Search Engine Land: Is Google Search getting worse?. “Marissa Mayer, the former CEO of Yahoo, was Google’s 20th employee and the one-time leader of its search team, said Google is concerned about the declining quality of the web. The comments were made on a recent Freakonomics podcast episode that looked at whether the quality of Google search has declined over the years.”
Chrome Unboxed: Google Search advancements take center stage at Google I/O. “There were so many product announcements yesterday at Google I/O that one would be forgiven to think it was a hardware event instead of the software-focused developer conference that it actually is. However, one of the areas that Google chose to spend quite a bit of time on was Search and how far it’s come during the past year.”
The Verge: Google Search’s new highly cited label helps you get to the source of a story. “Google is adding a new ‘highly cited’ label to search results frequently sourced by other publications, the company is announcing today. Anything from local news stories, to interviews, announcements, and even press releases will be eligible for the new label being added to the search result’s preview image, so long as other websites are linking to it. More info is also being added to Search’s ‘rapidly evolving topics’ and ‘About this Result’ notices.”
Search Engine Land: Google refine this search and broaden this search now live in search results. “Google Search has rolled out the ‘refine this search’ and ‘broaden this search’ in the US based English search results, a Google spokesperson confirmed with Search Engine Land today. These features were previewed last year at the Search On event last September.”
9to5 Google: Olympic athletes in 3D are the latest AR objects available in Google Search; here’s who you can see.”Following an announcement at Google I/O earlier this year, the collection of 3D objects available in Search is expanding. Available now, a bunch of athletes from the Olympics can now be viewed in 3D through Search, and Google is even advertising them in Discover.”
Mashable: See every major platform’s misinformation policies in this handy chart. “From coronavirus to the election, preventing misinformation from spreading on social media is more important than ever. Even if many of the policies leave something to be desired, at least companies are attempting to take action. But just what those companies are doing can be tough to wrap your head around. Luckily, Mozilla has created a new resource that clearly lays out in a chart the misinformation policies of Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok.”
Lifehacker: Block Sites From Google Results With uBlacklist. “Sometimes you just never want to see a certain site in your Google results. Maybe you want to block a sketchy news source, or you don’t want Pinterest in your image search results, or there’s a really gross forum that keeps appearing in searches. Some sites like Yahoo Answers and Quora have a way of cluttering up lots of searches. You can block a site from future searches with the uBlacklist Chrome extension.”
Search Engine Land: Google Search experiments with showing less relevant search results when requested. “Google has confirmed they are running a ‘narrow experiment’ where they will ask the searcher if they want to show search results that may not be as relevant as they may expect.”
Google Blog: Helpful new visual features in Search and Lens. “Sometimes, the easiest way to wrap your head around new information is to see it. Today at I/O, we announced features in Google Search and Google Lens that use the camera, computer vision and augmented reality (AR) to overlay information and content onto your physical surroundings — to help you get things done throughout your day.”
Money Control: Google search volume can predict price movement of cryptocurrency, suggests study . “A working paper circulated by US-based think tank National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that unlike traditional financial markets, the returns and price movements in cryptocurrency markets are a factor of the type of attention they receive.”
The Verge: It’s time to stop trusting Google search already. “Last weekend, in the hours after a deadly Texas church shooting, Google search promoted false reports about the suspect, suggesting that he was a radical communist affiliated with the antifa movement. The claims popped up in Google’s ‘Popular on Twitter’ module, which made them prominently visible — although not the top results — in a search for the alleged killer’s name. Of course, the was just the latest instance of a long-standing problem: it was the latest of multiple similar missteps. As usual, Google promised to improve its search results, while the offending tweets disappeared. But telling Google to retrain its algorithms, as appropriate as that demand is, doesn’t solve the bigger issue: the search engine’s monopoly on truth.”
Mashable: Google search update makes it easier to find details about TV, books, and movies. “Google just made search results a lot more useful. The company is giving its mobile search results a new look, with a new set of tabs that show more information about television shows, movies, stocks, and books. The update’s available now for mobile search results in the U.S.”
IFL Science: See Global Google Trend In Real Life Thanks To This Awesome 3D Map. “Users can search for the topics by country or watch the globe spin around with the search terms appearing over the outline of the country. By clicking on one of the terms, you get a preview of the Google search page with an indication of how many times the word had been searched. The trending topics remain in the original language and alphabet.”
Global News (Canada): ’13 Reasons Why’ series led to a spike in Google suicide searches, study warns. “It’s a highly controversial show: a teenage girl dies by suicide, leaving behind a series of tapes that chronicle her plight and those who hurt her in her downward spiral. Now, a new study suggests that the popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why triggered a steep spike in searches on suicide.”
Google Blog: Making plans? We can help. . “Hear about an amazing event but can’t remember where to buy the tickets? Have trouble finding the right activity to do with your sister who has two toddlers? Looking for something fun to do nearby tonight? Now Google can help. Today on the Google app and mobile web in the U.S., doing a search for events brings up a clear summary of activities from sites from across the web like Eventbrite, Meetup and more, that might be just what you’re looking for.”
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