New From Google for Web Searchers: "Search Using Your Terms, Verbatim"

Note 1: Looks like the new feature is rolling-out at the moment, if you don’t see it now, check back in a few hours.
Note 2: We’re working to find out if:
+ You first have to run a search and then refine by clicking “verbatim” or if you can activate the verbatim search from the outset, without using the proper search syntax.
+ You can keep the verbatim search option on permanently or for an entire search session. Can you set “Verbatim” as a search option in your settings?
From Google’s Inside Search Blog:

In most cases, Google’s algorithms make things better for our users – but in some rare cases, we don’t find what you were looking for. In the past, we provided users with the “+” operator to help you search for specific terms. However, we found that users typed the “+” operator in less than half a percent of all searches, and two thirds of the time, it was used incorrectly. A couple of weeks ago we removed the “+” operator, encouraging the use of the double quotes, which are more likely to be used correctly.
Since then, we’ve received a lot of requests for a more deliberate way to tell Google to search using your exact terms. We’ve been listening, and starting today you’ll be able to do just that through verbatim search. With the verbatim tool on, we’ll use the literal words you entered without making normal improvements such as:

• making automatic spelling corrections
• personalizing your search by using information such as sites you’ve visited before
• including synonyms of your search terms (matching “car” when you search [automotive])
• finding results that match similar terms to those in your query (finding results related to “floral delivery” when you search [flower shops])
• searching for words with the same stem like “running” when you’ve typed [run]
• making some of your terms optional, like “circa” in [the scarecrow circa 1963]

You can access the verbatim search tool under “More search tools” on the left-hand side.

Read the Complete Blog Post

Filed under: Patrons and Users