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Apple tweaked App Store searches so its apps don't always rank first
Did you notice that Apple's software was suddenly less dominant in the App Store this summer? There's a good reason for that. Apple confirmed to the New York Times that it changed App Store search algorithms in July so that its own apps didn't overwhelm the top results. For more than a year, its own titles would dominate searches for basic terms, even when the apps in question weren't related to a given query -- you sometimes had to scroll through 14 apps before you got to a third-party result for "podcast," for example. Apple attributed the behavior to a search engine feature that sometimes grouped apps by developer, with popularity also playing a role.
Google helps you find something to watch using dating app swipes
Google has a simple solution to those nights when you just don't know what to watch: borrow a cue from dating apps. The internet giant has introduced a search feature on mobile that invokes a swipe interface when you search for terms like "what to watch" or "good shows to watch" and tap a start button in the Top Picks For You carousel. You can swipe right to show your approval for a show, or left if you can't stand it -- the more shows you flick through, the better your recommendations become.
Google search pays tribute to 'Wizard of Oz' with a dizzying Easter egg
Google isn't reserving its movie-themed Easter eggs for the latest blockbusters. The internet giant is marking the 80th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz with an Easter egg that reflects the rather turbulent ways Dorothy enters and exits Oz. Search for the movie title and you'll find a certain pair of red slippers Tap those and you'll be spun into a world of sepia search results much like Dorothy's version of Kansas. All the links still work, too. If you'd rather go back to a Technicolor landscape, a certain tornado will take you back if you don't mind a little dizziness.
Google's expanded college search helps you explore fields of study
It's a bit late to start looking for colleges for September, but Google is ready to give the spring semester a boost by expanding its college search features. To begin with, there's a new exploration tool on desktop and web (pictured at center) that helps you find US schools based on criteria like their fields of study and location. This includes combined searches -- if you want to find every school in Washington state with a nursing program, you can. It can help you compare aspects like cost and post-school success, and filters can whittle things down based on distance, acceptance rates and similar factors.
Google explains how its Search deindexing bug happened
Back in April, the Internet saw just how beholden it is to one company when a Google Search bug led to websites not showing up on the search engine. In the aftermath of the event, which according to one estimate affected as many as four percent of the websites indexed by Google, the search giant has finally detailed what went wrong and what it plans to do in case of a similar incident in the future.
Google puts playable podcast episodes in Search
Google continues its push into the world of podcasts, not only through its own podcast app but also by adding a new podcast feature to search.
Google shuts down its Trips travel planning app
Google is killing yet another app, although you might not mind quite as much with this one. The company is shutting down its Trips travel app as of August 5th (that's today, if you're reading in time) in favor of steering users to both its reworked travel search as well as Google Maps. Your information and tools aren't going away -- you will, however, need to look for them in other places.
Google brings AMP-powered search to Google Images
Google wants to make it easier for users to search for content through Google Images. To do so, it's rolling out a new, AMP-powered Swipe to Visit feature. When you select an image, you'll see a preview of the website header at the bottom of the screen. You can keep scrolling through Google Images, or swipe up on the preview to load the AMP (accelerated mobile pages) version of the site.
Microsoft leak suggests hideous Windows Start menu could be coming
Today, Microsoft leaked what could be a new Windows Start menu. The company accidentally shared a Windows 10 internal build (18947) with its Insider Program, Windows Central reports. The most striking change is a completely redesigned Start menu that swaps live tiles for a grid of app icons.
Airbnb makes it easier to find a place to stay on business trips
Airbnb wants to make it easier to find work-friendly listings, and its solution is fairly simple. Before, the company would ask if you were traveling for business at checkout. Now, it's offering a work trip toggle that you can select at the beginning of your search. The feature will bring up listings that are more relevant for business trips.
Google Photos will let you manually tag faces it doesn't recognize
Google Photos' product lead David Lieb took advantage of some downtime this week to start a surprisingly open dialogue on Twitter. Yesterday, he asked users what they want to see next from Google Photos -- new features, bug fixes, performance improvements, etc. The conversation lasted for hours, and it shed light on a few changes coming to the service. One of the most notable is that Google Photos plans to add a manual face tagging feature that will let users tag faces it doesn't recognize.
