Google want to give users a heads up when it thinks their search results are missing the mark. Google announced that it will be including notices on search results that it determines may be of dubious helpfulness.
‘We’ve probably all gone through this before: you do a search for something, and the results just don’t seem to be related to what you were looking for,’ writes Google in a blog post.
‘Starting today in the U.S., we’re rolling out a new message that lets you know when Google hasn’t been able to find anything that matches your search particularly well.’
Google says that it will still allow users to scroll through the results and in addition to warning them that their search may not have been as productive as they had hoped, it will sometimes provide ‘alternative’ searches that could produce better results.
‘When possible, the feature will also provide some alternative searches as well as on how you could reformulate your query to better find the information you seek,’ writes Google.
Google says that the feature shouldn’t show up too often after all, the idea is that Google search will produce good results that help you with what you’re looking for. But the feature should be a useful addition. Sometimes, knowing that an answer isn’t out there can be almost as helpful as finding the answer in the first place.
