse to different parts of the cloud. But if I click to eliminate a term from my search, I move from the blog post to Quintura.