Google is keeping things fresh... whatever that means.
Have y'all noticed that Google is trying out some things when it comes to the search results they display? I sure have—I am not a fan of those AI-generated results at the top. Are they even vetting them for accuracy??
This week, I got a fun little surprise because Google decided to survey me about my search results page. Here is the question they asked:
Honestly, this question made me giggle. Often, in survey design, people use the word "or" to further clarify something they said earlier. In this case, Google said "newly updated" and then further clarified what they meant by using the word ... fresh. Are you not laughing out loud? For starters, I haven't a clue what Google means by "newly updated" or "fresh" information. Does it mean they are prioritizing websites that have updated most recently? What if the least relevant, least accurate websites are constantly updating? That would stink.
When I use Google, I care about results that are:
relevant to the question I asked,
accurate, and
credible.
I suppose, if I were looking up time-sensitive information about an event or politics or the weather, then I would care if the information was "fresh," meaning, from the past hour, day, or possible week, but
that would still be a secondary concern to the points listed above.
Then there is this "None at all" and "Exclusive" situation. Again, just thinking through how to put answers to this question into action. Do I want ONLY non-fresh information? Or, do I only want to see things that have been recently updated? In which case, wouldn't it be nice if Google knew how I defined recently updated (really, the solution would be for Google to define that for you!)
Now, if this little pop-up happened to be adaptive, and it only showed up when you were Googling something that you had looked up before, that would be a cool feature. "Hey, I know I've searched this a few times before ... only show me results I haven't already seen." Alas, that isn't what they were doing.
It seems like this is important data to Google because they are popping up to ask me about it, and it could change their search algorithm. Which is concerning because it is an unclear, confusing question. Bad questions = bad data = bad decisions. If people don't have a clear understanding of what you are asking, it is difficult for them to give you an accurate response.
I could imagine a re-worked question that said something along the lines of ...
When you are searching for [describe a category of information], what is most important to you when we decide what to show you first on the results page?
Relevance to my question
Accuracy of the information
Credibility of the source
When the information was last published
Other, please describe: ___________.
Note that this question would need to be asked multiple times for different types of information, for instance, your response for a news article may be different from if you are looking up something related to American history.
Honestly, even looking at that re-worked question, I think: What is the point? Is Google not already prioritizing relevance and accuracy in what they show me? In case you didn't know, you can actually sort your results by time anyway, so again I ask ... what is Google trying to learn here?
Why do YOU think Google is asking this question? Do you think any version of it is useful to them? Do you care about fresh information? What would you put on the list of what matters the most to you in search results?
