June 28, 2022

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Adds Pros & Cons To Search Result Snippets

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Adds Pros & Cons To Search Result Snippets. “Normally when someone sends me a sophisticated search result snippet from Google and I dig in, I find a reason for how Google came up with this snippet. But it seems like in this case below, Google is being a bit more sophisticated and showing pros and cons in the snippet without the web site having mentioned pros and cons specifically.” Today in “What could possibly go wrong”….

Tweaks & Updates 0
June 22, 2022

WIRED: Brave Now Lets You Customize Search Results—for Better or Worse

WIRED: Brave Now Lets You Customize Search Results—for Better or Worse. “For instance, a Goggle (not to be confused with Google) can strip Pinterest pages from your search results; it can show only results from tech blogs or boost articles from either left- or right-leaning political news sources. Essentially, they put you in charge of the search results you see. The move is the first for a search engine.” I just spent a little time looking at this and oh boy, am I going to have some fun.

Tweaks & Updates 0
April 27, 2022

Engadget: You can now ask Google to remove phone numbers from search results

Engadget: You can now ask Google to remove phone numbers from search results. “Google has long accepted requests to remove some personal information from search results, but now that option should be considerably more useful. Google has expanded the policy to let you ask for the removal of contact info like phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses. You can also have Google remove login credentials if they pop up in queries.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
November 18, 2021

Search Engine Journal: Google Updates Some Searches With Translated Results

Search Engine Journal: Google Updates Some Searches With Translated Results. “Google added documentation for what appears to be a new feature called Translated Results. Translated Results is a feature that will automatically translate and rank web pages that are in a different language than the language of the user and then publish the title and snippet in the translated language. This change does not affect all languages and is currently rolled out in only six languages.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
July 12, 2021

Wired: A New Tool Shows How Google Results Vary Around the World

Wired: A New Tool Shows How Google Results Vary Around the World. “Search Atlas makes it easy to see how Google offers different responses to the same query on versions of its search engine offered in different parts of the world. The research project reveals how Google’s service can reflect or amplify cultural differences or government preferences—such as whether Beijing’s Tiananmen Square should be seen first as a sunny tourist attraction or the site of a lethal military crackdown on protesters.”

New Resources 0
March 5, 2021

Futurism: Why Was Google Telling People To Throw Car Batteries Into The Ocean?

Futurism: Why Was Google Telling People To Throw Car Batteries Into The Ocean?. “On Saturday night, reporter and author Violet Blue googled ‘why do people throw car batteries in the ocean.’ The algorithm’s top response, which was formatted in a blurb at the top of the results, was strange. ‘Throwing car batteries into the ocean is good for the environment, as they charge electric eels and power the Gulf stream,’ it read.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
February 18, 2021

The Next Web: Google Search’s new feature makes it easier to weed out unreliable results

The Next Web: Google Search’s new feature makes it easier to weed out unreliable results. “Google Search is adding a feature to help you verify your search results are showing reliable information. Search will now show a menu icon ‘next to most results on Google’ that you can tap on to access more information about a particular site without having to actually click through. This makes it a little easier to verify if the search result comes from a source that’s likely to be trustworthy.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
October 19, 2020

Daytona Beach News-Journal: Google hack sends Clint Curtis searchers to Viagra ad

Daytona Beach News-Journal: Google hack sends Clint Curtis searchers to Viagra ad. “Clint Curtis, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s 6th District, is asking Google to fix a problem. On Thursday morning, folks typing his name into the search engine can access what appears to be his website, clintcurtis.com. When the searcher clicks on the link, though, an online pharmacy ad pops up selling Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug.” I just tried it. I’m not in Florida but it works fine, no Viagra ads.

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
September 26, 2020

Column: Student probes alleged Google search bias (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Column: Student probes alleged Google search bias. “When Agastya Sridharan read in The Wall Street Journal last fall about some politicians’ complaints of suspected bias in Google online search results, he was upset and intrigued. Was it possible to re-order search results and, thus, influence voter preferences? Agastya, then a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Scripps Ranch, decided to conduct his own research as his entry in the 2020 Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair.”

Research & Opinion 0
August 18, 2020

EurekAlert: New tool improves fairness of online search rankings

EurekAlert: New tool improves fairness of online search rankings. “When you search for something on the internet, do you scroll through page after page of suggestions – or pick from the first few choices? Because most people choose from the tops of these lists, they rarely see the vast majority of the options, creating a potential for bias in everything from hiring to media exposure to e-commerce. In a new paper, Cornell University researchers introduce a tool they’ve developed to improve the fairness of online rankings without sacrificing their usefulness or relevance.”

Research & Opinion 0
August 18, 2020

Search Engine Journal: Why Google Showed Capitalism in Search for Socialism and Racism

Search Engine Journal: Why Google Showed Capitalism in Search for Socialism and Racism . “A former NYTimes reporter and novelist accused Google of having an ideological bias. He cited a search for ‘socialism and racism’ that returns results that include ‘capitalism.’ Google explained why this happened. And then removed the disputed search results.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0

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