Author Archives: Harris Cohen

Helpful Search tools for evaluating information online

Whether you’re looking for facts about the COVID vaccine or information on how to apply for a loan, having access to relevant, credible information is crucial. People turn to Google for trustworthy, high quality results -- especially when it matters most.  

That’s why we design our ranking systems to prioritize the most useful, highest quality content and provide direct access to reliable information for important topics. We’re also looking into new ways to give you more context about the information you find online, and introducing more information literacy features, based on research and best practices from experts. 

More insights from About This Result

Earlier this year, we launched the About This Result feature, which provides details about a website before you visit it, including its description, when it was first indexed and whether your connection to the site is secure. In the coming weeks, we’re expanding these panels to help you learn more about the sources and topics you find on Search. 

We’re bringing new and important insights to About This Result. When you tap the three dots on any search result, you’ll be able to learn more about the page. You can: 

  • See more information about the source: In addition to seeing a source description from Wikipedia, you’ll also be able to read what a site says about itself in its own words, when that information is available.
  • Find what others on the web have said about a site: Reading what others on the web have written about a site -- news, reviews and other helpful background context -- can help you better evaluate sources.
  • Learn more about the topic: In the “About the topic” section, you can find information such as top news coverage or results about the same topic from other sources.

  • About This Result panel shows the new "more about this page" link.
  • About This Result panel shows the new "About the source" section.
  • About This Result panel shows the new "Web results about the source" section.
  • About This Result panel shows new "About the topic" section.

People don’t just come to Google looking for quick facts. They often really want to explore the information that’s out there, and learn about where it’s coming from — especially in situations where there’s a source they may not be familiar with. We want to make it easier to evaluate information with this update to About This Result, which will be rolling out in the coming weeks in English in the United States. And we’re working to bring About This Result to more countries around the world. 

Phone screen showing content advisory for rapidly changing results.

Empowering you with context

There are a range of other Google tools that help people evaluate the credibility of information online. For instance, we make it easy to spot fact checks published by independent, authoritative sources on the web. We highlight relevant fact checks on results in Search, News and Google Images. These fact check features have received billions of impressions in Search this year alone.

One of the most important pieces of context we can provide is letting you know when helpful or relevant information isn’t available on the web just yet. This could be true in a rapidly evolving event, where interest in a topic can often travel faster than the facts. Or when relevant information simply doesn’t exist for your search. In these moments, we alert you with a notice recommending that you check back later or try another search. 

With each of these tools, our goal is to offer simple, useful ways for you to evaluate and make sense of the information you find online. We’ll continue to look for new ways to improve and add to these features and make sure they’re easy to find and use. 

Bringing fact check information to Google Images

Photos and videos are an incredible way to help people understand what’s going on in the world. But the power of visual media has its pitfalls⁠—especially when there are questions surrounding the origin, authenticity or context of an image. Starting today, we are surfacing fact check information in Google Images globally to help people navigate these issues and make more informed judgments about what they see on the web. This builds on the fact check features in Search and News, which people come across billions of times per year. 


Now, when you search on Google Images, you may see a "Fact Check" label under the thumbnail image results. When you tap one of these results to view the image in a larger format, you’ll see a summary of the fact check that appears on the underlying web page. These labels may appear both for fact check articles about specific images and for fact check articles that include an image in the story.
sharksswimming.jpeg

Fact check labels appear on results that come from independent, authoritative sources on the web that meet our criteria. These sources rely on ClaimReview, an open method used by publishers to indicate fact check content to search engines. We already highlight fact checks on Search and in Google News to make this content easy to discover. YouTube also leverages ClaimReview to surface fact check information panels in Brazil, India and the U.S. The full fact check library can be accessed through a dedicated search tool and an open API. 


Just as is the case in Search, adding this label in Google Images results does not affect ranking; our systems are designed to surface the most relevant, reliable information available, including from sources that provide fact checks.


To recognize the important work being done by fact-checkers during the ongoing pandemic, the Google News Initiative provided $6.5 million in funding support to organizations around the globe earlier this year. 


Taken together, these efforts not only highlight the significant contributions of the fact check community, but they also ensure that people have access to critical context about the information⁠—and now images⁠—they encounter online.


Source: Search


Bringing fact check information to Google Images

Photos and videos are an incredible way to help people understand what’s going on in the world. But the power of visual media has its pitfalls⁠—especially when there are questions surrounding the origin, authenticity or context of an image. Starting today, we are surfacing fact check information in Google Images globally to help people navigate these issues and make more informed judgments about what they see on the web. This builds on the fact check features in Search and News, which people come across billions of times per year. 


Now, when you search on Google Images, you may see a "Fact Check" label under the thumbnail image results. When you tap one of these results to view the image in a larger format, you’ll see a summary of the fact check that appears on the underlying web page. These labels may appear both for fact check articles about specific images and for fact check articles that include an image in the story.
sharksswimming.jpeg

Fact check labels appear on results that come from independent, authoritative sources on the web that meet our criteria. These sources rely on ClaimReview, an open method used by publishers to indicate fact check content to search engines. We already highlight fact checks on Search and in Google News to make this content easy to discover. YouTube also leverages ClaimReview to surface fact check information panels in Brazil, India and the U.S. The full fact check library can be accessed through a dedicated search tool and an open API. 


Just as is the case in Search, adding this label in Google Images results does not affect ranking; our systems are designed to surface the most relevant, reliable information available, including from sources that provide fact checks.


To recognize the important work being done by fact-checkers during the ongoing pandemic, the Google News Initiative provided $6.5 million in funding support to organizations around the globe earlier this year. 


Taken together, these efforts not only highlight the significant contributions of the fact check community, but they also ensure that people have access to critical context about the information⁠—and now images⁠—they encounter online.


Source: Search