Tag Archives: Seach

How location helps provide more relevant search results

There are many factors that play a role in providing helpful results when you search for something on Google. These factors help us rank or order results and can include the words of your query, the relevance or usability of web pages in our index, and the expertise of sources.

Location is another important factor to provide relevant Search results. It helps you find the nearest coffee shop when you need a pick-me-up, traffic predictions along your route, and even important emergency information for your area. In this post, we’ll share details about the vital role that location plays in generating great search results.

Finding businesses and services in your community

It’s a Friday night. You’re hungry and want some pizza delivered. If Google couldn’t consider location in search ranking, our results might display random pizza restaurants that are nowhere near you. With location information, we can better ensure you’re getting webpages and business listings about pizza places that are local and relevant to you.

The same is true for many types of businesses and services with physical locations, such as banks, post offices, restaurants or stores. Consider two people who search for zoos—one in Omaha, Nebraska and the other in Mobile, Alabama. Location information helps both get the right local information that they need:

Searches for "zoos" in Omaha, Nebraska and Mobile, Alabama

Same query, different local contexts

Location can matter even when you’re searching for something that doesn’t necessarily have a physical location. For example, a search for “air quality” in San Diego, California versus Tulsa, Oklahoma might lead you to pages with local information relevant to each area.

Searches for “air quality” in San Diego, California and Tulsa, Oklahoma

Similarly, certain information in Search can be more useful if it’s specific to your city or neighborhood. If you were to search Google for “parking information,” you might see information about municipal codes and parking enforcement for your local area that would differ from what someone else might see in another city.

Local information in search results can also be helpful in an emergency. If you search for “hurricane,” our Crisis Response features can show you local shelter information if there’s a hurricane close by, rather than just generic information about what a hurricane is.

Of course, just because some searches have local results, it’s not the case that everyone gets completely different results just because they are in different cities (or even different countries). If a search topic has no local aspect to it, there won’t be local results shown. If there is, we’ll show a mix of local results that are relevant to particular places along with non-local results that are generally useful.

How location works at Google

You might be wondering how location works at Google. Google determines location from a few different sources, and then uses this information to deliver more relevant experiences when it will be more helpful for people. Learn more about the different ways we may understand location in the video below as well as how to manage your data in a way that works best for you on our help center page about location and Search.

How your location makes Google Search more helpful

Location is a critical part of how Google is able to deliver the most relevant and helpful search results possible—whether you need emergency information in a snap, or just some late-night pizza delivered. For more under-the-hood information, check out our How Search Works series.

Source: Search

20 years of Year in Search

Twenty years ago, Google published its very first end-of-year list, called the Year-End Google Zeitgeist. Looking back, it’s clear how much some things have changed (please see the list of the top 10 MP3 music resources), and how much they stay the same (decades later and we’re still watching some of these sitcoms).

Originally, these year-end lists evolved out of an internal project, eventually becoming the annual, public-facing report in 2001. “It's not a million miles away from what we do now,” says Google Data Trends editor Simon Rogers, looking back on that very first site.

The original year-end collection wasn’t just created as a way for people to reflect on Search trends; it was also a way for people, including those who work in marketing or media, to find interesting stories and understand more about the events, people and moments of a certain year.

These days, Year in Search is accompanied by a film that showcases the emotion behind the searches and trends of the year. “We also started finding a theme—this year it’s ‘why,’ which was at an all-time high in Google Trends history,” says Simon.

Engineer Roni Rabin has been working on Year in Search for the past eight years and she’s seen it become increasingly sophisticated over time. “It’s always a really special moment once Year in Search launches and we see the world discovering the video and the lists.”

And this year, there’s been plenty to discover. Simon calls 2020 a “dramatically interesting year for Search.” Past topics he remembers as significant for Search trends include weather events and the 2016 election—but nothing quite compares to the communal global interests of 2020. “These big, shared moments that affect everybody, they’re pretty rare,” he says. “And just to see so many crammed into such a short period of time, one year, is pretty unusual. I haven’t really seen anything like this.”

While Year in Search has changed over the years, there’s a hopefulness about the project that’s remained. “One of the things that makes me happy every year is how alike we are,” Simon explains. “Despite how different and divided we can be, this year especially, the data really showed how much we have in common.”

