I think what you're looking for is the communities update. There are three code changes all working hand in hand.
Velocity lays the backend groundwork to allow the platform to scale sustainably.
Communities allows a better custom user facing interface with all the search features you're thinking of.
SMTs allows communities to have a central token of exchange and share the rewards of growing a project.
These three things are what will make Steem moon. The first just got off on a rocky start. There are additional changes on the horizon. SMTS are in March. I don't have a date on communities.
Thanks for the quick update. I'm happy that you are still so pumped about SMTS :)