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EU courts told 'right to be forgotten' law should not apply globally
Europe's "right to be forgotten" law has consistently proven challenging since it was passed in 2014. For starters, requests may only be granted if information is considered "inadequate" or "irrelevant", but there's no clear ruleset for those terms, meaning it's essentially up to Google to decide what's eligible (and it's picky -- of 2.4 million requests submitted across four years, the search giant complied with only 43.3 percent). And as the law exists only in Europe, there's confusion over the applicability of the legislation to search results from other regions. If someone from the UK wants a result scrubbed, does Google have to remove it from its US domain too? Well according to a new non-binding ruling from one of Europe's senior chief advisors, the answer is no.
Google adds allergy forecast info to mobile search results
One antihistamine or two? Google is making sure hay fever sufferers can answer that question in double quick time, thanks to the new addition of pollen measurements in search results. Plug an allergy- or pollen-related query into your Android smartphone and search results will now include a simple breakdown of current and predicted pollen levels. The new type of rich card result is populated by data from The Weather Channel, and as always, you can get more detailed info by tapping on the card itself.
Google purges private medical records from search
Very few things qualify for removal from Google's search results, and according to Bloomberg, that list just grew by one. The tech titan has apparently begun purging personal medical records from results pages -- Google didn't make a big announcement about it, but a new line on its Removal Policies website confirms the new rule. Under the section marked "Information we may remove," there's a new entry that says "confidential, personal medical records of private people."
Google refines its search results to curb fake news
Google's quest to fight fake news isn't stopping with identifying bogus stories and an emphasis on fact-checking. The internet giant is rolling out changes to its search results in hopes of curbing both fake news and offensive material. To begin with, it's tweaking its "signals" (such as freshness and the frequency of a site's appearance) to promote more authoritative sources while downplaying the junk. Also, Google's human Search Quality Raters now have new guidelines to help them spot false stories and ultimately influence search algorithms.
Google and Microsoft agree to demote pirate search results
The UK government has drawn up a 'Voluntary Code of Practice' designed to demote search results for copyright-infringing websites. The new guidelines, which come into effect immediately, have been signed by Google, Bing, the Motion Picture Association and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). They formalise and "accelerate" the process by which a rights holder can flag what it perceives to be a site containing illegal content. If the request is upheld, the link will be removed from "the first page of search results," according to the UK's Intellectual Property Office.
Twitter's search results are now sorted by relevance
Earlier this year, Twitter started moving away from the reverse chronological timeline and started prioritizing algorithmically "relevant" tweets in order to keep users more engaged. Starting today, Twitter will now be ordering its search results the same way in hopes that more relevant results will improve the search experience as well.
Google will launch dedicated search results for mobile
In a few months' time, you might notice getting different sets of search results on a phone and on a computer even if you use the same terms. That's because Google has decided to start indexing mobile websites separately, according to Search Engine Land. Mountain View has been toying with the idea since last year -- the continued growth in the number of mobile users might have finally convinced the tech titan to push through with it. Gary Illyes, the company's trends analyst, has revealed the info at digital marketing conference Pubcon, where he also assured people that Google will still have a desktop index. It just won't be as fresh and as up to date as the one for mobile.
Google search cards help you choose a college
Search for a college or university with Google and you'll soon see a new results card. These small, mobile-friendly summaries include graduation and acceptance rates, the average post-grad salary and the normal fees for undergraduate tuition. All of the stats are being pulled from the US Department of Education's "College Scorecard" site, meaning they're reliable and easy to compare. Of course, you've always been able to find this information yourself -- it just took a little longer rooting around the web. Now, it's easier to retrieve some quick, top-level information. So whatever you value the most -- be it projected earnings, or cheaper fees -- you can surface this information almost immediately. Which sounds pretty useful, whether you're just starting to think about your options, or narrowing down some colleges you've been deliberating for months.
