Google has been a search engine that has been driving our quest for answers for the past 21 years. Google is synonymous with our desire to get information on the go ever since. It’s been a such a dominant force on the internet that it has even spawned its own verb in the English language and most people’s go-to whenever they have any question that they need an answer to.
And even though the company itself has gone on to other things like operating systems and browsers, its foundation and origins will always be placed in its search engine beginnings. But now Google will step that searching up a notch even more as the company has announced arguably its most important search engine update ever since it got started.
The new change (which was announced in a new blog post) will see Google now understand all the words you type into a search box and instead of removing small words like “at”, “the”, “to” and “for”, use them to better understand the context of a question, and hopefully be able to provide you with a better answer. All with the aid of the magic that is known as machine learning:
While we’ve continued to improve our language understanding capabilities over the years, we sometimes still don’t quite get it right, particularly with complex or conversational queries.
In the blog post by Google Search fellow and vice president Pandu Nayak then provides a use case of how this will work:
The query in the search box above is asking Google if a Brazilian traveller planning to travel to the USA needs a visa in 2019. In the pre-update result on the left, Google misunderstood the search term, and displayed an irrelevant result – Google thinks you’re wondering about visa requirements to go to Brazil as a US traveller, while with the new update Google understands that you’re a Brazilian traveller asking about visa requirements for travelling to the US in 2019.
The blog provided another example of a question about a pharmacy where the “can you” aspect of the question changes the context of Google search algorithms entirely.
It’s a big change for Google and one that will make them provide even more accurate answers to questions, even though they were frightfully good at it. And all this without a blip in performance through the magic sauce that is their search algorithms. Though when asking Google if the Springboks can beat England this coming weekend, it gave me an article about how bookies have tipped England to be the favourites. So even with the update, Google still gets some answers wrong.
Last Updated: October 28, 2019
G8crasha
October 28, 2019 at 12:22
I’ve become so dependent on Google for some things, sometimes, when I search for something, I half expect Google to perform that activity on my behalf instead of providing me with the information to perform the activity myself! Talk about being overdependent!
Guz
October 28, 2019 at 13:11
I sometimes use google if I can’t remember how to spell a word, it works better than auto correct, I can’t spell for shit
Kromas
October 28, 2019 at 12:03
oh no!
Hammersteyn
October 28, 2019 at 12:13
https://media.giphy.com/media/bKBM7H63PIykM/giphy.gif
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 12:40
https://media2.giphy.com/media/CBOFQfzFKKiha/giphy.gif
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 12:52
I suspect Google is updating their algorithm because of the up-and-coming US elections. It’s no secret that all the manbuns in Silicon Valley nearly had a mental breakdown over the orange man, and I guess, they’ll be firing all the salvos to ensure that OrangeManBad doesn’t get a second term – even if it means manipulating the results you get after you’ve “searched”
Dresden
October 28, 2019 at 13:21
I mean, just look what they’ve done recently to Tulsi Gabbard.
Gustav Willem Diedericks
October 28, 2019 at 15:30
Yeah, that pissed me quite off, but at least it shows they are partisan. Hoping for a full congressional hearing soon and a split-up of the company that once touted the line “Do No Evil”
BradeLunner
October 28, 2019 at 18:52
Wait, what happened? Inform a brother
Dresden
October 29, 2019 at 08:07
Here’s a link.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/25/tulsi-gabbard-sues-google-for-censorship-of-ads/
BradeLunner
October 29, 2019 at 11:11
Many thanks! I did try a quick search, but, you know, didn’t really know what to ask
Pariah
October 28, 2019 at 12:14
So finally, when I search for the “History of Porn” it’ll no longer tell me how to delete my browser history?
Hammersteyn
October 28, 2019 at 12:22
Maybe I can even finally stop using Bing for accurate results.
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 12:40
Shots fired! Shots fired!
(Granted, people forget that Bing’s image search is actually far more superior to Google’s – I prefer Yandex though, but only because it’s not Bing)
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 12:52
Your image search is easy, everything is banana related
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 15:15
And dangerous, because it’s not just bananas that are banana-shaped…
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 15:29
Croissants are too
HvR
October 28, 2019 at 13:20
If it was good enough for Five O it is good enough for Hammer
Dresden
October 28, 2019 at 13:28
https://media.giphy.com/media/Lmy6JtNOKlIXTauYhT/giphy.gif
HairyEwok
October 28, 2019 at 12:22
Oh you got that. I got porn that was being documented and archived.
G8crasha
October 28, 2019 at 12:22
I’ve become so dependent on Google for some things, sometimes, when I search for something, I half expect Google to perform that activity on my behalf instead of providing me with the information to perform the activity myself! Talk about being overdependent!
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 12:40
Oh you kids and your google… rather give duckduckpro a go (and free yourself from Google, and protect your privacy and data).
Banana Jim uses DuckDuckGo. Isn’t it time for you to do the same?
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 15:00
Pfff, rather use GooseGooseVamoose
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 15:15
What about CanardCanardAller?
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 15:29
Remember when ananzi.co.za was a thing? I miss when it was a real search engine – instead of a glorified mutant version of the yellow pages.
HvR
October 28, 2019 at 15:30
altavista and hotbot FTW
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 18:40
The Admiral members
Son of Banana Jim
October 28, 2019 at 18:51
I member!
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 12:40
Machine learning aka Skynet
Guz
October 28, 2019 at 13:11
I sometimes use google if I can’t remember how to spell a word, it works better than auto correct, I can’t spell for shit
Admiral Chief
October 28, 2019 at 13:11
Easy
S
H
I
T
You CAN spell it!
Guz
October 28, 2019 at 13:21
https://media3.giphy.com/media/OdfGi7LVg2PxC/giphy.gif