Each time Google updates its algorithm, it is moving a step forward in making the search experience easy and more relevant to the users. It is imperative to stay up-to-date with the latest features and updates by Google.
As a part of the Search On 2020 event, Google made several announcements related to its search engine which provide varying levels of functionality. These new features aim at explaining how AI is now increasingly influencing the algorithms of its search engine and helping people find the information they need.
• Spelling recommendation improvements -The BERT algorithm being used currently, processes almost all the request in English. With the new algorithm, it will understand the misspelled queries using 680 million parameters which will help in terms of the quality of the search. In other words, Google has improved its spelling predictions to help find better matches for users.
• Identifying passages of the text – The second new feature is the ability of the algorithm to better understand a passage within a page by indexing individual passages of text within web pages in order to find relevant information hidden in the page relative to a user’s query. This helps with very specific and precise requests. This feature will arrive in November and will improve 7% of search results in all languages from the start.
• Key moments in videos -The videos also fall under the new innovations with a better understanding of the content to bring the visitor to the search engine directly to that part in the video where the answer to the question can be found. Using the AI approach Google has been able to align with YouTube chapters where creators are able to add descriptions relative to each segment of the video via timestamps, which can help Google by providing more context as to the content in each part.
• Hum to search – Something on the lines of Shazam, Google with its audio algorithms is now able to identify popular songs based on humming or whistling to the search app. It is very simple, hum a tune using google assistant and the algorithm will work to identify the potential song matches.
• Subtopics in search queries – Google is adding subtopics to its search queries. It means Google will show the users subtopics as options within the search results which will deliver greater diversity of content when something broad is searched. For example, if you search for home exercise equipment, Google will now be able to give results based on relevant subtopics like budget, small space ideas and show a wider range of content on the search results page.
• PinPoint for Journalist – Google has announced PinPoint which aims to help the journalists. It will be a free tool that will be available in 7 languages allowing them to search for information related to entities like names of people, places, companies, etc.
Additional features that Google will unveil in the coming weeks will be new visual search possibilities in Google Lens, the Knowledge Graph, Google shopping, Google Maps, and Google View. Keep a lookout for more updates from Google to stay ahead and informed.