Source: Search

Our work on the 2020 U.S. election

It’s been over a month since polls closed in the U.S. 2020 election, and more Americans voted in this election than in any recent Presidential race. In the months—and years—leading up to this cycle, our teams worked hard to create tools that help voters find authoritative information about the election, educate campaigns on how to connect with voters and equip them with best-in-class security features, and protect our platforms from abuse.

After Election Day, as votes were still being counted, we continued this work to show timely election results from The Associated Press (AP) on Google. We also enforced a Sensitive Events ads policy after polls closed, temporarily pausing more than 5 million ads referencing the U.S. 2020 election, the candidates, or its outcome as election results were certified. This week, we are lifting this pause and allowing advertisers to continue running election-related ads on our platforms, as long as they comply with our global advertising policies.

Record numbers of voters engaged with Google tools

We know that people turn to Google to look for information on a variety of topics, and the U.S. 2020 election would be no different. In fact, this U.S. election cycle saw all-time highs in searches for civics-related topics. We worked to create and launch features that would help people find the information they needed to participate in the democratic process. We introduced several features to help voters find information about how to register and how to vote in their states, and as the election neared, we also helped people find polling and ballot drop off locations. Across our products, these features were seen nearly 500 million times.

We worked with non-partisan, third-party data partners, such as Democracy Works, which aggregates official data directly from state and county election administrators, and we linked to state government official websites for more information. Using this data, we also made it easy for people to quickly find nearby voting locations in Google Maps, along with information about how far they were, how to get there, and voting hours. From mid-October through Election Day, we added more than 125,000 voting locations in Google Maps.

We also showed “how to register” and “how to vote” reminders to all our U.S. users directly on Google Search, Maps and YouTube, to help everyone across the country find the information they needed to register to vote, find their voting locations, and cast their ballots. These reminders were seen over 2 billion times across our products. And starting on Election Day, we worked with the AP to provide real-time election results for relevant searches on Google. This results feature had more than six times the number of views in 2020 as in 2016. Additionally, YouTube linked to this results feature in its election results information panel, which was shown over 4.5 billion times.

How we helped educate and protect campaigns

We also focused on helping campaigns and elected officials effectively use Google and YouTube products to reach voters and on helping them enhance their election security. As part of our Civics Outreach Virtual Training Series, Google held 21 training sessions for over 900 candidates, campaigns, public officials, and nonprofit leaders. Overall, we held 45 group and individual trainings to help more than 2,900 election workers learn to use Google tools to amplify their message and better connect with voters through events like digital town halls, debates and virtual campaign rallies.

And as a part of our Election Cybersecurity Initiative with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School, nearly 4,000 elected officials, secretaries of state, campaign staffers, political party representatives, and state election directors in all 50 states received training on ways to secure their information and protect their campaigns against cyberattacks. At the start of the 2020 election season, we partnered with Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC) to give any federal campaign access to free security keys—the strongest form of two-factor authentication. We helped DDC distribute more than 10,500 Advanced Protection kits. Now, we continue to educate campaigns and newly elected officials about digital security and encourage them to enroll in our Advanced Protection Program.

Protecting our platforms from abuse

In the years leading up to the 2020 election, we made numerous enhancements to protect the integrity of elections around the world and better secure our platforms: we introduced strict policies and restrictions around who can run election-related advertising on our platform; we launched comprehensive political ad libraries in the U.S., the UK, the European Union, India, Israel and New Zealand; we developed and implemented policies to prohibit election-related abuse such as voter suppression and deceptive practices on platforms like YouTube, Google Ads, Google Maps and Google Play; our Threat Analysis Group (TAG) launched a quarterly bulletin to provide regular updates on our work to combat coordinated influence operations across our platforms and flagged phishing attempts against the presidential campaigns this summer; and we worked closely with government agencies, including the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, and others companies to share information around suspected election interference campaigns.