Google is making mobile search more visual with rich cards
Google's new "rich cards" format will make googling on your phone a more visual experience than what you're used to. It's sort of an evolved version of rich snippets, those search results that come with small images and a short sample of the web page's text, though it's not supposed to replace the older format altogether. The company is rolling out the feature for recipes and movies first. So, if you're doing a search for, say, X-Men: Apocalypse or a recipe for chocolate pie, you might see a carousel of cards right on top of the results page that can scroll sideways. For now, you can only encounter rich cards if you're using the English version of Google.com, but the company will likely roll it out for more categories and languages in the future.
Google search displays results for iOS apps, too
Google's search tools on Android started digging up results from Android apps a while back. Now, the search app on iOS does the same. When you enter a query into the main Search app or the Chrome browser on an Apple device, the list of results will include the appropriate links to iOS apps. Of course, the company/developer will have to be part of Google's app index, and so far, handy software like Yelp, Foursquare, Expedia and several others are included on the list. If you're not seeing the new feature yet, sit tight: the folks in Mountain View are rolling it out to everyone over the next few days. There's no word on when, or if, Google will begin to pull info from apps on your iPhone -- or even those you've yet to download. Our bet is if a similar function arrives for iOS, Siri will handle those duties.
Court rules Google can arrange search results any way it wants
With the First Amendment behind it, Google is now free to put search results in whatever order it wants, according to a recent ruling by a US court in San Francisco. The company has been fighting to earn this right for years, but it wasn't until last week that a judge in the Bay Area decided to grant the search giant such a thing, citing freedom of speech as the main influencer in the decision. It all started back when a site known as CoastNews filed a lawsuit arguing that Google was knowingly lowering its rankings in search results; the tech giant supposedly viewed it like a competitor and, thus, didn't want it to succeed. Shortly thereafter, Google quickly answered with an anti-SLAPP motion, which is often used by defendants to guard against litigation that would deter free speech.
Blame Canada: Google ordered to block website links worldwide
A minor Canadian court dispute has resulted in a judge's far-reaching decision that Google must block a website's search results worldwide, not just in Canada. It arose from a case involving a company that stole its ex-partner's intellectual property and fled abroad to sell pirated equipment online. Following a court order, Google Canada pulled the rogue firm's search results, but it put up new sites faster than they could be erased. As a result, a judge ordered Google to spike all its links worldwide -- an unprecedented ruling against a search company. Google said that it would appeal to BC's highest court, claiming the judge overstepped her jurisdiction. Many legal critics also found the ruling puzzling, saying it could set a legal precedent limiting the right to free speech.
Google will escape fines in EU antitrust case by promoting rival services
Google has finally reached a settlement in its long-running dispute with the European Commission over the way that it displays search results. From now on, it must give equal visibility to rivals like Bing and Yahoo when it shows ads for its own products and services, like hotel reservations or customer ratings. The EU has been probing Google for over three years now about its practices, and recently said that it would need to substantially improve its offer, and fast, or face a fine of up to $5 billion. Google's competitors accused it of burying their ads in its search results, and a recent offer to display them in a shaded box was sharply rejected. A way of showing such services so that they're "clearly visible" to consumers as equal to Google's will now be determined "objectively," according to the commission. Once that happens, it'll need to comply for at least five years.
Google to block child sex abuse search results globally over the next six months
Eric Schmidt himself took to the British press to announce that Google has made a big step in ridding its search results of links to underage sexual abuse -- with some image detection assistance from Microsoft. The Google chairman said he hired a 200-strong team to work out a solution over the last three months and that their work has already fixed up to 100,000 potential queries. The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed the news as "significant progress." He's also praised Google's previous set of measures, which displayed a warning to people attempting to search for illegal material and caused a 20 percent drop in illicit activity. For now, Google's newest improvements are limited to English-speaking countries, including the UK and US, although the search company says it'll roll out its adjusted search globally over the next six months, covering 158 more languages.