Google pushes for an official web crawler standard
One of the cornerstones of Google's business (and really, the web at large) is the robots.txt file that sites use to exclude some of their content from the search engine's web crawler, Googlebot. It minimizes pointless indexing and sometimes keeps sensitive info under wraps. Google thinks its crawler tech can improve, though, and so it's shedding some of its secrecy. The company is open-sourcing the parser used to decode robots.txt in a bid to foster a true standard for web crawling. Ideally, this takes much of the mystery out of how to decipher robots.txt files and will create more of a common format.
Google adds 'Welcome Offers' to its store and restaurant listings
Last year, Google allowed you to "follow" your favorite stores and restaurants so you would always get updates on the latest events, products or offers from that business (you'll see these updates in the For You tab in Maps). Now, in an effort to encourage you to do this more, Google is allowing businesses to reward their customers who follow them with "Welcome Offers." So that means if you're hitting that business's follow button for the first time, you might see a welcome discount or deal pop up. Show that to the merchant in question and voila, you'll get your reward.
Google added a share button to search results
How many times have you been asked something so incredibly straightforward that the effort of asking the question likely far surpasses the effort involved in just Googling it in the first place? Probably at least once or twice, hence the existence of LMGTFY. Until now there was no particularly easy way of directly sharing search results, but Google's working on that.
Google thwarts shareholder challenge to its China search plans
If investors and employees were hoping to prompt cultural change at Alphabet during the company's shareholder meeting, they were likely disappointed. Voters at the meeting rejected all shareholder proposals, including a resolution that would have required a human rights impact assessment before Google went forward with a censored Chinese search engine. Backers like Azzad Asset Management were concerned China could "weaponize" search data to expand mass surveillance and other human rights abuses.
Google search results will show where song lyrics come from
Google isn't sitting idly by while Genius accuses it of copying lyrics. As part of a larger defense of its lyrics search practices, the company has mentioned that it will "soon" attribute the third parties providing song lyrics. This should "make it clearer" as to where the lyrics come from, the company said. In theory, this would direct any complaints to the third parties instead of making Google shoulder all the blame.
Genius accuses Google of copying its lyrics data (updated)
Have you found yourself using Google's lyrics results more than visiting individual lyrics sites? You're not alone -- and Genius thinks underhanded tactics are involved. The company has accused Google of not only hurting its traffic with its lyrics cards, but of sometimes grabbing Genius' lyrics verbatim. The evidence is in the apostrophes, Genius said. It purposefully alternated between straight and curved apostrophes as a form of watermarking (they typically spell out "red handed" in Morse code), and there were reportedly over 100 instances where Google's lyrics included those exact apostrophes.
The North Face gamed Wikipedia to boost Google searches
Apparel giant The North Face apparently resorted to some less-than-scrupulous tactics to ensure its gear stood out in search results. The Wikimedia Foundation reported that The North Face and its ad agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made admitted to having "unethically manipulated" Wikipedia for the sake of a campaign. In a video, the two firms said they switched Wikipedia photos with their own to ensure that North Face would show at the top of Google when people searched for adventure. It claimed that it had been "collaborating with Wikipedia," but the site denied this -- it even pointed to the companies boasting that they avoided attention from Wikipedia moderators.
Google Lens dining and translation filters roll out this week
Google is acting quickly on its plans to bring clever new filters to Lens. The search firm is starting to roll out its promised Dining and Translate filters to Lens on Android and iOS, giving you some potential time savers. Translate is likely to be the most practical if you're a traveler -- aim your camera at text and Lens can overlay a translation in the language of your choice. The Dining filter, meanwhile, can highlight popular dishes on a menu (complete with photos and feedback) as well as use your receipt to calculate bill splits and tips.
Google makes mobile-first search indexing the default for new domains
Google started its mobile-first search indexing over a year ago, and now it's ready to make that approach the law of the land. As of July 1st, 2019, Google will index the phone-oriented sites by default for any new web domain it registers. If you're starting a new site, you'll want to be sure its mobile version is polished and full-featured -- that's the version Google will use to parse the site's structure and extract useful snippets.