And long before any voting in this election started, our global Trust and Safety teams were already working through possible threat scenarios and abuse vectors related to the election. These teams work in a variety of roles to help develop and enforce our policies in an apolitical and non-partisan way, monitor our platforms for abuse, and protect users from everything from account hijackings and disinformation campaigns to misleading content and inauthentic activity. We estimate that we spent at least $1 billion over the past year on content moderation systems and processes. We continue to invest aggressively in this area.

The job of protecting our platforms from abuse is always a top priority, but especially during sensitive times like elections. Our election integrity work may not directly drive Google’s business, but it’s a crucial part of our responsibility to our users and to the democratic process. That’s why our teams are already looking at what's coming up next—including 2021 elections in the U.S., the Netherlands, Japan, Israel, Ecuador and many other countries.

Source: Search

Spruce up your Business Profile for holiday shoppers

The holidays can be the most hectic—and the most important—time of the year for business owners. And this year shoppers are flocking to online shopping and curbside pickups. To make the most of this season and connect with shoppers wherever they are, we have a recipe for holiday success. Here’s a list you’ll want to check twice:

1. Deck the halls of your Business Profile: First things first, claim your free Business Profile to put your best face forward on Google Maps and Search. Make sure your Business Profile is updated with helpful information about your store—like updated hours, a description and photos, shopping options, and all the safety measures you’re taking during the pandemic. Pro tip: Double check if your phone number is correct and turn on messaging so you can quickly connect with customers who have questions.

2. Share the gift of updated in-store inventory (online!): Unsurprisingly, 77 percent of holiday shoppers in the U.S. said they will browse for gift ideas online this year instead of in-store. Thanks to Pointy from Google, you can easily show your products online so shoppers can see what you carry before they head to the store to make a purchase. Pointy connects to your point-of-sale system and automatically adds your in-store products to your Business Profile on Google. This helps you to appear in search results when shoppers are looking for items you carry.

Pointy from Google automatically adds your inventory to your Business Profile and can help shoppers find you when they search for items you carry

3. Help them order ahead, still tucked in their beds: Searches for “curbside pickup” have grown more than 3,000 percentglobally since last year. Let customers know how they can shop with you—whether you’re offering curbside pickup, in-store pickup or delivery options.

4. Oh, what fun it is to buy online for pickup and delivery:Add ordering link(s) for pickup or delivery to your profile. If you’re a verified retail merchant in the U.S., you can now add a link to your online store directly to your Business Profile on Google. This helps shoppers easily place a pickup or delivery order from you with a few simple taps!

5. 'Tis the season to share more about your business: Shoppers are looking to purchase from local businesses that they feel good about supporting. Spruce up your Business Profile and connect with your community by showing whether you’re LGBTQ-friendly or women-led, or in the U.S. and identify as Black-owned or veteran-led.

Black-owned — Share more about your business by adding attributes to your Business Profile.

For more ways to deck out your Google presence, check out Grow with Google’s Quick Help YouTube videos. The short videos will help answer a variety of small business questions, from how to make the most of digital tools to how to start a live stream. We know the holiday season can be overwhelming, but with this checklist in hand there will be no need to get your tinsel in a tangle.

Source: Search

Stop, drop and pass the rolls! Thanksgiving fun with Google

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, which can only mean the approach of a classic dinner table debate: stuffing or dressing? If your family is busy dishing out their hot food takes, they're hardly alone: Google searches for "stuffing vs dressing" in the U.S. spiked more than 350 percent this past week.

But let’s not forget about other Thanksgiving favorites. We took a look at uniquely searched side dishes in each state this year. It seems California is feeling just gravy, while Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky are ready to casse-roll. Check out what’s being searched in your state for some meal prep inspiration.

Speaking of prep, taking charge of the Thanksgiving meal, even for small groups this year, is no easy feat. If you’re looking for some insider tips on how to make that perfect stuffing (or dressing!), search for “Thanksgiving” on Google to hear from expert chefs like Mary Ann Esposito and Jess Pryles. They’ll answer some of your top questions and share some expert advice. You’ll feel like a top chef in no time.

