When you search on Google you often get results that have nothing to do with your original search query. Take the search for Appel for instance. You probably would not expect sites about Apple in the search results. Google on the other hand thinks that is what the user is looking for and displays three Apple sites in the top five search results.
Google’s suggestion to use quotes “” for exact searches works most of the time but not all the time. Even searches in quotes are sometimes “interpreted” by Google. While the search giant may get it right some of the times, they fail at other times. The removal of the + search operator, some say to make way for the Google+ search options that have been implemented in Google Search, has made it even more difficulty to get exact results in the search results. Up until now, users had no real options to force Google to only return results for the query that they typed in.
In particular, Google may make automatic spelling corrections, personalize search, use synonyms and similar terms, searches for words with the same stem and making some terms optional. That’s a lot of manipulation, especially when users want to find exact matches only.
This changes with the new Verbatim search option that is rolled out right now by Google. The new option is hidden in the left sidebar menu and becomes only available after a click on More search tools there.
The feature is being rolled out and will be available to all Google users in the coming days. Webmasters should also take note that Google announced that they will apply “similar ideas directly” to their algorithms.
The Google Verbatim search option is a welcome addition that experienced users will come to like.
Users who want to force Google to search for the exact search term directly can add &tbs=li:1 to the query to do just that.
What’s your take on Google Verbatim? Let me know in the comments. You can read the official announcement at the Google Inside Search blog.
© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: Google, google search, google search results, google verbatim, search engine
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