Google to display why it shows search results to users

According to Mashable India, Google recently unveiled the information behind this search algorithm with the hope that showing users this information will ultimately lead to finding better results. The panel will also include tips for how to improve searches, like suggesting more precise terms or advising to put quotation marks around specific phrases.

When a user initiates a Google search, the results that show up will have three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner on the Google page. Clicking the three dots takes a user to the ‘About this result’ panel, which is where the search information is saved.

Google initially rolled out the ‘About this result’ panel in February, but the information it contained was much sparer. It showed a Wikipedia highlight about the web page source, that said whether the result was secure, and highlighted whether the result was an organic search or a paid advertisement.

But, with the update, Google had made the panel much more robust and interactive.

Despite the previous smaller scope of the panel, Google told Mashable India via email that the panels had been used “over 100 million times.” The company also noted that “our early data has indicated that people are more likely to consult these panels when looking for important information like health” and that “this is encouraging given the crisis of COVID and the spread of COVID vaccine misinformation.”

The world’s most popular source of information’s search algorithm is certainly complex to understand, and as per Mashable India, with Google’s advancements in machine learning for surfacing results for increasingly nuanced queries, it is only getting harder for a non-tech savvy to understand it.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.