Tumblr search update makes it easier to find the perfect GIF
With over 154 million blogs on Tumblr, finding just what you're looking for can be a chore. Luckily, the company has made it easier by announcing a beefed up search function. The Yahoo-owned site can now process search requests with multiple hashtagged words or phrases, such as "#engadget #expand." Leaving the pound sign out produces more robust search results -- returning both officially tagged entries and ones that simply contain the query text. To make its explicit content filter more visible and less confusing, Tumblr moved it to the redesigned results page, which now also boasts a Filter menu that segregates posts by type. Finally, a scrollbar that displays relevant blogs joins these two features, which should make it easier to find new friends if yours left for greener pastures.
Google starts including activity from select apps in search results
Well, it looks like you can soon expect to see yet more information to the right of your Google search results. The company's announced today that it has begun integrating activity from certain apps into its results, with a number of music and movie services the first in line. Expectedly, the common denominator among them is that they all use Google+ as a sign-in option, which lets Mountain View pull together things like aggregate user activity and the most popular movies and music from Fandango, Deezer, Flixster, SoundCloud and a handful of others. As usual, those features are getting rolled out gradually, with the initial batch of app results said to be rolling out to desktop search over the next few weeks, and additional apps and improvements promised over time.
Bing one-ups knowledge graph, hires Encyclopaedia Britannica to supply results
It may have retired from the cut-throat world of print, but Encyclopaedia Britannica is enjoying a renaissance by supplying results to Bing. Search for a topic and a Knowledge Graph-esque box will offer supplementary information to help you on your way. If it's a topic that the Britannica editors haven't gotten around to covering (Jersey Shore, for example) then the search engine will instead pull the information from Wikipedia, Freebase and Qwicki. Now we're just hoping Bing doesn't plan to revive those door-to-door booksellers, we're a sucker for a good sales pitch.
Google adds copyright takedowns to Transparency Reports, 1.2 million a month and growing
Google has been publishing what it's dubbed Transparency Reports for some time now -- detailing things like government requests to remove content from search results or requests for users' information -- and it's now added another big chunk of data to them in the interest of full disclosure. Starting today, you can see the number of removal requests it receives from companies over copyright and piracy concerns. As you can imagine, there's a lot -- over 1.2 million in the past month alone, a number that Google notes is increasing at a substantial rate. Among those asking for takedowns, Microsoft is by far the leader, filing well over half a million requests all by itself in the past month (the film and music industries are also, of course, well represented). You can pour through all the results yourself at the source link below.
Microsoft tops Yahoo in US search results for first time, according to ComScore
It very nearly caught up to Yahoo in the last round of ComScore figures, and Microsoft has now finally done it -- it can officially claim to be the number two search engine in the US. According to the research firm, Microsoft's Bing search engine and other websites fielded a total of 2.75 billion search requests in December of 2011, compared to 2.65 billion search requests handled by Yahoo -- translating to a market share of 15.1 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively. As you'd expect, that still leaves Microsoft far behind Google, which processed a whopping 12 billion search requests during the month, representing a still-dominant market share of 65.9 percent. Hit the source link below for all the numbers.
Google brings search to Your World, complete with results close to your heart
As Google presses forward with its social network initiative, it only makes sense that the company famed for comprehensive search results would naturally bring Google+ along for the ride. That day is now upon us, as the juggernaut from Mountain View has officially unveiled Your World -- an addition to its search results that prioritizes content generated by you and those in your circles. Now, the company hopes it'll be much easier to find relevant photos, blog posts and contacts from the Google search bar, which includes content both public and private. In effort to keep security in check, all searches will be performed by default over SSL. Additionally, skeptics may opt-out of Your World at any time. For those looking for the best of both worlds, a toggle at the top-right of the page allows users to choose on-the-fly whether to include personalized results. It all looks quite slick -- in fact, we wouldn't be too surprised if another social networking company just threw up a little.