If you need an extra hand finding recipes, staying on track in the kitchen or figuring out ingredient substitutes, Google Assistant can help. Try asking, “Hey Google, give me Thanksgiving recipes,” for step-by-step guided instructions on Smart Displays, like Nest Hub Max. Here are a few other ways Assistant can help out in the kitchen:

Set a timer. You can already ask Google to set timers for help when your hands are full, but new for this year, say “Hey Google, set a turkey timer” for a visual and audio surprise on Assistant-enabled smart speakers and Smart Displays
Quickly convert measurements or figure out a substitute ingredient. Just ask, “Hey Google, how many tablespoons in a cup?” or “Hey Google, what’s a substitute for buttermilk?”
Learn a new cooking technique. Try saying, “Hey Google, show me videos for how to roll pie dough” or “Hey Google, show me how to brown butter.”
Search for recipes based on specific dietary needs. Just say, "Hey Google, show me vegan stuffing recipes" or "Hey Google, show me gluten-free cornbread recipes."

But not everyone wants to commit to cooking on Thanksgiving; maybe this year takeout is more your style. You can use Google to order dinner—and now, once you’ve placed your order, Google Maps will show you the live status of when it’ll be ready for pickup or arrive at your doorstep…which could come in handy if you want to pretend you made it all yourself (we won’t tell). And even if you opt for take-out this Turkey Day, you can always up the game on your table scape with ideas from Google Images.

Whatever you decide on for dinner and whether you’re with family or sitting around the virtual table, there are still ways to connect with loved ones and make this year feel festive. Try recording a special moment with them and adding it to “The Great Thanksgiving Listen,” a StoryCorps campaign that encourages people across the country to contribute audio stories to a collective oral history. Google Cloud also recently partnered with StoryCorps to make its entire catalog of stories available and searchable for everyone, with help from AI.

As a fun bonus, search “Happy Thanksgiving” on Google for a hidden surprise. We figured it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a slice of something sweet.

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Australia is home to some of the most magnificent creatures in the animal kingdom: birds that laugh, duck-billed monotremes and marsupials that smile, hop and sleep for ~20 hours a day. They can’t be found in the wild anywhere else in the world. Until now.

With AR on Google, you can meet eight life-sized Aussie animals up close and bring them into your backyard, living room, classroom—or take them on your adventures. Just search for koala, kangaroo, quokka, wombat, platypus, emu, kookaburra or echidna on your mobile browser (Android or iOS) or in the Google App and tap “View in 3D.”

You’ll be able to see their life-size scale, detail, movement—and even hear their sounds on Android devices (sounds are coming soon to iOS too). You’ll also be able to capture content of these Aussie icons.

Our fascination with Aussie creatures, especially koalas, has been on the rise this year. During Australia’s devastating bushfires—which endangered thousands of koalas—search interest for koalas hit an all-time high globally in January and we even worried they may be extinct (thankfully, we can confirm they aren’t).

Here’s a list of the top worldwide trending questions this year so far for the Aussie AR animals you’ll now get to meet in Search:

Are koalas extinct 2020?
What does a baby platypus look like?
Can an emu fly?
How many koalas have died?
How big are wombats?
Are koalas friendly?
How do koalas drink water?
What does the inside of a kangaroo pouch look like?
Can koalas be pets?
How are baby kangaroos born?

While most of us can’t travel to the Aussie outback right now, you can learn about these animals from the comfort of your couch or picnic rug. Search for these Aussie AR animals on your mobile or tablet today so you can paddle with a platypus, cackle with a kookaburra and meet your new mARsupial mates!

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Here’s a list of the top worldwide trending questions this year so far for the Aussie AR animals you’ll now get to meet in Search:

Are koalas extinct 2020?
What does a baby platypus look like?
Can an emu fly?
How many koalas have died?
How big are wombats?
Are koalas friendly?
How do koalas drink water?
What does the inside of a kangaroo pouch look like?
Can koalas be pets?
How are baby kangaroos born?

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Here’s a list of the top worldwide trending questions this year so far for the Aussie AR animals you’ll now get to meet in Search:

Are koalas extinct 2020?
What does a baby platypus look like?
Can an emu fly?
How many koalas have died?
How big are wombats?
Are koalas friendly?
How do koalas drink water?
What does the inside of a kangaroo pouch look like?
Can koalas be pets?
How are baby kangaroos born?

