More context will now be shown in Google’s citation search results after receiving user feedback
Today, Google revealed an improvement for “quoted” searches. For example, if you type a phrase in the search bar, snippets will show the exact location of the phrase. By clicking on the link and approaching the content, it will be easier to locate them. Additionally, Google said it has received feedback from users reporting that users of cited searches want to see the exact location of said phrase on the website.
This is how the quote search works
Google has shared some tips and tricks on how citation search works as well as some limitations of the feature.
- Citation searches may match different results or content that is not clearly visible on the page: Citation searches sometimes appear or match content that is not visible on the page and give the impression that the content is not there even when it is there. Additionally, web pages may also change since you last visited them. Google’s cached copies may display the information referred to on the Internet page.
- Use developer tools: Some people use the browser’s search command to search for phrases. If that doesn’t work, they can also use a developer tool where users can search for all rendered text, including drop-down menu text.
- Quoted text may only appear in title links: Quoted content will not appear in excerpts, even if it is only in title links or URLs. It does not bold URL matches and title links.
- Sometimes Punctuations Are Considered Spaces: According to Google, punctuation is considered spaces that affect cited searches. Thus, they will match text where punctuation such as hyphens or commas divides words because the letter patterns are the same, i.e., does not; not/not; don’t-don’t.
- Quoted content is bolded for web page snippets on desktop: the new bolding of quoted text only works on desktop and will not show up in recipe or video boxes and in image searches or news. Cases and modes contain phrases in quotes and mobile results are not bolded.
- Quoted searches don’t work for local results: For local results in maps, the quote function doesn’t work.
Yonghao Jin, Software Engineer, Search, Google, while talking about improving cited searches, said, “By default, our system is designed to search for both the right text and the right phrase, related terms and concepts. , which is often useful.
He added that if you use quotes, you might miss useful content that uses closely related words. Of course, there are times when the exact words on a webpage make all the difference. For these situations, cited research remains available and is now even better.