Giving you fresher, more recent search results

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh. Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.

If I search for [olympics], I probably want information about next summer’s upcoming Olympics, not the 1900 Summer Olympics (the only time my favorite sport, cricket, was played). Google Search uses a freshness algorithm, designed to give you the most up-to-date results, so even when I just type [olympics] without specifying 2012, I still find what I’m looking for.

Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.

We completed our Caffeine web indexing system last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we’re making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness.

• Recent events or hot topics. For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [occupy oakland protest], or for the latest news about the [nba lockout], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old. 

• Regularly recurring events. Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [ICALP] or an event like the [presidential election]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [NFL scores], [dancing with the stars] results or [exxon earnings], you’ll see the latest information. 

• Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information. 

There are plenty of cases where results that are a few years old might still be useful for you. [fast tomato sauce recipe] certainly saved me after a call from my wife reminded me I had volunteered to make dinner! On the other hand, when I search for the [49ers score], a result that is a week old might be too old.

Different searches have different freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up to the minute answers.

Update 11/7/11: To clarify, when we say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, we mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when we've said noticeably impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change noticeably impacts 6 - 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you're searching on.

Posted by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow

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Highlighting journalists on Google News

(Cross-posted on the Google News Blog)

Great journalism takes more than facts and figures -- it takes skilled reporters to knit together compelling stories. Knowing who wrote an article can help readers understand the article's context and quality, see more articles by that person, and even interact directly with them. Whole communities can form around prominent contributors, which is why we started showing information about content creators next to their material in Google Search.

Accordingly, Google News is rolling out more information about journalists over the next several weeks, starting with English-language editions. When reporters link their Google profile with their articles, Google News now shows the writer’s name and how many Google+ users have that person in their circles. For the lead article for each story, Google News also shows that reporter’s profile picture and enables readers to add them to their Google+ circles right from the Google News homepage.

If you are a journalist and would like to participate, please follow the instructions in our Help Center. If you are a reader, we hope you enjoy learning more about the faces behind the news.

Posted by Eric Weigle, Software Engineer, Google News team

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A new way to get information about real-world places

I love eating out with my friends and trying new places, but one of the most difficult questions you can ask me is "Where do you want to eat?" Today, we’re making a few improvements to Google search that will make it a lot easier and faster to answer this question. For example, I mentioned to a friend that I’ll be visiting Boston, and he suggested that I check out a barbecue place called Redbones BBQ in Davis Square. Since I don't know that restaurant, I do a quick search for [redbones bbq] to see if it’s a place I’d like.


When I do, I see the same familiar search results page but I notice that there's now a new panel to the right of the results -- where previously only a map appeared -- with much more information than before. I see two images with pegman, the Street View mascot, below the map so I click on the first one. This instantly takes me to an immersive 360-degree interior view of the restaurant, as if I were virtually teleported to Redbones.


I pan around and see that it's a cool colorful restaurant with a nice, comfy feel. What's more, when I go back to the search results panel and click on the second image, I’m able to look around the outside of the restaurant and get a sense for the neighborhood via the familiar Street View experience. I’m beginning to really like this place! Further down the panel, I see the price range indicating it won’t be too expensive and an “at a glance” summary that tells me Redbones has great beer and pulled pork sandwiches -- and menu links if I want to see more. Thanks to this helpful information right on the search results page, I’ve quickly been able to make my decision: I’m going to Redbones for a pulled pork sandwich.

Even if I’m not looking for a particular place by name, I can learn about places and quickly decide which ones are right for me. If I want to find a bar near Redbones for a few drinks after dinner, I can just search for [bars davis square] and get a familiar list of results. Only now, scanning the list and comparing places is easier than ever, since the instant preview feature will show the same detailed information about the various bars when I hover over the “>>” symbol to the right of each result. After just a few seconds perusing the additional local information for different places, I know that Joshua Tree has a great beer selection and that the Orleans has live music but is a bit farther away.


This new type of layout may appear on the search results page for a range of real-world places -- restaurants, hotels, local businesses, landmarks, museums and more. Of course, the local information that appears will vary depending on what’s available online. So the next time you plan your visit to the New England Aquarium or Fenway Park, you might be able to check out their opening hours, get directions, and find the nearest transit stops, all from a simple Google search.

