Google is changing the way you search the Internet

Topic Google

Google is changing the way you search the Internet Article - November 28, 2022



Aside from the occasional cosmetic change to the home page, which might make longtime users cringe, Google Search is evolving without too much fanfare.

Although Google says that search is updated thousands of times a year to improve results and user experience, those updates are invisible to the millions of users who send billions of search requests a day in 150 languages.

The site Wired asked Google for insight into those changes, as well as their implementation, and considering that the holiday season is just around the corner, there were also questions about Google Ads and Google Shopping services.

 How does Google decide what to change?

The systems that decide what is relevant and reliable among billions of web pages are automated. At the same time, deciding how these automated systems perform their functions requires a lot of effort from many participants.

Search changes go through a rigorous process before anything new is implemented. During 2021, Google conducted more than 700,000 experiments that resulted in 4,000 search improvements.

"The data from those assessments and experiments goes through a thorough analysis by experienced engineers and search analysts, as well as legal and privacy experts who then determine whether the change is approved," Danny Sullivan, Google's search services spokesperson, told Wired.

What's next?

Along with changes to Google's search methodology, many of the changes to search are aimed at making it more contextual and allowing users what Sullivan describes as a "more natural and intuitive" search. For example, Sullivan says, multisearch on Google's mobile app allows users to take a photo, add text to it, and search by image and text at the same time. A "multisearch near me" feature will be available soon, which will do the same but offer local results. For example, you can take a picture of a type of sushi and Google will help you find a nearby restaurant that serves it.

Sullivan says Google is also focused on making some types of search -- like exploring a new city -- more visual, by highlighting the work of content creators and the open web. That approach will also apply to a new feature that finds first-hand advice from real people, like those who create how-to videos. The feature is currently labeled "discussions and forums" in search and leads to conversations where experts (or those who believe they are experts) explain the topic of interest.

One evolution you may have noticed a long time ago is that you get different search results on a mobile device than you do on a desktop computer. On mobile, content that loads quickly and displays well on screen tends to rank better. "We'll prioritize mobile-friendly content over other content, all things being equal. We'll also show you links that make sense for your device, such as a link to the appropriate app store," says Sullivan.

How big of a problem is spam?

It is a problem of 40 billion per day. That's the number of pages of spam and malicious content that Google search reveals every day. Sullivan says Google is constantly filtering out about 99 percent of that, but the amount of malicious and unwanted content is constantly growing.

Google uses an artificial intelligence-based spam prevention system called SpamBrain, which Sullivan says led to the identification of six times more spammy websites in 2021 than the previous year.

As with spam and search, Google Ads is in a constant battle to get rid of malware and scammers. Google Ads gets involved by verifying the identity of advertisers and identifying coordinated activity between accounts using network signals. Their efforts include automated systems as well as human reviewers trying to monitor abuse in more than 180 countries. It is a big task.

"We're always adapting to remove fraudsters from our platforms and that's an area we're very focused on as we grow the number of merchants and products listed on Google. That's a challenge for Google," said Matt Madrigal, vice president of commerce at the company.

Madrigal says merchants are subject to rules that specifically prohibit misrepresentation and counterfeit goods. As with search and ads, automation and human review are involved in vetting these providers. But Madrigal says Google Shopping also relies on user feedback to identify suspected cheating sellers.

As with Google Ads, the trend toward asking users to monitor the system is worrisome when a company has the resources to hire more content moderators and experts, as Katie Paul, director of the nonprofit Te



Author Mr Green Co-founder of SearchGun, in this form. Expert in the fields of web development, mobile applications and game development, SEO and ASO. A fun of good and useful applications on all platforms, creativity, innovations and free time.

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