If you suspect that your Google searches don’t always yield identical results, or that the kinds of results you get have evolved over time, you would be right. The tech giant is open about tuning results to what it feels users want, and what suits the platform and context you’re searching from right now.
Tech expert Omar Gallaga spoke with members of Google’s search team about the ways the company tunes its search options and results.
Highlights from this segment:
– When you search from a mobile device, Google presents results that are optimized for faster loading and that emphasize information that’s of interest to people on the go.
– The new multisearch option allows users to pair text with an image, to find results that more precisely match the request.
– Google says it takes steps to eliminate search spam in Google Ads and Google Shopping. The company says it handles 40 billion pieces of spam each day. Critics say Google should do more, including more human intervention to remove spam.