Source: Search

How AI is powering a more helpful Google

When I first came across the web as a computer scientist in the mid-90s, I was struck by the sheer volume of information online, in contrast with how hard it was to find what you were looking for. It was then that I first started thinking about search, and I’ve been fascinated by the problem ever since.

We’ve made tremendous progress over the past 22 years, making Google Search work better for you every day. With recent advancements in AI, we’re making bigger leaps forward in improvements to Google than we’ve seen over the last decade, so it’s even easier for you to find just what you’re looking for. Today during our Search On livestream, we shared how we're bringing the most advanced AI into our products to further our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Helping you find exactly what you’re
looking for

At the heart of Google Search is our ability to understand your query and rank relevant results for that query. We’ve invested deeply in language understanding research, and last year we introduced how BERT language understanding systems are helping to deliver more relevant results in Google Search. Today we’re excited to share that BERT is now used in almost every query in English, helping you get higher quality results for your questions. We’re also sharing several new advancements to search ranking, made possible through our latest research in AI:

Spelling
We’ve continued to improve our ability to understand misspelled words, and for good reason—one in 10 queries every day are misspelled. Today, we’re introducing a new spelling algorithm that uses a deep neural net to significantly improve our ability to decipher misspellings. In fact, this single change makes a greater improvement to spelling than all of our improvements over the last five years.

Passages
Very specific searches can be the hardest to get right, since sometimes the single sentence that answers your question might be buried deep in a web page. We’ve recently made a breakthrough in ranking and are now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages. By better understanding the relevancy of specific passages, not just the overall page, we can find that needle-in-a-haystack information you’re looking for. This technology will improve 7 percent of search queries across all languages as we roll it out globally.

Understanding Passages — With new passage understanding capabilities, Google can understand that the specific passage (R) is a lot more relevant to a specific query than a broader page on that topic (L).

Subtopics
We’ve applied neural nets to understand subtopics around an interest, which helps deliver a greater diversity of content when you search for something broad. As an example, if you search for “home exercise equipment,” we can now understand relevant subtopics, such as budget equipment, premium picks, or small space ideas, and show a wider range of content for you on the search results page. We’ll start rolling this out by the end of this year.

Access to high quality information during COVID-19

We’re making several new improvements to help you navigate your world and get things done more safely and efficiently. Live busyness updates show you how busy a place is right now so you can more easily social distance, and we’ve added a new feature to Live View to help you get essential information about a business before you even step inside. We’re also adding COVID-19 safety information front and center on Business Profiles across Google Search and Maps. This will help you know if a business requires you to wear a mask, if you need to make an advance reservation, or if the staff is taking extra safety precautions, like temperature checks. And we’ve used our Duplex conversational technology to help local businesses keep their information up-to-date online, such as opening hours and store inventory.

Understanding key moments in videos

Using a new AI-driven approach, we’re now able to understand the deep semantics of a video and automatically identify key moments. This lets us tag those moments in the video, so you can navigate them like chapters in a book. Whether you’re looking for that one step in a recipe tutorial, or the game-winning home run in a highlights reel, you can easily find those moments. We’ve started testing this technology this year, and by the end of 2020 we expect that 10 percent of searches on Google will use this new technology.

Deepening understanding through data

Sometimes the best search result is a statistic. But often stats are buried in large datasets and not easily comprehensible or accessible online. Since 2018, we’ve been working on the Data Commons Project, an open knowledge database of statistical data started in collaboration with the U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, World Bank and many others. Bringing these datasets together was a first step, and now we’re making this information more accessible and useful through Google Search.

Now when you ask a question like “how many people work in Chicago ,” we use natural language processing to map your search to one specific set of the billions of data points in Data Commons to provide the right stat in a visual, easy to understand format. You’ll also find other relevant data points and context—like stats for other cities—to help you easily explore the topic in more depth.

Helping quality journalism through advanced search

Quality journalism often comes from long-term investigative projects, requiring time consuming work sifting through giant collections of documents, images and audio recordings. As part of Journalist Studio, our new suite of tools to help reporters do their work more efficiently, securely, and creatively through technology, we’re launching Pinpoint, a new tool that brings the power of Google Search to journalists. Pinpoint helps reporters quickly sift through hundreds of thousands of documents by automatically identifying and organizing the most frequently mentioned people, organizations and locations. Reporters can sign up to request access to Pinpoint starting this week.

