Google announced several improvements to its core search engine, focusing on the deployment of AI to help users. With these improvements, the search engine will better answer questions with specific answers or those with very broad scopes.
The company also announced a new algorithm that will handle typos in queries much better. The updates also cover Google Lens and other search-related tools.
Most of the updates are helpful, while others are to make the experience more fun. For instance, you should now be able to hum a song, and Google Assistant will try to find it.
More data sources available
Google says that 1 in 10 search queries are misspelled. The company is already adept at handling typos using the ‘did you mean’ feature. The algorithm is getting an improvement that employs a neural net with 680 million parameters to better understand the context of searches.
Another feature integrates the search engine with various data sources that were only available as part of Google’s Open Data Commons.
If you ask a question like ‘employment in New York,’ the Knowledge Graph will be triggered and display graphs with the search results’ data.
Search is going to have hyper-specific answers
One of the updates announces is its system’s ability to index parts of pages to answer niche questions. The system will now be able to point you to something as highly specific as a paragraph in some DIY forum you’ve never been on.
The new system will improve a whopping 7% of all queries.
When tasked with answering broader questions, Google uses AI to understand what a page is about to provide the most accurate answers. The system can even tag critical moments in videos to make searching for solutions more accessible.
13 hours ago