In the coming weeks, you’ll start seeing the improved local search experience in more than 40 languages. Give it a try and start discovering new local favorites, near and far!

Posted by Jim Müller, Tech Lead

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A prima ballerina vs. some very angry birds: this year’s Halloween search trends

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

The pumpkins are carved, the spiderwebs are hanging, 
Kids and their pets are door-to-door banging, 
Witches on their brooms and owls on their perches, 
Let’s take a look at some Halloween searches.

Halloween searches are some of our favorite trends to look at all year. Using Insights for Search and some internal data, we took a peek at which costumes and candies are on top in the United States.

This year seems to be about the battle of the birds. Searches for [angry birds costume], based on the game phenomenon that has so many of us addicted, have been steadily rising in 2011, and we’re seeing 10 times more search volume this year than last. But as of mid-October, the Angry Birds were overtaken in search by [black swan costume]. The Darren Aronofsky ballet drama seems poised to be the most popular costume idea by All Hallows Eve, with related searches for everything from [black tutu] to [black corset]. Some are even looking to be the alter ego [white swan].

Meanwhile, search data doesn’t seem to show that anyone is too anxious to be the object of the Angry Birds’ rage—at least not independently from their sworn enemies. Although [angry birds costume] is one of the top 10 fastest-rising searches related to [pig costume] over the last 90 days, another three are focused on a much sweeter piglet, the cartoon favorite Olivia.

Birds aside, this year’s fastest rising costumes in the U.S. overall are inspired by a variety of sources from pop culture over the past year, including TV shows—[pan am], [wilfred]—movies—[smurfette], [tron], [captain america]—pop music—[nicki minaj]—and more [monster high].

In fact, we may have a battle of the pop goddesses on our hands as well as a battle of the birds. During 2009 and 2010, homegrown Lady Gagas were trick-or-treating throughout the country, but while Lady Gaga still rules the music charts, she’s a far less popular costume choice this year than in 2010:

And although overall in 2011 [lady gaga costume] leads [nicki minaj costume] in search volume, right now they’re neck and neck:

We’d be lying if we weren’t hoping that at least a few Minaj fans out there choose to pay tribute to her by dressing up as uberfans eight-year-old Sophia Grace and her cousin, the two little girls who blew away YouTube viewers with their performance of “Super Bass.”

Speaking of YouTube, Halloween doesn’t fall on a Friday this year, but that’s not stopping people from dressing up as Rebecca Black:

Even if you don’t want dress up as a YouTube star, YouTube can still help you create your Halloween costume. Head on over to the YouTube Blog for video tutorials and other inspiration.

Lest you think Halloween is just for humans, take a look at the huge amount of searches for [dog costume]. In terms of get-ups actually intended for canines, ewoks and dinosaurs are the fastest-rising related searches. But two of the top five rising searches in 2011 related to [dog costume] are a little quirkier: at least a few people out there may dress up as the eponymous character from FX’s “Wilfred” show, about a dog, and a man who sees the dog as a man dressed in a dog suit. Kinda meta.

Turning from costumes to the other traditions of this holiday, searches for [haunted house] and [pumpkin patch] are both spiking right now, but there seems to be greater interest in spooky thrills than in finding that perfect pumpkin to carve. Maybe spiderwebs and peeled-grape eyeballs are a less scary proposition than running into the [great pumpkin] (from the classic movie which, incidentally, celebrates its 45th birthday this Halloween).

Everyone has a sweet tooth this time of year, but [candy corn] is remains the undisputed king of people’s cravings. In the last 30 days, search volume is nearly twice as high for [candy corn] than for other candy choices:

Per capita, Alabama is searching the most for [candy corn] this year. Here are the states that searched the most for a few other Halloween sugar staples (and some newcomer treats):

• Candy apples - Rhode Island
• Gummy worms - Wisconsin
• Kosher candy - New York
• Sugar free candy - Kentucky
• Gluten free candy - Oregon
• Candy bars - Utah
• Organic candy - Colorado

When trick or treating, there’s always that one house that insists on making Halloween healthy—but luckily for us, those are few and far between. Over the last 30 days, there is almost two and a half times more search volume for [candy] than for [apples]. The classic game of bobbing for apples, however, it still going strong, spiking dependably every October.