Search what you see, and explore
information in 3D

For many topics, seeing is key to understanding. Several new features in Lens and AR in Google Search help you learn, shop, and discover the world in new ways. Many of us are dealing with the challenges of learning from home, and with Lens, you can now get step-by-step homework help on math, chemistry, biology and physics problems. Social distancing has also dramatically changed how we shop, so we’re making it easier to visually shop for what you’re looking for online, whether you’re looking for a sweater or want a closer look at a new car but can’t visit a showroom.

If you don’t know how to search it, sing it

We’ve all had that experience of having a tune stuck in our head, but can’t quite remember the lyrics. Now, when those moments arise, you just have to hum to search, and our AI models can match the melody to the right song.

What sets Google Search apart

There has never been more choice in the ways people access information, and we need to constantly develop cutting-edge technology to ensure that Google remains the most useful and most trusted way to search. Four key elements form the foundation for all our work to improve Search and answer trillions of queries every year. These elements are what makes Google helpful and reliable for the people who come to us each day to find information.

Understanding all the world’s information
We’re focused on deeply understanding all the world’s information, whether that information is contained in words on web pages, in images or videos, or even in the places and objects around us. With investments in AI, we’re able to analyze and understand all types of information in the world, just as we did by indexing web pages 22 years ago. We’re pushing the boundaries of what it means to understand the world, so before you even type in a query, we’re ready to help you explore new forms of information and insights never before available.

The highest quality information
People rely on Search for the highest quality information available, and our commitment to quality has always been what set Google apart from day one. Every year we launch thousands of improvements to make Search better, and rigorously test each of these changes to ensure people find them helpful. Our ranking factors and policies are applied fairly to all websites, and this has led to widespread access to a diversity of information, ideas and viewpoints.

World class privacy and security
To keep people and their data safe, we invest in world class privacy and security. We’ve led the industry in keeping you safe while searching with Safe Browsing and spam protection. We believe that privacy is a universal right and are committed to giving every user the tools they need to be in control.

Open access for everyone
Last—but certainly not least—we are committed to open access for everyone. We aim to help the open web thrive, sending more traffic to the open web every year since Google was created. Google is free for everyone, accessible on any device, in more than 150 languages around the world, and we continue to expand our ability to serve people everywhere.

So wherever you are, whatever you’re looking for, however you’re able to sing, spell, say, or visualize it, you can search on with Google.

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Tag Archives: Seach

How location helps provide more relevant search results

Finding businesses and services in your community

Same query, different local contexts

How location works at Google

Source: Search

20 years of Year in Search

Source: Search

Our work on the 2020 U.S. election

Record numbers of voters engaged with Google tools

How we helped educate and protect campaigns

Protecting our platforms from abuse

Source: Search

Spruce up your Business Profile for holiday shoppers

Source: Search

Stop, drop and pass the rolls! Thanksgiving fun with Google

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Source: Search

Say G’day to Aussie AR Animals

Source: Search

How AI is powering a more helpful Google

Helping you find exactly what you’re
looking for

Access to high quality information during COVID-19

Understanding key moments in videos

Deepening understanding through data

Helping quality journalism through advanced search

Search what you see, and explore
information in 3D

If you don’t know how to search it, sing it

What sets Google Search apart

Source: Search

Search On 2020

Source: Search

Finding businesses and services in your community

Same query, different local contexts

How location works at Google

Source: Search

2020: The year the world asked "why?"

Source: Search

Record numbers of voters engaged with Google tools

How we helped educate and protect campaigns

Protecting our platforms from abuse

Source: Search

Source: Search

Source: Search

Source: Search

Source: Search

Source: Search

Helping you find exactly what you’re looking for

Access to high quality information during COVID-19

Understanding key moments in videos

Deepening understanding through data

Helping quality journalism through advanced search

Search what you see, and explore information in 3D

If you don’t know how to search it, sing it

What sets Google Search apart

Source: Search

Source: Search

Helping you find exactly what you’re
looking for

Search what you see, and explore
information in 3D