Google is introducing new ways for users to verify information on Google Search, the company announced on Tuesday. The search giant is launching new features called “Perspectives” and “About this author”, while also expanding some of its current tools, including “About this result”.
The new Perspectives feature is a carousel that appears below Top Stories, showing insights from a range of journalists, experts, and other relevant voices on the topic you’re searching for. The idea behind the feature is to give users a variety of notable voices on a news topic to broaden their understanding of the topic. The carousel will soon launch in English in the US and will be available on desktop and mobile, Google says.
Image Credits: Google
Google is also launching a new feature called “About this author” that makes it easy for users to learn more about the authors behind the content they read. This new feature allows users to learn more about the background of the authors that Google shows on Google Search. The feature will launch globally in search results in English and on the Perspectives carousel in the US in English.
The “About this author” feature is an extension of Google’s current “About this result” feature, which was first rolled out in English in 2021. The company announced that it is now launching the “About this result” feature globally in all languages where Search is available in the coming days. Now all users will see three dots next to most results on Google Search. Tapping those three dots gives users details about where the information came from and how Google’s systems determined it would be useful for the query.
Image Credits: Google
Additionally, Google announced that it’s making it easier for users to access the “About this page” feature starting today.
“Clicking the three dots next to a result will give you more information about the source and topic of a particular page,” the company said in a blog post. “Now we are making this information even more accessible. Let’s say you’re looking for a rainforest protection organization. Starting today, you can type the organization’s URL into Google Search and information from About this page will populate at the top of Search. You can quickly see how the website describes itself, what others on the Internet have said about a site, and any recent coverage of it. From there you can judge whether you want to visit the website and want more information. This feature is now available globally in English.”
Last August, Google rolled out advisories in search results that kick in when the systems don’t have much confidence in the overall quality of the available results. The company is now expanding these advisories to languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese in the coming months. The idea behind these advices is to provide context about the whole range of results on the page. It’s worth noting that you can always see the results for your search, even if the advice is there.
Google also provided an update on the $13.2 million grant to the International Fact-Checking Network to launch a new Global Fact Check Fund, which was initially announced last year. The company says the fund will open in the coming days and will support more than 130 fact-checking organizations from 65 countries in more than 80 languages.