Whether you’re dressing up as an elegant avian ballerina or a brightly-colored roly-poly bird in a slingshot, we hope you have a spootakular Halloween!

Posted by Rachel Durfee, Google Blog Team

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Improving the look of authorship in your search results

Yesterday we introduced a simple way for content creators to set up authorship using just their email address, which displays their name and picture on the Google search results page alongside content they wrote. In addition, we’ve added a few improvements to the author information you see in the search results, so you can find out more about the authors behind the articles and engage with them directly. 

Specifically, you’ll now see:

• Circle count. Although you saw the name of an author next to the result, we kept hearing that you wanted to find more info about them. The most popular request was knowing how many people followed that author on Google+, which is now included. 
• Add to circles. You should be able to easily engage with and hear more from authors you like, so we're making that easy by allowing you to add authors to your circles right in search results (this feature is rolling out over the coming weeks). 
• Comments. Another way you can engage with authors is to comment directly to them on Google+. Now if an author shares an article on Google+ and they get comments on it, you’ll see a link on the search results page to view the comments in Google+. 

These changes are just another step towards helping you identify and discover high quality content on the web. If you’re a content creator interested in learning more about authorship, check out our Help Center.

Posted by Wanda Hung, Software Engineer

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Set up authorship using just your email address

In June, we began highlighting content creators in search results to help searchers identify high quality, authoritative content. Since then, content creators have been able to link to their content with the authorship markup to have their photos appear next to their content in search results and help readers find out more about the person behind the story. After all, if someone searches for [britney spears], they should be able to quickly and easily find not just information about Britney Spears, but also information by Britney:

The response to highlighting authoritative content has been positive, and starting today we've simplified the setup process for content creators who want to participate.

Since many of you authors have your email addresses published in your content, we can use this information to link your content to your Google+ profile. Starting today you can verify your email address directly in your Google+ profile. Here’s where you add your email address in your Profile:

For example, let’s say you write content on a page hosted at http://www.galaxytimes.com. To participate in the authorship program, put your name on your content and your e-mail address:

Then verify your email address sagark@galaxytimes.com on your Google+ profile.

To get started:

1. Click here to setup your Google+ profile 
1. Remember to upload a high quality headshot, and fill out some profile information such as hometown, etc. 
2. Verify your email address 
1. On your Google+ profile, click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button in the upper right corner 
2. Scroll down and click on “Work” 
3. Click the drop-down arrow next to “Phone” 
4. Click on “Email” 
5. Put your cursor in the box next to “Email”, and fill in your email address where it says “New contact info”. Use your email address which has the same domain as the main place you publish your work. For example, “sagark@galaxytimes.com”. 
6. Change the visibility of the section from “Only you” to “Everyone on the web” 
7. Click on “Save” 
8. Click on “Done Editing” 
9. Scroll down and find where you added the e-mail address and then click “Verify” 

We hope this makes things a lot simpler for content creators on the web and continues to help people find high quality content in their search results.

Update 4/18/12: We now have a new, even simpler tool that allows you to verify your email and sign up for authorship at https://plus.google.com/authorship.

Posted by Doantam Phan, Software Engineer

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Export your sites blocklist from Chrome to your Google Account

Earlier this year, we made algorithmic changes to help you find more high-quality sites, and we’ve introduced a Chrome extension and a feature in Google Search where you can hide sites you may find unhelpful from your search results. Based on your feedback, we’ve added an export feature from the Chrome extension to your Google account. By storing your personal blocked sites list with your Google account, Google hides these sites from your search results when you’re signed in. Also, you can manage your list in a central place, regardless of the browser or computer that you’re using or the extensions that you have installed.

To get started, click on the red button with the extension logo in Chrome, then select “Export” from the screen that shows your personal blocklist.

Then, click the “Export to Google” button. The next prompt asks if you’d like to disable the extension, since the list of blocked domains has now been uploaded to Google and will be used for signed-in searches. You can re-enable it later if your change your mind. In the final step, you review the sites that you want blocked and confirm the export to your Google account.

The sites that you export will be hidden from your searches while you are signed into your account. You can unblock or manage the blocked sites at any time in the Search Settings Blocked Sites screen. You can also see our help page for more details on the blocked sites feature.  

Posted by Ray Zhong, Search Quality Engineer

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