Analysis of the different methods used by information seekers to offer the most accurate results possible.
by Osvaldo Callegari
Internet search engines: tools or Threat to privacy?: in these times, at any time, anywhere, it is necessary for us to use a means to instantly obtain information, with small doses of anxiety until what we are looking for is resolved.
The ability to discern what we seek is sustained by the reliability of the seeker.
The world of search is currently divided into two: on the one hand, the Google search engine for much of the world and Baidu for a large number of Eastern countries. These two search engines generate a global trend of what to look for, how, where and what to find.
There are numerous search engines, always as second alternatives, for a simple reason, the predominant search engine is the one that searches faster and coincides with our needs and with the greatest number of options.
This is not always all good, you will have noticed many times that the information of our environment is as circumscribed, that is, we notice that there is information that maybe we should have and it is not glimpsed.
Structure of a search engine
Due to the large amount of information that is handled on the Web, it is practically impossible to find something without help and requires a specific classification and ordering.
Google's ranking methods are designed to organize hundreds of billions of websites directed to a main search index (ours) which allows you to find the most relevant results in a fraction of a second. In turn, the form of presentation on the page makes it possible to provide detailed and objective information of the search carried out.
Classification systems are made up of several algorithms that provide the information that is most useful. Within them, various factors are analyzed, including words of the query, their ease and relevance.
A very important aspect is that of the origin and experience of the sources, this is essential to guarantee the desired search.
It is more important in the result of the search, the freshness of the content, prevailing in it the current news before the definitions of the dictionaries.
According to Google, structure of its search engine
To help ensure that search algorithms meet high standards of relevance and quality, there is a rigorous process that includes live testing and thousands of trained third-party search quality evaluators from around the world. These quality evaluators follow strict guidelines that define goals for search algorithms and are publicly available for anyone to view.
Meaning of a query
To get results relevant to your query, we must first establish what information you are looking for: the intent behind your query. Understanding intent is fundamentally understanding language and is a critical aspect of the search. They build language models to try to decipher which strings of words they should look for in the index.
This involves steps that seem as simple as interpreting spelling errors, and extends to trying to understand the type of query you entered by applying some of the latest research on natural language understanding. For example, our synonym system helps Search know what it means by establishing that multiple words mean the same thing. This capability allows Search to match the "How to change a bulb" query with pages describing how to replace a bulb. This system took more than five years to develop and significantly improves results in more than 30% of searches in all languages.
Beyond synonyms, search algorithms also try to understand what category of information you're looking for. Is it a very specific search or a broad query? Are there words like "review" or "images" or "opening hours" that indicate what specific information you need behind the search? Is the query written in French, suggesting that you want answers in that language? Or are you looking for a business near you and want local information?
A particularly important dimension of this query categorization is the analysis of whether your query is looking for new content. If you search for trending keywords, update algorithms will interpret it as a sign that updated information might be more useful than previous pages. This means that when you search for the latest "NFL scores," "dance with the stars" results, or "exxon earnings," you'll see the latest information.
Relevance of web pages
The algorithms then analyze the content of the web pages to evaluate whether the page contains information that may be relevant to what you are looking for.
The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a web page contains the same keywords as your search query. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or in the body of the text, the information is more likely to be relevant. Beyond simple keyword matching, we use aggregated and anonymized interaction data to assess whether search results are relevant to queries. They transform that data into signals that help machine-learned systems better estimate relevance.
These relevance signals help search algorithms evaluate whether a web page contains an answer to your search query, rather than simply repeating the same question. Just think: when you search for "dogs," you probably don't want a page with the word "dogs" hundreds of times. With this in mind, algorithms evaluate whether a page contains other relevant content beyond the keyword "dogs," such as images of dogs, videos, or even a list of breeds.
It's important to note that while systems look for these types of quantifiable signals to assess relevance, they're not designed to analyze subjective concepts like the point of view or political tilt of a page's content.
Content quality
Beyond matching the words of your query to relevant documents on the web, search algorithms also aim to prioritize the most reliable sources available. To do this, systems are designed to identify signals that can help determine which pages demonstrate expertise, authority, and trust in a given topic.
They look for sites that many users seem to value for similar queries. For example, if other prominent websites link to the page (known as PageRank), that has proven to be a good sign that the information is reliable. Aggregated feedback from the search quality assessment process is used to further refine how systems perceive the quality of information.
Spam algorithms play an important role in establishing whether a page is of low quality and help search ensure that sites do not increase in search results through deceptive or manipulative behaviors. Google's webmaster guidelines describe the techniques that characterize these low-quality spam sites, including purchasing links that pass PageRank or introducing invisible text onto the page.
Content on the web and the broader information ecosystem is constantly changing, and they continually measure and evaluate the quality of systems to make sure they are striking the right balance between the relevance of information and authority to maintain their confidence in the results they see.
Usability of web pages
When ranking the results, Google Search also evaluates whether web pages are easy to use. When they identify users' points of persistent dissatisfaction, they develop algorithms to promote more usable pages over less usable ones, and all other things are the same.
These algorithms analyze signals that indicate whether all users can see the result, such as whether the site appears correctly in different browsers, whether it is designed for all types and sizes of devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones, and in turn whether page load times work well for users who have a slow Internet connection.
Since website owners can improve the usability of their site, they work hard to inform site owners before significant and useful changes are made to search algorithms.
For example, in January 2018, they announced that their algorithms would start considering the "page speed" of sites, six months before the changes were implemented.
To help website owners, they provide detailed guidance and tools like Pagespeed Insights and Webpagetest.org so site owners could see what (if necessary) they needed to adjust to make their sites more mobile-friendly.
Context and settings
Information such as your location, previous search history, and search settings help tailor your results to what is most useful and relevant to you at the time.
They use their country and location to deliver content relevant to their area.
For example, if you're in Chicago and searching for "soccer," google will most likely show you results about football and the Chicago Bears first. While if you search for "football" in London, Google will rank the results on football and the Premier League. Search settings are also an important indicator of results that you are likely to find useful,
It's like setting a preferred language or choosing SafeSearch (a tool that helps filter explicit results).
In some cases, they can also customize their results using information about their recent search activity. For example, if you search for "Barcelona" and recently searched for "Barcelona vs Arsenal," that could be an important clue that you want information about the football club, not the city.
Search also includes some features that customize results based on activity in your Google account. For example, if you search for "events near me," Google can tailor some recommendations to the categories of events they think you might be interested in. These systems are designed to suit your interests, but they are not designed to infer sensitive characteristics such as your race, religion, or political party.
You can control what search activity is used to improve your search experience, including adjusting what data is saved in your Google account, in myaccount.google.com.
Note: The names and brands mentioned are names, brands of their respective companies, Google® sources.
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